Validation of Screening Tool for Risk Assessment in Penitentiary Institutions

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Prison staff are facing increasing workloads due to the growing number of people in prison, the different characteristics of prisoners and problems such as substance abuse. This threatens their ability to fulfil their mission to resocialise prisoners and reduce recidivism. An appropriate screening tool for assessing risk and needs in correctional institutions can help professionals to provide adequate support. Slovenia has developed such a screening tool in the framework of a Council of Europe project involving international experts and a working group of the Prison Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (URSIKS). 

This project focuses on validating the screening tool. The validated tool will enable practitioners in the prison system to more effectively identify and manage the risks and needs of prisoners, which can contribute to reducing recidivism rates and increasing the safety of society. 

The first step of the project is the development of a research protocol. This will determine a selected past year to capture baseline data on persons who were imprisoned in that year (e.g. 2014) and the time period within which recidivism will be monitored (e.g. 2014-2024). The next step is data extraction. We will collect the answers to the questions developed in the previous step for an estimated 500-800 persons who were serving a prison sentence in the baseline year. The answers will be collected based on the existing data, which were previously recorded for all persons serving a prison sentence (e.g. age, offences, previous prison sentences). This will be followed by the validation of the screening tool through appropriate statistical analyses.  

New insights into the screening tool and its potential refinements will enable advances in the theory and practice of risk and needs assessment that will benefit both academic researchers and practitioners in the prison system. 

Project Type: Target Research Programme

Project Code (SICRIS): V5-24012

Duration: 1. 10. 2024 – 30. 9. 2025