Our Research and Training team are currently taking forward the following work:
Risk Assessment Report Writing
The RMA has been working with the School of Forensic Mental Health, Forensic Network, to develop a Risk Assessment Report Writing Module. A distance-learning module, with tutor support designed to assist competent risk assessors improve their skills in risk communication is now available. The module has been developed in accordance with the RMA's current Standards and Guidelines for Risk Assessment and is compatible with the published accredited manner.
The package was designed with two goals in mind: to provide applicants for accreditation as risk assessors with a means to develop their existing skills in such a way as to improve their potential for accreditation; and secondly to provide a means for other professionals whose roles and responsibilities involve the compilation of risk assessment of serious sexual and violent offenders, primarily in terms of MAPPA, to develop their skills in this important area.
Until March 2010 we have a limited number of tutor-supported places on this programme. If you would like to be considered for this programme you should express interest and provide: evidence of your risk assessment experience, and where appropriate the support of your manager to participate. We emphasise that this opportunity is strictly limited, and while the programme will still be available thereafter, funding to support applicants will be required.
Violence Risk Assessment – Screening Tool or Framework
The RMA is tasked with progressing violence risk assessment in Scotland. As there is an identified need for a consistent and shared approach to risk assessment and management, the RMA has commenced on the development of FRAME - Framework for Risk Assessment and Management Evaluation.
This project responds to the Scottish Government and the agencies’ initial request for the development of a screening tool for the assessment of violent risk, which research has shown to be unavailable currently.
The RMA did not seek to recommend an existing tool, but initiated a line of enquiry that would culminate in the provision of a violence risk assessment framework. The recommendations included advice on the way forward for the RMA and its partner agencies, in relation to the development of a screening tool for violence. It was intended that this framework accommodate a range of methods, from screening through to comprehensive risk formulation and risk management planning.
The RMA commissioned two studies: a team of researchers led by Dr Monica Barry of Strathclyde University conducted an evaluation of current and developing research, policy and practice in relation to violence risk assessment, and Professor David Farrington of Cambridge University led a systematic review of existing risk assessment tools and evaluated them against a range of criteria from their predictive utility to their conformity with RMA standards and guidelines. This review was complemented by a survey designed to assess a range of violence risk assessment instruments, from a practitioner perspective.
You can view both reports and the RMA's response to the findings here.
Review of RATED
Version 2 of the Risk Assessment Tools Evaluation Directory (RATED) is available to download
here. Version 3 of RATED is currently being researched and will be published before the end of March 2010.
The current edition is still live and contains information on the attributes of a number of risk assessment tools and associated techniques and provides practitioners with information on the strengths and limitations of each tool, instilling confidence through provision of the validation history and empirical grounding.
All endorsed tools are suitable for use by RMA accredited assessors and other practitioners undertaking risk assessments for the purpose of risk management.
Assessing and Managing Risk CD Rom
This is the development of the CD Rom for practitioners. The CD Rom provides guidance for the risk assessment and risk management of offenders and is intended as a staff development tool for statutory agencies and provides access to a broad range of resources related to offender management. The RMA commissioned Professor Hazel Kemshall of De Montfort University to develop the CD Rom “Assessing and Managing Risk”which has and continues to be, rolled out to agencies across Scotland. The training on the use of the CD Rom provides guidance on the risk assessment and management of offenders, and contains a wide range of resources relating to offender management. Each of six sections provides links to pages that offer additional website links, multimedia, official documents and references. Approximately 400 managers and practitioners have attended training at 28 courses throughout Scotland, since the launch of the CD Rom. A review of the content of the CD Rom is currently underway and it is anticipated that a new, updated version will be available after March 2010.
LSCMI
The Level of Service Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) is a robust offender assessment and management tool that incorporates the principles of risk, need and responsivity. It is a substantial revision of the existing, widely used Level of Service Inventory - Revised (LSI-R) assessment tool. LS/CMI will be of considerable value in providing a structured and standardised approach for community and custodial criminal justice agencies.
The RMA has worked closely with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Prison Service and the Association of Directors of Social Work through the LS/CMI Project Control Committee to support those agencies’ decision to implement the LS/CMI in Scotland.
The LS/CMI is the comprehensive risk assessment and case management system that will become the common core instrument in the prison service and in criminal justice social work in Scotland. The RMA is working with Criminal Justice Social Work at Renfrewshire Council in a pilot study to pre-test the use of the Scottish Version of LS/CMI, prior to national implementation of this instrument.
The final report on the pilot will be delivered by the RMA’s research and development team. It will identify any misunderstandings and anomalies in coding, and feed these back to practitioners in Renfrewshire CJSW, to identify and support best practice in effective assessment and case management.
STABLE AND ACUTE 2007
RMA staff, with support from the RMA Board and external research advisors are working towards validating SA07 for use in Scotland. The RMA has put in place much of the groundwork to progress this project and has established strong links with police and social workers in Northern Ireland and England and Wales, in order to align efforts in relation to the evaluation of the tool, and share examples of best practice. The SA07 dynamic risk assessment tool for sexual offenders is designed to monitor two types of risk factors for offending behaviour: stable dynamic factors, which are potentially changeable but endure for months or years; and, acute dynamic factors which can change over a period of weeks, days or even hours, and signal the timing of new offences.
The project will gather and analyse information over a five year period.
Risk Management Planning and Practice
The primary objective of this training programme is the development of knowledge and skills relating to the components of effective risk management of the most serious violent and sexual offenders. A secondary objective is the development of collaborative practice central to the approach through inter-agency communication, knowledge, experience and skills exchange during the training event.
This course complements other current RMA training initiatives in relation to risk assessment and risk management. It targets those professionals who are most likely to be managing cases whose seriousness of offending places them within MAPPA levels 2 and 3. As such, it is not an introduction to, but a thorough exploration of the components of risk management practice with knowledge dissemination derived from the most current research. The training resource has been developed by a team from Coventry University who worked in conjunction with a steering group of advisers and stakeholders.