Title: 
Headings: Risk and Needs Assessment in the Federal Prison System
Risk
 
and
 
Needs
 
Assessment
 
in
 
the
 
Federal
 
Prison
 
System
 

Nathan
 
James
 

July
 
10,
 
2018
 

Congressional
 
Research
 
Service
 

Summary
 

An
 
Overview
 
of
 
Risk
 
and
 
Needs
 
Assessment
 

Risk
 
and
 
Needs
 
Factors
 

Can
 
Risk
 
and
 
Needs
 
Assessment
 
Instruments
 
Accurately
 
Predict
 
Risk?
 

Risk-Needs-Responsivity
 
(RNR)
 
Principles
 

Risk
 
Principle
 

Needs
 
Principle
 

Responsivity
 
Principle
 

“Central
 
Eight”
 
Risk
 
and
 
Needs
 
Factors
 

Empirical
 
Basis
 
for
 
the
 
RNR
 
Principles
 

Select
 
Issues
 
for
 
Congress
 

Concerns
 
About
 
Bias
 
in
 
Risk
 
and
 
Needs
 
Assessment
 

Should
 
Certain
 
Inmates
 
Be
 
Excluded
 
from
 
Receiving
 
Time
 
Credits?
 

Should
 
Priority
 
Be
 
Given
 
to
 
High-Risk
 
Offenders?
 

Should
 
Risk
 
and
 
Needs
 
Assessment
 
Be
 
Used
 
in
 
Sentencing?
 

Should
 
There
 
Be
 
a
 
Decreased
 
Emphasis
 
on
 
Long
 
Prison
 
Sentences?
 

Author
 
Contact
 
Information
 


Content: There
 
are
 
several
 
issues
 
policymakers
 
might
 
contemplate
 
should
 
Congress
 
choose
 
to
 
consider
 
legislation
 
to
 
implement
 
a
 
risk
 
and
 
needs
 
assessment
 
system
 
in
 
federal
 
prisons,
 
including
 
the
 
following: Is
 
there
 
the
 
potential
 
for
 
bias
 
in
 
the
 
use
 
of
 
risk
 
and
 
needs
 
assessment? Should
 
certain
 
inmates
 
be
 
ineligible
 
for
 
earned
 
time
 
credits? Should
 
prison
 
programming
 
focus
 
on
 
inmates
 
at
 
high
 
risk
 
of
 
recidivism? Should
 
risk
 
assessment
 
be
 
incorporated
 
into
 
sentencing? Should
 
there
 
be
 
a
 
decreased
 
focus
 
on
 
long
 
prison
 
sentences? Assessment
 
in
 
the
 
Federal
 
Prison
 
System
The
 
 
number
 
of
 
people
 
incarcerated
 
in
 
federal
 
prisons
 
increased
 
dramatically
 
over
 
the
 
past
 
three
 
decades. The
 
total
 
number
 
of
 
inmates
 
in
 
the
 
federal
 
prison
 
system
 
increased
 
from
 
approximately
 
25,000
 
in
 
FY1980
 
to
 
over
 
219,000
 
in
 
FY2013.1
 
Since
 
the
 
peak
 
in
 
FY2013,
 
the
 
number
 
of
 
inmates
 
in
 
the
 
federal
 
prison
 
system
 
decreased
 
each
 
subsequent
 
fiscal
 
year,
 
falling
 
to
 
approximately
 
186,000
 
inmates
 
in
 
FY2017.2
 
However,
 
even
 
with
 
the
 
recent
 
decrease
 
in
 
the
 
number
 
of
 
federal
 
prison
 
inmates,
 
the
 
federal
 
prison
 
population
 
is
 
more
 
than
 
seven
 
times
 
larger
 
than
 
it
 
was
 
three
 
decades
 
ago. While
 
research
 
indicates
 
that
 
the
 
expanded
 
use
 
of
 
incarceration
 
during
 
the
 
1980s
 
and
 
1990s
 
contributed
 
to
 
the
 
declining
 
crime
 
rate,
 
the
 
effect
 
was
 
likely
 
small,3
 
and
 
it
 
has
 
likely
 
reached
 
the
 
point
 
of
 
diminishing
 
returns.4
 
Concerns
 
about
 
both
 
the
 
economic
 
and
 
social
 
consequences
 
of
 
the
 
country’s
 
burgeoning
 
prison
 
population
 
have
 
resulted
 
in
 
a
 
range
 
of
 
organizations
 
including
 
the
 
American
 
Civil
 
Liberties
 
Union,
 
Right
 
on
 
Crime,
 
and
 
the
 
American
 
Conservative
 
Union’s
 
Center
 
for
 
Criminal
 
Justice
 
Reform
 
calling
 
for
 
reforms
 
to
 
the
 
nation’s
 
criminal
 
justice
 
system. Congress
 
also
 
formed
 
the
 
Charles
 
Colson
 
Task
 
Force
 
on
 
Federal
 
Corrections
 
to
 
examine
 
the
 
growth
 
of
 
the
 
federal
 
prison
 
population
 
and
 
provide
 
recommendations
 
for
 
reforms.5
 
There
 
are
 
two,
 
not
 
mutually
 
exclusive,
 
methods
 
to
 
reduce
 
the
 
number
 
of
 
incarcerated
 
individuals
 
in
 
the
 
United
 
States: