In hands of court or correctional officers, risk and/or needs assessment tools can have a significant impact on the lives of those in the criminal justice system. But whether the impact—such as a harsher or more lenient sentence—was intended or not can sometimes come down to whether an assessment tool was properly used.
For some states, ensuring these instruments are appropriately deployed takes minimal effort. But for others, it can mean extensive training, and constant monitoring, of the court and correctional officers tasked with collecting, interpreting and managing the data required by assessment tools. The difference comes down to not only a state’s preferences, but what resources it has at its disposal and the demands of the particular risk assessment tool in use.
