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Webinar on Risk and Needs Assessment in Probation

On Wednesday 15th November 2023 CEP organized a webinar on Risk and Needs Assessment in the Probation field, an important topic for both CEP members and the European Commission DG Justice and Consumers.

With overwhelming caseloads, probation officers may need risks and needs assessment tools as they provide an important data point in the effort to identify the risk factors for criminal recidivism, protective factors and needs and assign an appropriate level of supervision. Nowadays, there are a plethora of assessment tools, reflecting the diversity of offending and service users. There are general assessment tools and specialist ones (such as those for sexual offenders, domestic violence perpetrators, extremists, or for the various forms of mental illness and learning disability).

CEP gathered experts on the topic of assessment and brought a focus from different angles, and perspectives. CEP invited two European experts from Belgium and The Netherlands respectively, and had also a Special Guest from outside Europe, from New Zealand, sharing their experience about the Department of Corrections journey with risk assessment in New Zealand and the lessons they learnt along the way.

Presentations can be found below.

Presentations:

Rewatch the webinar below:

Report

Click here to view the report.

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