This detailed course, led by expert Dean Kingham, delves into the crucial aspects of assessing risk in parole decisions within the UK's criminal justice system. It begins by defining the Parole Board's test of whether continued confinement is necessary for public protection, emphasising the public protection aspect and focusing on the risk of serious harm (ROSH).
Key points of discussion include the definition and assessment of ROSH, with a particular emphasis on the probability of future serious harm. The course explores the use of the OASys risk assessment tool, discussing its definition of "serious harm" as life-threatening or traumatic events with difficult or impossible recovery.
Further, the course examines different levels of ROSH, such as very high, high, medium, and low, and their implications in parole decisions. It also addresses expert risk assessments, including psychiatric, psychological, medical, and substance services assessments, to advance risk-related applications to the Parole Board.
The course covers the impact of individual characteristics on risk, such as age, health, disabilities, and maintaining innocence. It discusses the role of actuarial risk assessment based on statistical methods, the structured professional risk assessment, and the Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for violence risk (SAPROF).