The Relationship between Risk, Criminogenic Need, and Recidivism for Indigenous Justice-involved Youth: A Comparative, Mixed-methods Investigation

The Risk-Need-Responsivity framework is widely used in Canada to guide the sentencing and case management of justice-involved youth, but there is little research on its applicability to Indigenous populations. The present study analyzed quantitative data for 70 justice-involved youth, together with qualitative data from frontline service providers, to explore how standardized risk assessment, identification of criminogenic needs, and receipt of need-targeted programming related to recidivism for Indigenous youth compared to non-Indigenous youth. The two groups did not differ on overall level of risk, number of needs, match to services, or recidivism rates. However, Indigenous youth were evaluated as higher risk in the peer and leisure domains, more likely to have needs related to education and leisure, and less likely to receive adequate peer-specific intervention. In both groups, risk assessment predicted recidivism, while match to services predicted days to reoffence. Frontline workers shared information with critical implications for research and practice.M.A.2017-11-30 00:00:0