Risk assessment and offender victim relationship in juvenile offenders

Abstract

The present study compares the Historical, Clinical, and Risk Management-20 (HCR-20) checklist in a male offender population of 108 adolescents using the relationship between the offender and the victim as a classification factor. Two types of relationship were retained for comparison purposes: family victim/known victim and unknown victim. All adolescents admitted to the Adolescent program of Montréal's Philippe-Pinel Institute from February 1998 to April 2003 were assessed and their families were met. The HCR-20 checklist was completed for each adolescent. Statistically significant differences were observed for the mean rank of the total score of the HCR-20 and two sub-scales, the historical subscale (H) and the risk management subscale (R). The results indicate that the adolescents who victimize strangers have more violent risk factors compared to those who victimize family/known victims. These results have important implications regarding prevention and treatment.