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Swinburne

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN

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Assessing the risk and needs of Indigenous people in custody

Dr. Stephane Shepherd BA MA PhD

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Swinburne

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN

§  Forensic Risk Assessment and Treatment

§  Ecological Factors

§  Socio-Political Factors

§  Solutions

ViolenceRiskInstruments

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Comprehensive assessment encompassing a concert of empirically derived risk items which helps an evaluator estimate a clients

likelihood of future violence

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Swinburne

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN

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Ewert v Canada, 2015

Impugned Instruments

•  PCL-R ● SORAG •  STATIC-99 ● VRS-SO •  V-RAG

“While there is no evidence that CSC’s use of these tools is unreasonable in respect to non-Aboriginal inmates, their use in respect to Aboriginal inmates overshoots the

objective because unreliable tests likely result in unreliable public safety risk assessments” - Judge Phelan

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Swinburne

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN

-  Mono-cultural construction samples

-  Bulk of validation research features white participants (Desmarais, Johnson, & Singh, 2016; Olver, Stockdale, & Wormith, 2014, 2009; Shepherd, 2015; Singh, Grann, & Fazel, 2011)

-  Available research indicates higher scores for Indigenous offenders & lower predictive accuracy (Holsinger, Lowenkamp, & Latessa, 2006; Olver, Stockdale & Wormith, 2014; Rugge, 2006; Shepherd, Adams, McEntyre, & Walker, 2014; Shepherd, 2016; Shepherd & Fernandez, 2016;Wilson & Gutierrez, 2014; Wormith, Hogg, Guzzo, 2015; Wormith & Hogg, 2012)

-  Low validity Culturally and Linguistically Diverse populations (Bennett, Leany, & Benuto, 2015; Chenane, Brenner, Steiner, & Ellison, 2015; Shepherd, Luebbers, Ferguson, Ogloff, & Dolan, 2014; Shepherd, Singh, & Fullam, 2015: Shepherd & Strand, 2016; Zhou et al., 2016)

-  More ethnically heterogeneous a sample = lower predictive utility (Edens, Campbell & Weir, 2007; Singh, Grann & Fazel, 2011)

Cross-Cultural Validity?

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Crime Rates

Imprisonment Rates

Social Deprivation and Adversity Politics

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Social Deprivation and Adversity

Ø  Multiple traumas Ø  Intergenerational/Historical/Cumulative Ø  Environmental Stressors Ø  Loss of culture/purpose

Ø  Poverty Ø  Economic hardship

Ø  Differential Access to services Ø  Health Ø  Legal Ø  Housing Ø  Employment Ø  Education

Differences in life opportunities and exposure to stressors

Diminished agency, self-devaluation

Violence & Law breaking

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Swinburne

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN

Ø  Mono-cultural lens

Ø  One size fits all Ø  Impacts on service provision

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Political Indifference?

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Swinburne

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN

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Culture

Ø  Shapes behavior Ø  Shapes explanatory models of health Ø  Shapes health communication

Ø  Affects health seeking behaviors Ø  Impacts how providers respond

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Cultural Safety

1. A commitment to holistic care >  Culturally designed services >  Incorporation of Indigenous health models >  Through-care/Cultural alternatives

2. A top-down commitment to a diversity >  Diversity in decision making >  Accountability

3. A commitment to critical self-awareness >  Organisational reflexivity

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Final thoughts…..

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Swinburne

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN

Edens, J. F., Campbell, J. S., & Weir, J. M. (2007). youth psychopathy and criminal recidivism: A meta-analysis of the psychopathy checklist measures. Law and Human Behavior 31, 53–75. doi:10.1007/s10979-006-9019-y

Olver, M. E., Stockdale, K. C., & Wormith, J. S. (2014). Thirty years of research on the Level of Service scales: A meta-analytic examination of predictive accuracy and sources of variability. Psychological Assessment, 26,156-176.

Rugge, T. (2006). Risk assessment of male Aboriginal offenders: A 2006 perspective.

Ottawa, Canada: Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

Shepherd, S.M., Adams, Y., McEntyre, E., & Walker, R. (2014). Violence Risk Assessment in Australian Aboriginal

Offender populations – A review of the literature. Psychology, Public Policy & Law, 20(3). DOI: 10.1037/law0000017

Shepherd, S. M., Luebbers, S., Ferguson, M., Ogloff, J. R. P., & Dolan, M. (2013). The utility of the SAVRY

across ethnicity in Australian young offenders. Psychology, Public Policy and Law 20(1), 31- 45. DOI: 10.1037/a0033972.

Singh, J.P., Grann, M., & Fazel, S. (2011). A comparative study of violence risk assessment tools: A systematic

review and metaregression analysis of 68 studies involving 25,980 participants.

Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 499– 513. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2010.11.009

Wilson, H. A., & Gutierrez, L. (2014). Does One Size Fit All? A Meta-Analysis Examining the Predictive Ability of the Level of Service

Inventory (LSI) With Aboriginal Offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41(2), 196-219. DOI: 10.1177/0093854813500958.

Wormith, J. S., Hogg, S. M., & Guzzo, L. (2015). The Predictive Validity of the LS/CMI with Aboriginal Offenders in Canada.

Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(5). DOI: 10/1177/0093854814552843

Nebraska Indian Tribal College, Omaha Indian Reservation 30th October, 2015

References