Abstract

This guide is designed for people who work with criminal justice or juvenile justice involved youth. We know that police, judges, correctional personnel, treatment providers, and those working in tertiary prevention programs are all involved in making decisions about processing, housing, managing, and rehabilitating youth. We also know that these decisions can be difficult. This guide is intended to help you identify tools that can assist in your decision-making, both about what types of tools to use and how to use the results of these instruments. Our goal is to provide you with a guide of detailed information and examples from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on how your colleagues are using Risk/Need Assessments (RNA). These assessments are tools that can help you to better identify the risk of reoffending and prioritize youth for services designed to reduce their risk level. Throughout this guide, we will refer to risk/need assessment (s) as RNA for ease