In earlier blogs, we discussed some of the advantages of case planning from a risk-reduction perspective. One of the key challenges in operating from a risk perspective is answering a critical question, Where do mental health symptoms fit when working with justice-involved adolescents and adults?

There is an interesting contradiction in the scientific research of justice-involved clients (JICs) as it relates to mental health. First, JICs tend to have a relatively high prevalence of mental health problems. Second, mental health symptoms among JICs are actually weakly related to criminality (i.e., poor predictors of recidivism). Although there are certainly individual cases in which a JIC’s mental health symptoms directly influenced their offending behavior, these are infrequent occurrences. For the majority of cases, criminal risk domains (discussed in our previous blogs) and not mental health symptoms drive criminal behavior. This concept is particularly important in terms of intervention.

In our previous blog, we described the importance of risk reduction and the Central Eight risk domains. In this blog, we present some elements of risk models that often go unnoticed by practitioners. We believe these features of criminal risk, when applied thoughtfully, powerfully enhance supervision and case management practices. Here is how we think about risk in our work with justice-involved clients (JICs).