Investigating the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry’s (DRAOR) Ability to Operate as a Weighted Risk Prediction Instrument

Dynamic risk and protective factors refer to a collection of psychosocial variables that have been empirically linked to an increased or decreased likelihood of engaging in future criminal behaviour. Monitoring such factors is, therefore, a vital task in the post-incarceration community reintegration process. The current study examined whether weighting could augment the discrimination of the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry (DRAOR; Serin, 2007, 2015, 2017), a promising case management instrument composed of dynamic risk and protective factors, in two samples of general justice involved individuals drawn from New Zealand (n = 3,648) and Iowa (n = 510). Two weighting approaches were investigated across subscales, outcomes, assessment periods, and samples. Although weighting did not significantly improve discrimination in either sample, the present research provides further support of the DRAOR's utility as a risk prediction and case management tool.