Judicial Technology and Automation Committee
Division of State Court Administration
30 S. Meridian Street, Ste. 500
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Mary DePrez
Director and Counsel for Trial Court Technology
Pho: 317.234.2604
mdeprez@jtac.in.gov
INcite Risk Assessment Application
Overview
A successful partnership between the Indiana Judicial Center and the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC) resulted in the statewide release of the INcite Risk Assessment Application in January 2011. The Indiana Youth Assessment System (IYAS) for juveniles and the Indiana Risk Assessment System (IRAS) for adults are comprised of six and five risk assessment instruments respectively. Each of the instruments are used during specific points of the juvenile and criminal justice processes to help determine an offender’s risk to reoffend and identify criminogenic needs. Information gathered from the risk assessment tools allows users to develop individualized case plans for offenders with the goal of reducing recidivism.
Prior to the Indiana Judicial Center’s implementation of the IYAS and IRAS, criminal justice agencies throughout the state used a variety of risk and needs assessment tools to determine an offender’s risk to reoffend. The use of multiple instruments led to inconsistent levels of supervision across agencies and made it more difficult to measure outcomes or results when evaluating the effectiveness of local programs. Additionally, criminal justice agencies traditionally did not have the means to easily share assessment data on mutual clients as they progressed through the justice system.
JTAC received valuable guidance from the Indiana Judicial Center and representatives from the fields of probation and community corrections, as well as the Indiana Department of Correction to develop the electronic means for scoring and storing the results to the risk assessment tools. The main objectives behind the development of the Risk Assessment Application were to improve communication between criminal justice agencies, contribute to continuity of services for offenders, and store statewide aggregate data needed for revalidation of the tools.
Get a PDF Factsheet about INcite Risk Assessment
Indiana's New Risk Assessment Tools: What You Should Know
How It Works
After a user successfully completes the required training for proper interviewing and assessment scoring techniques from the Indiana Judicial Center, access is then granted to the INcite Risk Assessment Application maintained by JTAC. Once a user has completed an interview with an offender, he or she will log in to the INcite application and answer the risk assessment questions based on information gathered during the interview. The offender information, risk assessment answers, specific domain scores, and overall assessment scores are stored in the system for future reference. Once that offender progresses to the next stage of the juvenile or criminal justice system and another risk assessment is warranted, the next user will be able to utilize the existing offender information and refer back to the previously completed risk assessment.
The IYAS portion of the Risk Assessment Application was initially piloted by the Marion County Juvenile Probation Department in September 2010, followed by the Morgan County and Hendricks County Probation Departments participating in the IRAS pilot in November 2010. To date, over 2,300 users representing all 92 counties are utilizing the INcite Risk Assessment Application.
Benefits of the System
- The system and maintenance is free to all agencies.
- Criminal justice agencies now have a single electronic means for scoring the risk assessment tools.
- Important offender information is easily shared among users from the Indiana Department of Correction, Community Corrections Agencies, Probation Departments, Court Alcohol and Drug Programs and other Problem-Solving Courts, resulting in improved communication between agencies.
- Each entity using the application can build on existing information to gain the knowledge they need for appropriate offender supervision, rather than completing a new assessment at each phase of the system.
- System interfaces allow the risk assessment details to be transferred from the Risk Assessment Application to an agency’s local case management systems, which results in a reduction of duplicative work.
- Supervisors or administrators of the Risk Assessment Application have the ability to analyze aggregate data for their agency and examine program effectiveness on reducing recidivism.
- Since all offender data throughout the state is stored in one location, the data collection process necessary for periodic review and revalidation of the tools will be greatly simplified.
- Users have immediate access to the most recent versions, documents, and instructions if any part of the IYAS or IRAS are modified after a revalidation period.
Contact Information
If you would like more information about the Risk Assessment Application project, please email Lisa Thompson at lthompson@jtac.in.gov or call 317.234.6586 or (toll free) 888.275.5822.
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