Attached are materials that will be needed to complete this assignment. THANKSReview the Cassandra Case Study along with your completed Risk and Needs Assessment Report assignment from Week 2.Condu

Running head: CASE STUDY

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Case Study

In this case study, the 23 year old woman is a single mother who has past substance abuse and alcohol abuse issues.  She also has allowed her mother to care for her 4 year old child because she is unable to care for him.  She has been convicted of drug related offenses, as well as theft.  Her current charges are for stealing a purse, of which her two roommates that she is close to were arrested for the same offense.  The offender cannot hold a job for extended periods of time due to her poor time and attendance.  The offender also suffers from depression and anxiety; however, she has not received treatment for either condition.

In order to identify the risk and needs firstly it is important to separate the static and dynamic factors of the individual. “Static risk factors are factors that do not change or which change in only one direction,” (Coid, Ullrich, Kallis, et al., 2016). An example of static risk factors is past criminal offenses because they cannot be changed. In Cassandra’s case study, the static risk factors involved is her criminal history and her current charge of stealing a purse. Cassandra’s dynamic risk factors, which is defined as the factors that can be changed or controlled by planning an intervention plan, include her current depression, anxiety, and educational issues. These factors can be changed or adjusted to improve Cassandra’s overall environment and attitude. Other dynamic factors include changing Cassandra’s behavior for her to decline in future stealing and substance abuse. Depression and anxiety are the feelings that are needed to be taken under consideration in detail that whether they are the cause of theft and drug abuse behavior or these are emerging as a result of the theft and drug abuse behavior. She is the mother of a four years son, but she has not been responsible for bringing up her son, now this status also needed to be changed in the sense of taking responsibility as she has been removed from her job because she has been not responsible enough to show up at the job. Her current age, her presented issues are all those factors that can be changed if managed through correctional intervention program (James , 2018).

The assessment of needs and risk are done in various ways. One way is using clinical assessments in combination with mental health professionals who can identify an offender needs and risks that the offender needs assistance with. Another way is using actuarial assessments examine the behavior patterns of the offender compared to other individual behavior in similar scenarios. Certain tools may be applied to address her needs. Such as, in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders- 4th edition (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). A mental assessment would be done to determine how much or if Casandra needed treatment in this area.

The information that has been presented is related to the risks and needs of the Cassandra, her presented history has been helpful in identifying her current internal status that is based on the feeling of depression and anxiety, moreover her previous arrest, conviction, and release has provided any evidence that she has is need of help, her issues have not been resolved and she is not able to adjust according to norms and values appropriate for the society and her own personal life. Drug use is not a healthy habit, and she has denied the abuse of heroin and alcohol. There is a need for acceptance to move toward the correction of behavior. Her personal and professional life is disturbed due to her irresponsible behavior. Risks have been identified through the presented information. Moreover, the identified risks also play an important role in identifying the level of intervention that is necessary to deal with the risk. The needs that have been identified from the given information focuses on the perspective that dynamic risk factors are needed to be dealt with on an urgent basis. Hence the criminogenic needs are the essentials that can help to devise the invention plan to provide the goals to achieve for correctional invention program. The intervention plan would be designed on the basis of currently available risk and needs along with considering the ability of the individual to learn and adapt to the intervention program. The history cannot be altered now, but the risks and needs that have been identified in the case are the key identifiers for the areas of work.

References:

• Taxman, F., Cropsey, K., Young, D., and Wexler, H. (September 2007). Screening, assessment, and referral practice in adult correctional setting: a national perspective. Retrieved from https://journals-sagepub-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/

• James, N. (2018). Risks and Needs assessment in Federal prison system. Congressional Research Service, 1-18.

• LowenKamp, C. T., & Latessa, E. (2004). Understanding the risk principle, How and why correctional intervention can harm low-risk offenders. Topics in community corrections, 1-6.

• Coid JW, Ullrich S, Kallis C, et al. Improving risk management for violence in mental health services: a multimethod approach. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2016 Nov. (Programme Grants for Applied Research, No. 4.16.) Chapter 17, Construction and validation of new static risk assessment instruments. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK396457/