Page 39 - Preventing Youth Violence

2. The Need Principle highlights the importance of criminogenic needs in the design

and delivery of treatment, and changeable factors that drive involvement in
offending (criminogenic needs) are assessed. Some criminogenic needs are static;

others are dynamic. The dynamic needs are the ones where intervention is
possible or advisable. The model takes into account those factors related to

recidivism and prioritizes treatment accordingly. The eight central factors are:
history of antisocial behaviour, antisocial personality pattern, antisocial cognition,

antisocial associates, family, school, leisure/ recreation, and substance abuse.
Factors that affect psychosocial functioning such as mental health condition,

housing stability, and educational attainment are important stabilizers and
destabilizers and should be used to determine the level of need.

3. The Responsivity Principle describes how treatment should be provided. The yield

from programming is maximized when treatments and controls are responsive to
the risk and needs of individual offenders. The risk-need nexus, plus the degree

of stabilizers in the person’s life, should determine which target behaviours are to
be addressed in programming. Demographics, such as developmental factors

like age and gender, should affect programming to yield the greatest outcomes.
The domains of recommended programmes are drug dependency, criminal

lifestyle, drug abuse and mental health needs, interpersonal skill development, life
skill development, and punishment.

The RNR Model is illustrated in the diagram below:

Figure 3. Illustration of the Risk-Needs-Responsivity Model

Source: Risk-Need-Responsivity Model for Offender Assessment and Rehabilitation (Bonta, 2007)

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