COMPAS Risk Assessment System Social Sciences Essay (Essay Sample)

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COMPAS Risk Assessment System
An Introduction to the Sociotechnical System
Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, abbreviated as COMPAS, is a fourth-generation instrument used for risk and needs assessment. The tool is web-based and is used for assessing the risk of recidivism and criminogenic needs of offenders (Zhang et al. 167). COMPAS is applied by criminal justice agencies when making decisions on supervision, placement, and case management of the offenders. Previously, criminologists had to decide what offenders were not dangerous before releasing them (Angwin). The tool predicts recidivism using dynamic risk factors and understanding needs and hazards that aid in correctional intervention to reduce the likelihood of recidivism among offenders.
How the System Works
COMPAS is a risk assessment system that contains offender information and informs dynamic case plans. They guide offenders during their lifecycle in the criminal justice system. Moreover, the lifecycle to follow is a framework that determines the way that criminals have to go through the system and decisions made in the process using the COMPAS tool (Miller and Maloney 716). From the moment that offenders are arrested to the time they are discharged, criminologists apply the framework to establish useful practices in jurisdictions. The practices included in the framework are decided using the COMPAS tool. In such a way, government agencies are more effective in finding criminals.