Abstract
Community corrections in the United States has undergone a rapid change in the last decade with many agencies adopting evidence based practices (EBP) supported by the risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model to provide better supervision of offenders. With the adoption of EBP, agencies have begun reporting a reduction in recidivism up to 30%. The Lee County Probation Department located in Fort Myers, FL received a federal grant to trial run the adoption of EBP. The Carey Group, an organization dedicated to assisting agencies with EBP, provided motivational interviewing techniques and the implementation of a proxy triage risk assessment. The assessment is used to triage the risk levels of offenders to determine the defendants in need of further evaluation and more intense supervision. To determine the validity of the proxy tool, the assessment's results were compared to the violent risk appraisal guide (VRAG). Both assessments accurately categorized offenders 56% of the time. Using the recommended cutoff scores, the proxy triage risk assessment was effective in triaging the recommended 60% of offenders for further evaluation, with a total of 61.5% of the sample population requiring further assessment. Scoring the VRAG proved difficult because of a lack of sufficient resources. The current research suggests a need to follow up with the 61.5% of the sample population by using a need based assessment tool such as the Level of Service Inventory (LSI).