Risk Management in the Correctional System of Canada: A Problematic Model

Abstract

Since 1992, interventions within the Canadian correctional system have been guided by the Risk Management Model (RMM). This article presents a critical analysis of that model. In the view of the authors, the RMM does not focus on rehabilitating offenders, but rather on ensuring their social compliance. Moreover, the Model is not clinical or professional in nature; it is essentially a techno-bureaucratic model. From an empirical perspective, the authors bring into question several aspects implied by the Model, specifically those having to do with human qualities, rationality, relevance, effectiveness and efficiency. In conclusion, they wonder what could explain that such a model continues to prevail.

Modalités et enjeux du traitement sous contrainte auprès des toxicomanes

“…Du moins en ce qui concerne le système correctionnel canadien, le détenu est au départ évalué à l'aide d'une panoplie d'outils o 2 et de grilles qui permettront d'établir de façon précise la liste des besoins qui devront être comblés (Cortoni et Lafortune, 2009 ;Motiuk, 2007). L'évaluation initiale étant réalisée à l'aide de grilles rigides et très structurées, les résultats obtenus seront circonscrits à l'intérieur d'une liste relativement fermée de besoins criminogènes (Bérard, Vacheret et Lemire, 2013). Le caractère restreint de cette liste aura donc pour conséquence de limiter l'espace pour prendre en considération les besoins tels qu'ils pourraient être exprimés par les détenus euxmêmes.…”

Risk Classification and Municipal Policing in Canada: Altered Practice and Innovation

“…When compared to the work of Bérard, Vacheret, and Lemire (2013) or work in science and technology studies (STS), the problem with what were seen as more practical, pragmatic, and efficient analyses of the Model (Haag et al, 2015(Haag et al, , 2016Hanson et al, 2014;Olver et al, 2013;Olver, Neumann, et al, 2018;Olver, Sowden, et al, 2018) was precisely the fact that they tended to stop short of theorizing how the Model may have forces, powers, and authority affecting not only those to whom it is applied but also those who are mandated to take up the Model. Theorizing the Model in this limited way, leaving it as a terminus or an outcome rather than a starting point for analysis, poses a sociological problem.…”

“…In Canada, there is something known as the Risk Management Model (hereafter called the Model) that was developed in the 1980s within and specifically for the carceral system (also known as the correctional, penal, or prison system) (Bérard et al, 2013).…”

“…Further, the 'behavioral attributes or other relevant characteristics' on which these classifications are based are guided by social norms; that is, they are normative and formalized and are intended to act as a form of social control (Bowker & Star, 1999 Donaldson & Abbott, 2011;Franklin, 2012;Waggoner, Wollert, & Cramer, 2008;Wollert, 2006;Wollert, Cramer, Waggoner, Skelton, & Vess, 2010 known as the clinical model (Bérard et al, 2013). The clinical model was deeply committed to a social component for rehabilitation where only medical psychiatrists could assign risk classifications to offenders.…”