Validity and Reliability of the Violence Risk Scale–Youth Sexual Offense Version

Abstract

The present study examined the validity and reliability of a youth sexual offense risk assessment and treatment planning tool, the Violence Risk Scale–Youth Sexual Offense Version (VRS-YSO), on a sample of 102 court-adjudicated youth referred to assessment and/or treatment outpatient services followed up an average of 11.7 years in the community. VRS-YSO scores demonstrated “good” to “excellent” interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients [ICCs] = .64-.83). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the static and dynamic items identified three latent dimensions consistent with the extant risk literature labeled Sexual Deviance, Antisocial Tendencies, and Family Concerns. VRS-YSO scores showed strong patterns of convergence with scores from the Estimate of Risk for Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism (ERASOR), Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol–II (J-SOAP-II), and the Juvenile Sexual Offense Recidivism Risk Assessment Tool–II (J-SORRAT-II). VRS-YSO scores, in turn, demonstrated moderate to high predictive accuracy for sexual, violent (sexual and nonsexual), and general recidivism (significant areas under curve [AUCs] = .67-.88). Examination of pre–posttreatment change data on the subset of youth who attended treatment services found VRS-YSO change scores to be significantly associated with reductions in general recidivism, but not other recidivism outcomes. Future research and clinical applications of the VRS-YSO in youth sexual offense assessment and treatment planning are discussed.

Criminogenic Need Profiles Among Substance-Using Justice-Involved Youth

“…In this study, it was notable that youth in the borderlineclinical drug use with low criminogenic needs group (Profile 2) had the highest rates of index sexual offenses. This finding is consistent with previous research, which has noted that youth with sexual offending behavior may present with lower criminogenic needs and lower risk for recidivism as compared to nonsexual offending behavior (Caldwell, 2010;Rojas & Olver, 2020). This group also had high levels of mood and/or anxiety disorder diagnoses; a finding which has been noted among youth with sexual offending histories in prior research (Hunter et al, 2003).…”

An Examination of the Professional Override of the Level of Service Inventory–Ontario Revision

“…One promising alternative is the consideration of structured measures of dynamic risk. A growing research base suggests that when using appropriate instruments, change measurement can improve risk prediction for violence (Coupland & Olver, 2020; de Vries Robbé et al, 2015; Hogan & Olver, 2016, 2018, 2019; Lewis et al, 2013; Penney et al, 2016), sexual recidivism (Beggs & Grace, 2011; Olver, Beggs Christofferson, et al, 2014; Olver et al, 2007), and general recidivism (Rojas & Olver, 2020).…”

Dynamic violence risk, protective factors, and therapeutic change in a gender and ethnoculturally diverse sample of court-adjudicated youth.

“…The RNR model would anticipate that positive changes (i.e., reductions) in risk should be associated with decreased probability of recidivism; while this has been increasingly examined in the adult forensic-clinical literature such as with violent (e.g., Lewis et al, 2013) and sexual offending (e.g., Olver et al, 2018) populations, it has been comparatively uncommon in youth. An exception is Rojas and Olver (2019) who found, in a subsample of 53 youth treated for sexual offending, reductions in risk measured pre-/ posttreatment on the Violence Risk Scale-Youth Sexual Offense version (VRS-YSO; Olver et al, 2017) to be significantly associated with decreases in general recidivism, controlling for baseline risk. Further research is needed, however, on dynamic risk assessment across developmental groups.…”