Risk assessment and offender-victim relationship in juvenile offenders

The present study compares the Historical, Clinical, and Risk Management-20 (HCR-20) checklist in a male offender population of 108 adolescents using the relationship between the offender and the victim as a classification factor. Two types of relationship were retained for comparison purposes: family victim/known victim and unknown victim. All adolescents admitted to the Adolescent program of Montreal's Philippe-Pinel Institute from February 1998 to April 2003 were assessed and their families were met. The HCR-20 checklist was completed for each adolescent. Statistically significant differences were observed for the mean rank of the total score of the HCR-20 and two subscales, the historical subscale (H) and the risk management subscale (R). The results indicate that the adolescents who victimize strangers have more violent risk factors compared to those who victimize family/known victims. These results have important implications regarding prevention and treatment.