Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Ohio Risk Assessment System

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) has long supported supervision and programming practices rooted in the ever-growing body of the "what works" literature.  Implementing evidence based practices begins with utilizing a valid risk and need assessment tool.  In 2006, DRC contracted with the University of Cincinnati, Center for Criminal Justice Research, to develop a universal Ohio-based assessment system that would be utilized at various points in the criminal justice system.  This project was recently completed and is called the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS). The ORAS tools can be used at pretrial, prior to or while on community supervision, at prison intake, and in preparation for reentry just prior to release from prison.

What are the Benefits of ORAS?

• Provides reliable assessment instruments with consistent meaning.
• Reduces duplication and enhances communication and sharing of information.
• Gathers information regarding potential barriers to treatment.
• Creates a system that expands as the Offender moves through different processing stages.
• Fully automated tools with potential for auto-population to other IT systems.
• Provides thorough and useful information to aid in informed decision making.
• Allows for professional discretion and overrides.
• Reliance on instruments able to significantly distinguish between risk levels.
• Assist in more efficient allocation of supervision and treatment resources.
• Generates case plans that identify and prioritize individual offender needs and specific treatment domains.
• Predicts likelihood of re-arrest and recidivism at different points in the criminal justice system.

January 2013 ORAS Use and Implementation Updates

House Bill and ORAS: House Bill 86 became effective in 2011 and required DRC to adopt a single validated risk assessment tool to assess the likelihood of future crimes by adult offenders. This tool must be used by the following:

• Each municipal, county, and common pleas court, when it orders an assessment for sentencing or other purposes
• The Probation Department serving those courts
• State and Local correctional institutions
• Private correctional institutions
• Community Based Correctional Facilities
• Adult Parole Authority and the Ohio Parole Board

To date there are approximately 4,000 trained and certified ORAS end users from the above listed entities. If you belong to one of the above agencies and need ORAS training, please visit the following site for a list of upcoming trainings:

http://trainreg.das.ohio.gov/dev_students.asp

The Bill also requires each entity to have policies that cover integrating the various tools into operations, administrative oversight, staff training, quality assurance, and data collection and data sharing. The ORAS has been incorporated into DRC policy and community correctional agencies business rules.  The use of ORAS is currently statewide.

Additional ORAS Facts

• Effective April 2011, the Ohio Risk Assessment System became fully automated and operational and accessible via the DRC Gateway Portal.
• There are currently seven tools in the Ohio Risk Assessment System, and they are used at different decision points in order to determine the risk level and needs of an offender.  The tools include:
  • Pre-Trial Tool (PAT)
  • Community Supervision Screening Tool (CSST)
  • Community Supervision Tool (CST)
  • Prison Screening Tool (PST)
  • Prison Intake Tool (PIT)
  • Reentry Tool (RT)
  • Supplemental Reentry Tool (SRT)
• ORAS Assessments to Date (January 2013)
  • PAT: 11,845
  • CSST: 8,446
  • CST: 88,135
  • PST: 29,368
  • PIT: 13,772
  • RT: 6,075
  • SRT: 13,625
• The results of the ORAS assessment on offenders guide their case planning, supervision level, program referral and placement, and treatment intervention.