18 Aug, 2021

Applications open for pilot of internet offending assessment framework

Assessing the risk of individuals convicted of internet offences can be a challenging and complex task. This year, the RMA formed and chaired a multi-agency working group to support the development of a framework for assessing those convicted of offences relating to indecent images of children (IIOC). The working group, included representatives from Scottish Government, Police Scotland, Justice Social Work, Forensic Network and academia.

The framework includes the use of the Child Pornography Offender Risk Tool (C-PORT) and the Correlates of Admitted Sexual Interest in Children (CASIC) (Seto & Eke, 2016) as a method of assessing the risk presented by individuals convicted of internet offences. The pilot will look at the reliability and validity of the framework, and examine the usefulness for practitioners. Participating Local Authorities will provide data to enable RMA to carry out further research to determine whether the framework would be suitable for national implementation.

“This is a really important piece of work specific to a Scottish population. It is aimed at increasing the evidence-base regarding the assessment of those convicted of internet offences. I’m delighted to see this project move to the stage where we are ready to set up a pilot. It’s a great example of multiple agencies working collaboratively to produce a framework that can now be tested over a 2 year period. This will allow us the opportunity to compare the framework to current approaches, and explore important elements like inter-rater reliability, predictive validity, and usefulness. The pilot will allow us to make recommendations regarding whether the framework should be implemented nationally.”
Geoff Tordzro-Taylor, Head of Development

The Pilot scheme is open to Social Work Services within Local Authorities only. The application form to participate has been circulated to Service Managers across Scotland via the Social Work Standing Committee. For interested parties, RMA are hosting an virtual information session with Q&A on Friday 8th October.

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