The Scottish Government

Circular No: JD/13/2007

Dear colleague

IMPLEMENTATION OF STABLE AND ACUTE 2007

I am writing to you about the implementation of the second stage risk assessment tool for use with sex offenders, Stable and Acute 2007, to bring you up to date on current developments and future plans.

Background

In the context of the sex offender audit completed in 2006, representatives of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) raised the issue of developing a dynamic risk assessment tool to support Risk Matrix 2000, which could enhance the accuracy and consistency of the assessment of sexual offenders' risk factors. As a result, the multi-agency Sex Offender Risk Assessment and Management Steering Group agreed in August of 2006 that Stable and Acute 2000 would be the second stage tool for use with sex offenders in Scotland. This opened the way for both the development of the tool and for the development of the implementation programme for the key criminal justice agencies.

Implementation of Stable and Acute 2007

Initial multi-agency training of Stable and Acute 2000 was provided during December 2006. Following updates by the authors and feedback from participants, the implementation programme for Stable and Acute 2007 has been confirmed and is now under way. The updates to the tool were not substantive and this means that those staff already trained in the use of Stable and Acute 2000 have not required any additional training. They have merely received information on the updates. (Annexe A)

Training of the multi-agency trainers took place during June 2007 with national roll-out commencing in August 2007. The aim is to complete national roll-out of Stable and Acute 2007 (SA07) training across agencies by December 2007, thus providing the dynamic risk tool identified as necessary in the sex offender audit. (Annexe B - Remaining Stable and Acute 2007 training events.)

The current programme of SA07 training constitutes the national roll-out. Once complete during 2008, Risk Matrix 2000 and Stable and Acute 2007 courses will be combined and limited to three courses per year. It is therefore important that those who still require initial training and have not yet registered, do so now so they can attend training before the current programme comes to an end in December. Nominations for the current programme should be forwarded to Alisdair MacPherson within the Effective Practice Unit through the identified agency representatives, on Alisdair.MacPherson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or 0131 244 5427.

Eligible staff

Please note that those staff planning to undertake the Stable and Acute 2007 training should have successfully completed training on Risk Matrix 2000, prior to attendance.

Implementation timescales

As recommended by the Stable and Acute 2007 Implementation Group and endorsed by the Tri-partite group, ADSW and ACPOS have agreed that Criminal Justice Social Workers and the Police will have assessed all registered sexual offenders using SA07 by end of October 2008.

The Scottish Prison Service has agreed that by end of October 2008, all convicted sex offenders leaving custody will have been assessed using SA07. MAPPA level three cases will be prioritised for Stable and Acute completion, as part of the release process. By end of March 2009 all convicted sex offenders in custody (with sentences of six months or more) will have been assessed using Stable and Acute 2007, during the course of their annual ICM case conference review.

It is therefore essential that, following training, all staff who successfully reach the required competency and are in receipt of their confirmation certificate, commence use of the tool immediately.

Integration of risk assessment tools - Risk Matrix 2000

The authors of Stable and Acute 2007 (Hanson and Harris) advise that SA07 can be fully integrated with Risk Matrix 2000. However, at this point those receiving training have been advised that they should not combine the scores of the two tools, until the Risk Management Authority has concluded the calibration on a Scottish population. Separate scores should continue to be recorded for risk of re-conviction - Risk Matrix 2000 and for risk of reoffending - Stable and Acute 2007. A further circular will be issued when the calibration has been completed and integrated use can commence.

Risk Assessment and Guidance Framework.

Agencies should continue their current use of the Risk Assessment and Guidance Framework until a further circular issues in early 2008. All risk assessments should result in a risk management plan proportionate to risk of reoffending and risk of serious harm. The current development of the single shared risk assessment and case management tool, (Level of Service /Case Management Inventory) aims to continue best practice in relation to risk of serious harm and risk management formulations. On completion of the national roll-out of LSCMI (April 2009), it is intended that the use of RAGF and Level of Service Inventory - Revised will end, with the formulation of consistent risk management plans thus enhanced within and across agencies.

Joint Risk Assessments

In order to ensure effective and consistent assessments, good communication, best use of resources and the development of effective Risk Management Plans, joint agency assessment is recommended wherever practical. Joint agency information sharing is essential and agencies should continue to follow local procedures and protocols in relation to the provision of joint assessments. Within the Scottish Prison Service, specific guidance on the use of Stable and Acute 2007 within the Integrated Case Management system and for prison based social work will be issued.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank you and those involved in these developments for your support in bringing us to this stage in the introduction of standard risk assessment tools for sex offenders in Scotland.

Contact Point

Any queries or comments on this guidance should be sent to:

Mark McSherry, Criminal Justice Directorate, Effective Practice Unit, Community Justice Services Division, Ground West Rear, St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG

Email Mark.McSherry@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Telephone 0131 244 6975

Yours faithfully

MRS ELIZABETH CARMICHAEL CBE

Deputy Director

Annexe A

Guidance notes on updates from Stable and Acute 2000 to Stable and Acute 2007

The training pack included the Master Scoring Guide, which should be used to clarify all definitions of the risk items being scored, and the research study which indicates the validity for assessing these specific items in the manner suggested. It is vital that staff scoring Stable and Acute 2007 refer to these documents.

There are several changes between Stable and Acute 2000 and the 2007 version, they include the following:

Deletions

SA00 had 16 risk items to be scored SA07 now has only 13 items.

Attitudes

The 'Attitudes' section has been removed as it did not predict well. This was deemed to be a teaching failure, attitudes versus behaviour was not accurately predicted by officers.

Significant Social Influences

There is now an easier scoring sheet including a calculation table.

Frequency

Stable 2007 assessments should now be carried out annually and not 6 monthly as research has shown changes in stable elements take longer to be effected that originally thought.

Stable Assessment Tally Sheet

Is clearer and easier to score as the 13 items all now require a single of 0, 1 or 2, giving a final score out of 26 (or out of 24 for offenders with no child victims)

Category Cut-offs

There are new Interpretive Ranges: 0-3 = Low risk, 4-11 = Moderate Risk and 12+ = High Risk.

" Intimacy Deficits" becomes " Capacity for Relationship Stability" - (New two-part scoring)

Emotional Identification with Children

Now only scored for offenders who have child victims who have not yet attained their 14th birthday. For the purpose of risk assessing this item only, and in an effort to distinguish between attraction to the characteristics of young children and those of adults (regardless of age) a child is deemed to be under the age of 14 years. The fundamental concept is the extent to which the offender feels "equal" to children, such that it is appropriate to have children as friends and lovers.

Deviant Sexual Interests

The area of risk being assessed here is 'interest' i.e. a pattern of behaviour. Therefore, offence history must be taken into consideration when scoring this section as one occasion does not equal an interest.

The definition of "deviance" mainly involves sexual behaviour with non-consenting individuals, such as child molesting and rape. In line with Risk Matrix 2000 guidelines regarding internet offenders, the number of victims is not scored where the only offence is downloading indecent images of children. However, victims of grooming should be scored - telephone-calls/texts/video/emails

The scoring of Deviant Preference Victims in this section caused confusion during training due to the ruling regarding the cut off age of victims. The ruling is that when scoring Deviant Preference Victims for the purpose of risk assessment, victims who have reached their 14th birthday are not considered "child" victims. This age ruling is arbitrary and was made due to the fact that 'in the main' assessors very rarely see the victim.

The rule can be overridden where there is clear evidence that the child, if over the age of 14 years, had not attained secondary sexual characteristics at the time of the offence i.e. looked much younger physically.

Where there is clear evidence that the child victims of 12 or 13 years of age have a "mature", "developed" or "adult" body shape (regardless of age) they are not considered Deviant Preference Victims. The assumption being that the preference here is not for childlike physical characteristics.

Acute 2007

Remains largely unchanged. The Unique Factor has been removed as it did not sufficiently add to the prediction of risk. The Tally Sheet been simplified with scoring of four items directly relating to sex/violence recidivism and seven items directly relating to general recidivism. Each item is scored 0 - no concern, 1 - maybe/some concern, 2 - definite concern and IN - Intervene Now. There are separate priority levels for sexual/violent risk management i.e. 0 = Low Priority, 1 = Moderate Priority and 2+ - High Priority for General Recidivism risk management 0 = Low Priority 1-2 = Moderate Priority and 3+ = High Priority. As a Risk Management resource indicator this means those scoring Moderate require approximately twice the amount of supervision time/input as those scoring Low, and likewise those scoring High require approximately twice as much supervision time/input as those score moderate and four times as much as those scoring low.

Master Scoring Guide

The master scoring guide should be referred to regularly to ensure scoring integrity, clarify definition of all risk items and aid inter-rater reliability between agencies.

Annexe B

Stable and Acute 2007 - Remaining training events