The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ) has contracted with Florida State University’s (FSU) College of Criminology and Criminal Justice to conduct an evaluation study of two of their risk assessment instruments: (1) the Community Positive Achievement Change Tool (C-PACT) and (2) the Residential Positive Achievement Change Tool (R-PACT). The C-PACT and the R-PACT are used to assess the criminogenic risks and needs, as well as appropriate treatments and services, for all youth referred to non-residential community sanctions and residential placement, respectively.
The purpose of this project is to evaluate the predictive validity of the C-PACT and R-PACT in determining the likelihood of youth engaging in new offenses after the completion of their juvenile disposition. Additionally, this project involves determining whether the current scoring of the risk assessment instruments can be improved to better predict reoffending. The results will be used to improve the validity of risk assessment in the Florida Juvenile Justice System. Additional information on the C-PACT and R-PACT can be found on the FDJJ website.
Contacts
Principal Investigators: Carter Hay, Ph.D., Jennifer Copp, Ph.D., and Brian Stults, Ph.D.
Project Manager: George Pesta, Ph.D.
Graduate Students: Brae Campion Young and Tiffaney Tomlinson
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
Dates: 2017 – 2018