Development, application and initial findings of the Risk Screener Youth (RS-Y): efficient and effective screening of risk and protective factors for violence and criminality

Structured evaluation of risk and protective factors for criminality and violence guides youth intervention, risk management and prevention. However, traditional comprehensive risk assessment is not always feasible when resources are scarce. Therefore, the Risk Screener Youth (RS-Y) was developed as more viable risk evaluation alternative. This paper presents the RS-Y development and explains its versions for professionals, youth self-assessment and social network-assessment. Application in treatment and supervision practice is exemplified by prospective findings regarding psychometric properties and professional and youth user-experiences in three community settings. The RS-Y demonstrates to distinguish between risk and protective factor profiles for subgroups of youth, based on criminal history, age and gender. Moreover, repeated RS-Y measurements display positive changes in individual profiles over time: dynamic risk factors reduce, while protective factors increase. In addition, the tool shows predictive value for self-reported hostility. Comparison of professional- and self-rated RS-Y’s shows self-assessment is more positive. Importantly, both service providers and users are optimistic about applying the tool in practice. Overall, the RS-Y shows promise as new risk evaluation method that is efficient and feasible to use in a wide range of youth (forensic) care settings. The positive findings from initial validation, practical use and implementation are discussed.