An Assessment of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services Detention Risk Assessment Instrument on Youths Screened and Processed at the Hillsborough County Juvenile Assessment Center

Abstract

Screening data, including information obtained from the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services Detention Risk Assessment Instrument and the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers developed by NIDA, on arrested youths processed at the Hillsborough County, Florida Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) in November 1993 are analyzed. The results provide support for the effectiveness of the Detention Risk Assessment Instrument in differentiating among youths released to the community unsupervised, youths placed on home detention and those placed in secure detention. Youths placed in secure detnetion evidence the highest rates of problems in regard to self-reported marijuana and alcohol use in the past year, and experiencing potential problems in the areas of leisure and recreation and family relations. Unsupervised release youths evidence the lowest rates of problems in these domains, and youths placed on home detention reflect an intermediate rate of these problems. The service delivery and policy implications of these findings are drawn.