Targeting dispositions for drug-involved offenders: A field trial of the Risk and Needs Triage (RANT)™

PurposeThis field trial examined the process of assigning drug-involved offenders to dispositions based on their criminogenic risks and needs.MethodsProbation officers administered the Risk and Needs Triage (RANT)™ to 627 felony drug and property offenders at the pre-trial stage or shortly after sentencing to probation. The RANT™ was evaluated for internal scale consistency, factor structure, and predictive validity for re-arrest and re-conviction rates within 12 months of case disposition. Exploratory analyses examined whether recidivism was lower for participants who were assigned to an appropriate disposition given their assessment results.ResultsThe RANT™ demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and factorial validity, and significantly predicted re-arrest and re-conviction rates within 12 months of case disposition. There was no racial or gender bias in the prediction of recidivism. Non-significant trends favored better outcomes for participants who were assigned to the indicated dispositions.ConclusionsThe results lend support for the RANT™ as a dispositional triage tool for drug-involved defendants and probationers at or near the point of arrest. The results also lend tentative support to the hypothesis that outcomes might be better if drug-involved offenders were matched to appropriate dispositions based on their risk-and-need profiles. Directions for future research are discussed.

Research highlights
► The RANT™ predicted recidivism for felony drug and property offenders.
► Criminogenic risk and need constituted independent and coherent factors.
► Trends favored better outcomes for offenders who received suitable dispositions.