Chapter 2 The development of OASys Evidence boxes The Aye-Maung and Hammond study found that practitioners liked the opportunity to provide further comments and evidence for their ratings, rather than use a checklist, because it allows assessors to express their concerns and elaborate on their assessment. The evidence boxes also provide an opportunity for someone coming fresh to assessment to understand how previous decisions about scoring were made. The OASys system incorporates evidence boxes to explain the scores for all items where a judgement is required.
Offender input Although responsibility for critical assessment is the job of the practitioner, it is important that offenders are able to express their views. The Aye- Maung study found that many probation officers welcomed the opportunity for offenders to complete a questionnaire about their problems. This is included in OASys as the ‘Self-assessment’ . Useable within limited time constraints It is important that any assessment system can be completed within the time available.
On the basis of pilot feedback and statistical evidence, we have reduced the number of items in OASys and two versions are now available to be used with different types of offenders, or at different stages in the assessment process. As further reconviction data becomes available, we may undertake further editing of OASys to improve the quality of the system. Complements current practice It is important that an assessment system does not place unreasonable burdens on practitioners and that it should fit well with sentence planning and supervision and OASys has been designed with this in mind. A framework for supervision and sentence planning is provided.
Components of OASys There are five main parts to the Offender Assessment System: ! risk of reconviction and offending related factors (OASys 1 and 2) ! risk of serious harm, risks to individual and other risks ! OASys summary sheet ! supervision and sentence planning ! self assessment. There is also a ‘Confidential’ section for information that cannot be disclosed to the offender, and a form for requesting information from anyone contributing to an OASys assessment. You can find guidance on information that cannot be disclosed to the offender in Chapter 3. OASys Manual V2 © Crown Copyright 2002 Page 10