ANNOTATION: The primary purpose of this Guide is to provide a structure for jurisdictions, juvenile probation or centralized statewide agencies striving to implement risk assessment or to improve their current risk assessment practices. Risk assessment in this Guide refers to the practice of using a structured tool that combines information about youth to classify them as being low, moderate or high risk for reoffending or continued delinquent activity, as well as identifying factors that might reduce that risk on an individual basis. The purpose of such risk assessment tools is to help in making decisions about youths placement and supervision, and creating intervention plans that will reduce their level of risk. The recommendations in this Guide are research-based. The Guide is the result of years of research conducted by highly experienced experts in the field (p. 5). Chapters following an executive summary are: introduction to risk-need-responsivity (RNR) and risk assessment; concepts and terms of risk assessment; and 8 steps in developing and implementing a risk assessment systemgetting ready, establishing stakeholder and organizational buy-in, select and prepare the risk assessment tool, preparing policies and essential document for use of the tool in decision-making, training, implement pilot test, full implementation, and on-going tasks for sustainability. [read the full story here]