By: Chris Kamin, equivant Supervision
Agencies and practitioners often ask our team about the differences and similarities between the standard COMPAS Core and the COMPAS-R Core. In addition to creating this document detailing the differences and similarities, we created a three-part blog series to answer the most commonly-asked questions regarding these two instruments:
- Why was COMPAS-R Core created and how does it differ from the Standard COMPAS Core?
- How do the scales in the COMPAS-R Core differ from those in the Standard COMPAS Core?
- What new configuration capabilities does the Northpointe Suite offer with the COMPAS-R Core?
The questions and answers presented in this series primarily cover differences between the two instruments. Both the standard COMPAS and COMPAS-R Core are designed to assess risk and needs of people in post-conviction statuses of community supervision (either probation or parole) or incarceration, to inform appropriate supervision, treatment targets and dosages.
It is important to note that the COMPAS-R Core is based on the standard COMPAS Core, which was developed empirically with a focus on predictors known to affect recidivism. Like the standard COMPAS Core, it includes dynamic risk factors and assesses persons on a variety of well-validated risk and need factors designed to aid in correctional intervention to decrease the likelihood of reoffending.
For more information about new configurations, how administration differs between the two instruments, and how supervision recommendations differ, please download the comprehensive and ever-evolving document here.
WHAT NEW CONFIGURATION OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE COMPAS-R CORE?
What are the opioid override options?
The opioid crisis in the US has resulted in many agencies making supervision level override decisions to ensure low and medium risk persons receive the programming and support in the community based on RNR principles. COMPAS-R configuration capabilities support automatic overrides for both supervision and need levels to not only help keep rates within acceptable parameters, but also collect the data necessary to inform processes.
First, if the agency is using either the Composite or Probation Norm, the opioid supervision override may be selected. The result of selecting this is if the person was using opioids illegally at the time of arrest or offense, their supervision level will be moved to the highest supervision level. The intention of the override is to make sure that the person is getting the care they need.
Second, a Substance Use Need level override may be selected, regardless of the Norm used. The result of selecting this is if the person was using opioids illegally at the time of arrest or offense, their Substance Use Need level will be moved to the next higher level. In most cases, this means “Highly Probable.” This automated supervision level override capability helps agencies keep rates within acceptable parameters while also helping collect the necessary data to inform processes and ensure clients receive programming and support based on RNR principles.
Note that neither of these overrides affect the person’s risk. It is planned to test this item as a risk input in future work.
How is placement language determined?
Standard COMPAS and COMPAS-R Core both offer the ability to create assessments focused on the person’s placement at the time of assessment. This means that questions are formulated around either a community or an incarcerated setting, so items are written in a more sensible and meaningful way for the respondent.
Improvements with COMPAS-R Core include the ability for users to choose the placement setting (community or incarcerated) at the time of assessment to reduce the overall number of assessments needed and to increase reliability in ensuring the most appropriate assessment is being administered.
Can the scales in an assessment be re-ordered within a domain?
In the standard COMPAS Core, scales are arranged within the assessment in a fixed order. The COMPAS-R Core offers the agency the option of re-arranging scales within their assigned domains. So, although the arrangement of the domains is still fixed, the arrangement of the scales within the domain can be reordered to ensure the assessment process matches agency-defined workflows.
Can comments be entered along with responses?
The COMPAS-R Core offers agencies capability to configure comments within the assessment. Users can easily record clarifying information during the interview or self-report portions of the assessment so important details can be captured at the item level rather than in a disconnected noting system. Comment history is also stored and includes any changes made to the comment, along with the user who made those changes, date and time.
Is there a way to suppress printing the scale names in the Self-Report section?
Agencies may require a client to complete a printed page of self-report items. These items are grouped by the scales to which they belong, with the scale name displayed. New functionality within the COMPAS-R Core allows the agency to configure whether scale names will be printed along with the self-report items.
Does the Summary Report have other display options besides the bar chart?
The standard COMPAS bar chart is a quick visual to summarize the person’s risk and need results. The bar chart continues to be available in the COMPAS-R Core, but the option to display a matrix of “checkboxes” to summarize the person’s results is also available in assessment configuration. The advantage of the check boxes is that it clearly expresses the person’s risk and need levels without decile information.
The COMPAS Core and Compas-R share a common purpose, except the COMPAS-R Core offers a more efficient, transparent, and modern approach to assessments, while still delivering accurate, evidence-based results.
Click on the links below to explore more information about these instruments.
- Why was the COMPAS-R Core created and how does it differ from the Standard COMPAS Core?
- How do the scales in the COMPAS-R Core differ from those in the Standard COMPAS Core?
- Explore additional differences.
