The risk of assessment: Understanding service providers' use of risk assessment for intimate partner violence and homicide prevention with Indigenous populations

• Main Author: Peters, Olivia
• Other Authors: Linden, Rick (Sociology and Criminology), Peter, Tracey (Sociology and Criminology), Brownridge, Douglas (Community Health Sciences), Jane Ursel (Sociology and Criminology) Sharon Mason (Circling Buffalo Incorporated)
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Sociology; Criminology; Domestic violence; Domestic homicide; Crime prevention; Indigenous research; Risk assessment; Qualitative methodology; Nunavut
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/34221

Risk assessments for intimate partner violence focus on the risk a victim may face of being revictimized and/or the likelihood that a perpetrator will reoffend. In many cases, these risk assessments involve an actuarial assessment of these risks, paying little attention to contextual and historical risk factors. With the over-representation of Indigenous populations in intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration, it is imperative that risk assessments consider the impact of colonization on Indigenous people’s increased vulnerability to intimate partner violence. Few researchers have critiqued the implications of clinical and actuarial risk assessments on Indigenous people. In an effort to address this issue, this thesis: (1) takes stock of current risk assessment strategies used by Canada’s service providers in the anti-violence sector; (2) identifies useful “promising practices” and barriers to effective risk assessment as identified by service providers; (3) discusses the ways in which these findings can be used to conceptualize an alternative approach to risk assessment; and (4) provides recommendations for the future of risk assessment based on the shortcomings identified in both the literature and interviews with service providers. This research uses a convenience sample of 30 telephone interviews with service providers, all of which were conducted by the author, which include 17 in Manitoba, seven in British Columbia, five in Alberta, and one in Nunavut. The sectors represented include, police, shelters, healthcare, victim services, probation. Findings indicate that many service providers use a patchwork approach to risk assessment, combining elements of structured and unstructured tools and practices to suit the individual and address the complex interplay of individual and systemic factors. October 2019