The findings summarise the responses of over 100,000 offenders, as recorded
in the OASys self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ), between January 2003 and May
2006.
Main points:
Offenders were
less likely to report problems than practitioners. Offenders who claimed they
had many problems were more likely to be female, younger and White, with a
higher likelihood of reconviction.
Many offenders
were more optimistic about their likelihood of reoffending than their OASys
scores would predict, or they portrayed this optimism in the SAQ.
While females
were more inclined to perceive themselves as having a large number of problems,
particularly emotional well-being, they thought they were less likely to reoffend.
Of those offenders
who thought they were very likely to reoffend, over half said that they had
a problem with drugs and approximately a quarter referred to drugs when explaining
their likelihood of further offending.
A SAQ was completed
in 22% of the OASys assessments included in the research.