Risk assessments are an essential component of the criminal justice system because without them jails and prisons could not carry out their tasks and would not be as effective. Risk in principle is a fact, but danger is a question of perception, how much it will be tolerated by society. People tolerate many risks without realizing the dangers. Risk assessments allow us to understand what is not easily noticeable, although they still have some blind spots where studies need to be carried out. The ways in which community corrections agencies use risk assessments, the elements that are risk assessed, and the strengths and weaknesses of most risk assessments will be discussed. Uses of Risk Assessments There are various risk assessments. For example, there are several for pre-sentence, parole, and interim with prison and prison time served to determine appropriate measures. These will help the offender get what they need based on the severity of their needs. For example, specific treatments and/or rehabilitation programs to be offered to the offender will need to be notified to the relevant authorities and the way to do this is to complete a risk assessment. The first issue for an offender to address is prescription medication. if necessary, as other interventions and programs will not have much effect if the offender does not retain them due to drug use. These treatment facilities communicate with supervisors. They keep them informed about the offender's progress and/or problems he or she is having. Low-risk offenders are eligible for treatment programs. (Loftus, lecture) There are more opportunities that apply to low-risk offenders, not just treatments and programs. Only low-risk offenders in prison have the opportunity to volunteer for... an education course... halfway. The weak points touched on were social groups, the gender gap and racial influences. Works Cited Gould A. Laurie, Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 6(3) (2010), P. 267–285, Perceptions of Risk, Need, and Difficulty of Supervision in Community Corrections, University of Texas at Arlington, http://www.jstor.org/. Accessed: 10/9/2011 Loftus Rebecca PH.D., Risk Assessment Lecture, Fall 2011, Community Probation and Probation. Celebrated: 9/6/11 and 9/8/11MILLS F. JEREMY AND KRONER G. DARYL, Criminal Behavior and Mental Health Vol. 16 (2006), P. 155–166, The effect of the discordance between violence and Overall Predictive Accuracy Recidivism Risk Estimates, 1Bath Institution, Bath, Canada and Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada; 2Pittsburgh Institution, Pittsburgh, Ontario, Canada, http://www.jstor.org/. Logged in: 9/10/11