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Risk assessment and risk management planning are integral to reducing risk of future violence in forensic settings. Over the past decade, emphasis has been placed on involving service users in this process. Nonetheless, service user knowledge of violence risk assessments such as the Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20, Version 3 (HCR-20v3) and collaborative risk assessment is often limited. This service evaluation aimed to assess the effectiveness of a pilot Understanding Risk programme, on increasing knowledge of the HCR-20v3 and insight into risk of violence.

The methodology used was a within-subjects design, collecting quantitative data before and after intervention. Participants’ beliefs and attitudes supportive of violence, and perceptions of their recovery, were assessed using a semi-structured HCR-20v3 questionnaire, the Maudsley Violence Questionnaire and the Recovery Assessment Scale – Domains and Stages. An HCR-20v3 historical factor checklist was also completed. The final sample (n = 11) consisted of low and medium secure forensic inpatients.

The results of this study indicated that after intervention, participants had significantly greater knowledge of the HCR-20v3 and more positive perceptions of their functional and personal recovery. Significant changes were not observed on the Maudsley Violence Questionnaire total score; however, further analysis indicated significantly lower scores on the “acceptance of violence” subscale after intervention.

The Understanding Risk programme was associated with positive changes across treatment domains in a small sample of forensic inpatients. Specifically, improvements were observed for increased knowledge of the HCR-20v3, attitudes towards recovery and non-acceptance of violence. It would be of clinical benefit to replicate this study across different levels of security to increase the generalisability of findings. This study shows promise for the efficacy of the Understanding Risk programme among forensic inpatients.

This service evaluation provides preliminary support for the benefits of educating and involving service users in violence risk assessment.

Research indicates the challenges indeterminate sentenced prisoners (ISPs) face within open prison may have a potentially devastating impact on rehabilitation and prison sentence progression. The authors conducted a study in an English open prison to explore whether the closed prison environment within England and Wales is sufficiently preparing ISPs for the transition to open conditions. There is currently a gap in existing research concerning this issue, which this paper aims to narrow for the purpose of informing good practice and improving sentence progression and rehabilitation outcomes within His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.

Qualitative and exploratory. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes (Braun and Clarke, 2019).

Findings indicated the need for policy in closed prisons to better prepare ISPs for open prison and the need for policy in open prisons to better support ISPs during the liminal phase.

Findings aimed to inform consideration for improvements to enhance preparation for, and transition to, open conditions. A 17-month follow-up after dissemination of the research found evidence for the practical application of the findings at a local level within HMPPS and potential for wider applications linking to strategy and ISP initiatives.

If applied more widely across HMPPS in both closed and open prisons, the research findings have the potential to improve sentence progression and rehabilitation outcomes for ISPs.

The guaranteed minimum income is an idea that is consonant with a social-theoretical tradition which can be traced from G. W. F. Hegel via Eduard Heimann to contemporary social thinkers like Jürgen Habermas and beyond. It is the cornerstone of an expansive theory of social policy expressive of the changes in the relationship between economy and society over the long-term, which I am referring to here as the societal rationalization of the economy. By starting with Hegel's remarks on poverty in The Philosophy of Right (1821/1958), the stage is set to examine the guaranteed minimum income as a policy project with strong constitutional implications. Like Hegel, Eduard Heimann did not address the idea of the guaranteed minimum income directly; yet, his arguably most important work, Social Theory of Capitalism: Theory of Social Policy (1929/1980), provides an excellent frame of reference for appreciating how the guaranteed minimum income exemplifies a radically reformist project of social policy that is pointing beyond inherently regressive social structures. In the writings of Ralf Dahrendorf and Claus Offe, a theory of social policy that treats the guaranteed minimum income as a constitutional right takes shape. This chapter concludes with an attempt at delineating how a guaranteed minimum income should aspire to be one important step toward the societal rationalization of the economy.