Same score, different message: perceptions of offender risk depend on Static-99R risk communication format

Area of Science:

• Forensic Psychology
• Legal Decision-Making
• Risk Assessment

Background:

• The Static-99R is widely used to assess sexual offender recidivism risk.
• Communication of Static-99R scores can be presented in various formats: categorical, relative risk, or recidivism rates.
• The impact of these different communication formats on laypersons' understanding and conclusions is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether judges and jurors interpret the same Static-99R score differently based on the communication format used.
• To examine how different risk communication formats influence risk perceptions of sexual offenders.

Main Methods:

• Community members (N=211) were presented with information about a sexual offender and his Static-99R score (1 or 6).
• The risk communication format was manipulated across three conditions: categorical, relative risk, or recidivism rate.
• Participants rated the offender's risk level and the importance/understandability of the Static-99R results.

Main Results:

• Participants rated the high-scoring offender as higher risk than the low-scoring offender only in the categorical communication condition.
• Risk ratings for the high-scoring offender were significantly higher in the categorical format compared to relative risk and recidivism rate formats.
• Participants found Static-99R results less important and harder to understand when presented in categorical or relative risk formats, particularly for low-risk scores.

Conclusions:

• The communication format significantly influences how laypersons perceive sexual offender risk scores.
• Categorical risk labels appear to be more impactful for high-risk offenders than statistical formats.
• Laypersons may be more receptive to high-risk assessments and interpretative labels over statistical data.