GLM+ at the 46th Czech-Slovak Forensic Psychiatric Conference: risk assessment in sexual offenders in the spotlight

At the 46th Czech-Slovak Forensic Psychiatric Conference held at the Za plotem Theatre in the Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital, Mgr. Marek Navrátil from the National Institute of Mental Health gave a presentation. In his lecture “Risk Assessment in Sexual Offenders” he introduced the specific features of working with risk in perpetrators of sexually motivated criminal offences and showed what changes the projects Změna OL and GLM+ can bring into practice. “For perpetrators of sexually motivated criminal offences, it is not enough just to describe what happened. We need to understand why it happened and under what circumstances it may happen again,” said Marek Navrátil in his presentation.

Risk assessment in perpetrators of sexually motivated criminal offences

The lecture by Mgr. Marek Navrátil, Head of the Applied Section at the Centre for Sexual Health and Intervention at NUDZ, focused on risk assessment in perpetrators of sexually motivated criminal offences (SMTČ). At the beginning, he presented the specific characteristics of working with this target group – including the different dynamics of risk factors and the need for a structured approach to risk. “Structured risk assessment is not self-serving paperwork. It is a way of better targeting care and intervention at the person’s real needs while at the same time protecting potential victims,” he stressed.

An important topic was the differences between risk assessment in the setting of protective treatment and in imprisonment. Each system operates under a different mandate, a different level of control and with different tools, yet the goal should be unified, transparent and professionally grounded risk assessment. “Both protective treatment and imprisonment have a different mandate, but the shared interest of everyone is the safety of society. For that we need a shared language, which can be provided by shared tools for risk assessment,” Navrátil added.

Development and use of tools in practice

Mgr. Navrátil also addressed the development of tools for risk assessment and their categorisation – from previously used, rather informal procedures towards structured and empirically validated tools (risk assessment). He shared experience with the use of these tools in psychiatric hospitals and in prisons and pointed out the need for their broader and more systematic use throughout the system of corrective and protective measures.

The expansion of structured risk assessment in penitentiary and post-penitentiary practice is one of the goals pursued by the GLM+ project. “We need decision-making about risk to be based on a combination of clinical experience and data – and for this to be understood by therapists as well as by courts and other actors,” Navrátil said.

Změna OL and GLM+ projects: concrete plans for SMTČ

In the next part of the lecture, current plans for introducing tools for perpetrators of SMTČ within the Změna OL and GLM+ projects were presented. The GLM+ project, focusing on non-paraphilic perpetrators of sexually motivated criminal offences serving a prison sentence in the system of the Czech Prison Service, is based on the Good Lives Model (GLM) and links work with risk to an emphasis on quality of life and long-term behaviour change.

The expected impacts on correctional institutions, courts and forensic experts were also mentioned – for example stronger support by data in decision-making, better comprehensibility of conclusions for practice and stronger interconnectedness between the individual parts of the system (psychiatric hospitals, prisons, Probation and Mediation Service, forensic experts). “The Změna OL and GLM+ projects show that we are able to combine clinical experience with data and long-term planning that makes sense both to professionals and to the system as a whole,” Navrátil summed up.

Why GLM+ is present in the forensic psychiatric community

Participation in the Czech-Slovak Forensic Psychiatric Conference is an opportunity for GLM+ to share experience from the programme’s pilot phase and at the same time to strengthen professional dialogue across the ministries of health and justice and the prison system. Cooperation between institutions, standardisation of procedures and sharing of practice are prerequisites for structured risk assessment and therapeutic programmes such as GLM+ to become a normal part of the system.

At VOLONTÉ, we welcome the fact that the topic of work with perpetrators of sexually motivated criminal offences and the development of structured risk assessment is moving to the forefront of professional discussion – and that the Změna OL and GLM+ projects are an active part of it

The project “GLM+” (CZ.03.03.01/00/23_051/0004708) is supported under the Employment Plus Operational Programme and is co-funded by the European Union.