Research Department - The Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA)
The Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA)
The Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA), a procedure to predict future wife assaults, was developed by the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Ministry of Health in response to the May/Iles and Hadley inquest recommendations. It was also a result of recommendations by The Joint Committee on Domestic Violence to the Attorney General of Ontario in 1999. The ODARA is a single assessment that is available for use by police, victim services, health care, and correctional agencies. It is the first empirically tested and validated domestic violence risk assessment tool to assess risk of future wife assault, as well as the frequency and severity of these assaults.
The ODARA is the result of a collaboration between the Ontario Provincial Police and the our Research Department. The OPP's Behavioural Sciences Section is mandated to provide criminal investigation support services and training of a behavioural nature to OPP and other criminal justice agencies within the Province of Ontario. The MHCP Research Department is internationally known for scientific research on crime, violence, mental disorder, and risk appraisal. In 2001, this research team was awarded a quarter-million-dollar grant by the federal government to develop risk assessments for wife assault recidivism. The funds also support research on the mental health issues of women assaulted by their spouses. In 2003, the team was recognized through an award for Team Endeavours from the Ontario Women in Law Enforcement.
The ODARA was created from research on nearly 600 cases from OPP and municipal police forces. Using multiple regression techniques, the researchers found that 13 questions were the most highly predictive of future violence. The risk of assault can be predicted with high accuracy using these questions alone, reducing the need for a comprehensive assessment in order to evaluate risk of reoffence. The 13 yes/no questions cover the accused man's history of violence and antisocial behaviour (police record for domestic assault, police record for nondomestic assault, prior correctional sentence, prior failure on conditional release, violence outside the home, domestic assault during pregnancy, substance abuse), details of the most recent assault (physical confinement, threats of harm, victim reported fearing future assaults at time of the assault), and the victim's personal circumstances (number of children, children from a prior relationship, barriers to support).
The ODARA is an actuarial risk assessment such that its scores rank wife assaulters on risk for repeated domestic violence. Thus, a male domestic offender can be placed into one of seven categories of risk. For example, a score of 0 places a man in the lowest risk category; 11% of men in the ODARA research study fell into this category, and 5% of these men met the criteria for domestic recidivism within a follow up of about 5 years. A score of 7 or more places a man in the highest risk category; 7% of men fell into this category, and 70% of these men met the criteria for domestic recidivism.
Higher scores on the ODARA also indicate that an accused assaulter will commit more assaults, commit them sooner, and cause more injury (in a range of injury from none to lethality) than an accused with a lower score.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Can I draw a conclusion about risk using only the ODARA score?
Yes, the ODARA can be used validly as the only assessment to measure risk of domestic violence. More information is not required in order to score the ODARA. Adjusting the score by adding other information could result in lower accuracy.
2. Can the ODARA be used to assess lethality?
The ODARA does not predict lethal domestic violence specifically, but higher ODARA scores do indicate more severe future assaults, and our current research has found that retrospective scores based on information available prior to domestic murders rank these cases in the highest risk category.
3. Does the ODARA predict assaults that the police don't find out about?
The ODARA calculates the likelihood of assaults known to police, so the likelihood of any assault, with our without police involvement, could be different from the stated recidivism rate. The rank order statistic (how a man compares with known wife assaulters), however, is expected to be stable.
4. Why aren't jealousy or threats of suicide included in the ODARA?
The 13 items on the ODARA are those found to be the strongest predictors of domestic violence recidivism. Other information was not predictive (e.g., suicide threats) or would not improve the accuracy of the risk assessment (e.g., jealousy). Information that is not part of the ODARA should not be used to adjust the ODARA score or its interpretation of risk. Although information such as jealousy, suicidal behaviour, use of weapons, victim injury, and so on, cannot be used to adjust the estimated risk, they can be taken into account when devising a safety plan for the victim or interventions for the perpetrator.
5. I am scoring the ODARA entirely from a client interview with a female victim. She doesn't know about her partner's prior involvement with police. Can I still score the ODARA?
No. The ODARA can be scored with up to 5 items missing. But if nothing is known about whether the partner has had any police involvement or no-contact orders, we recommend that more information be obtained.
6. The police (courts, etc.) have referred this case to me and I cannot interview the victim. Can I still score the ODARA?
Yes. The ODARA can be scored without a victim interview if other, valid sources of information are used. But if nothing is known about the details of the index incident, or about the children, we recommend that more information be obtained.
7. What about assaults in dating relationships? And what about assaults by women, or assaults in same-sex relationships?
A recent study indicated that the ODARA also can predict repeated assaults by men who assaulted their female dating partners.
The ODARA was developed and tested only for male-to-female assault. It is currently being tested in other relationships. Contact us for current information.
8. Can the ODARA be used if the man was not found guilty of assault?
Yes. The ODARA was developed and tested on all cases that were documented in police records. In some cases, charges were not pursued, and convictions were not obtained. The ODARA significantly predicted domestic violence recidivism in either case. In doing the ODARA research, researchers read all the material pertaining to each occurrence. An incident was included if the material satisfactorily indicated that an assault by a man against his female domestic partner had occurred. Incidents about which the researchers had any doubt were not included as index incidents. In tests of agreement on the researchers' decisions, a high level of reliability was achieved.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The development and cross-validations of the ODARA and DVRAG are fully described in the book:
Hilton, N.Z., Harris, G.T., & Rice, M.E. (2010). Risk assessment for domestically violent men: Tools for criminal justice, offender intervention, and victim services. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
This book contains all the information needed to score and interpret the ODARA and DVRAG in any setting. Practice materials are included. There is no scoring sheet available for sale and no fee per use, and no professional restrictions on the use of the ODARA.
ODARA TRAINING
ODARA Certification consists of a test of scoring accuracy on 10 standard cases. This assessment may be completed by mail. Self-guided study of the ODARA scoring instructions in the book, described above, is strongly recommended. Send an e-mail for details on the application process.
ODARA Distance Learning (a free service) is a directed study program consisting of two assignments and the Certification assessment. The book, described above, is required reading. Send an e-mail for details on the application process.
ODARA Police Training: One day of instruction, practice, and evaluation geared to the needs of policing services, with particular attention to scoring the ODARA from records management systems used in Ontario. Police training may be provided by the creators of the ODARA, for groups of 20 or more, by arrangement.
ODARA Trainers may be available in your Province or State. Send an e-mail telling us your location and training needs and we’ll try to put you in contact with a professional near you who has completed an ODARA trainer program.
For information on police services in Ontario who are using the ODARA, please contact:
Det. Sgt. Kelly Grubb
Behavioural Sciences Section
Ontario Provincial Police
Lincoln M. Alexander Bldg.
777 Memorial Avenue
Orillia, ON L3V 7V3
CANADA
(705) 329-6407; e-mail
MEDIA LINKS
Government of Ontario Domestic Violence Action Plan, September, 2005
Government of Ontario Announcement, November 2004
Toronto Star article by Caroline Mallan, November 2004
Saskatchewan Social Worker story, November 2004 (p. 14)
Toronto Star article by Scott Simmie, January 2004