Assessing the ‘Other’

Abstract

This article reports findings from a study comparing pre-sentence reports and risk-assessment schedules prepared on white and Asian offenders by a probation service in north-west England. The development and use of risk assessment by the Probation Service in England and Wales are reviewed, and it is argued that it is important that risk assessment should be included in ethnic monitoring and research. Considerable differences in the attribution of remorse and acceptance of responsibility were found in the pre-sentence reports, and there were also differences in the scoring of factors associated with offending in the risk assessments. These findings are discussed in relation to existing research on ‘race’ and criminal justice, and in relation to research on constructions of Asian ‘Otherness’.