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An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Public Safety Risk Assessment Clearinghouse

A leading resource for comprehensive and accessible information on public safety risk assessment for safer communities.
Advancing Fairness and Transparency: National Guidelines for Post-Conviction Risk and Needs Assessment

Using Risk Assessments for Safer Communities


Criminal justice agencies use risk assessments to assist with the allocation of limited resources to manage and rehabilitate people at various stages of the criminal justice system. The Public Safety Risk Assessment Clearinghouse (PSRAC) provides evidence-based information about how to use risk assessments effectively and properly to build safe families and communities.

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About PSRAC


The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has partnered with the Urban Institute (Urban) to create the content for the Public Safety Risk Assessment Clearinghouse (PSRAC), a comprehensive online source for current and objective information on criminal justice risk and needs assessments. PSRAC brings together a wide range of resources from research and practice, and presents this information in a way that is easy to understand and use. PSRAC also provides training and technical assistance on issues related to the development, validation, adoption, implementation, and use of risk and needs assessments.

BJA is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs working to support local, state, and tribal justice policy development and capacity building through grant administration, training, and technical assistance. Urban conducts research and evaluation to create evidence-based criminal justice policy and practice at the federal, state, and local levels. The development of PSRAC content was supported by Grant No. 2015-ZB-BX-K004 from BJA.