The development and initial testing of the AIM2 framework to assess risk and strengths in young people who sexually offend

Abstract

This paper describes the AIM2 assessment framework and the process of its development and initial testing. AIM2 is used to assess areas of concerns and strengths of young people. Some preliminary analysis is described, including the correlation of assessment items, their ability to discriminate between cases, their inter-rater reliability and a small-scale recidivist study. These analyses were used to develop AIM2. Results from the recidivist study identified a particular set of concern and strength factors associated with recidivism in the sample. We conclude that the inclusion of strengths-related items are important to consider as protective factors when assessing the risk of further sexually abusive behaviours. Limitations and future directions of AIM2 are also discussed.     

Lawyers' lives,lawyers' incomes

Women lawyers, like women generally, earn less money than men for comparable work. This unfortunate conclusion has been reached by many scholars in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.² Frequently the explanations originate in the structure and culture of large law firms. Allan Lind and one of the present authors (Felstiner) collected data on a different segment of the American profession, lawyers who are consulted by individuals, generally practicing on their own or in small firms. This paper presents a picture of the professional lives of these lawyers and information about the connections between income and gender in this generally disregarded sector of the profession (but see Sarat & Felstiner, 1995; Seron, 1996; Van Hoy, 1997; Mather et al., 2001; Levin, 2004).