Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) Principles The Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model is one of the most dominant paradigms in the risk
and needs assessment field. It has emerged as a prominent framework for guiding offender
assessment and treatment because it is one of the few comprehensive theories of how to provide
effective recidivism reduction interventions to offenders. Experts in the field of risk and needs
assessment assert that assessment systems should adhere to the RNR model. As the Vera Institute
of Justice notes, “[u]nderlying the development of evidence-based practices in the criminal justice
system are the risk, need, and responsivity principles” [emphasis original]