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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR SENTENCERS

OASys: THE NEW OFFENDER

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
Supporting the Courts by assessing offenders and providing accurate and timely reports prior to
sentencing is a major part of the National Probation Service's (NPS) business.

OASys – the Offender Assessment System – is a new way of providing such information which, in
turn, should enable courts to ensure offenders are given sentences which work.

ISSUE 3 – SPRING 2003

This briefing note looks at OASys – an important new development in offender assessment
which will improve sentencing advice to the courts and also, after sentence, the supervision of
offenders by the National Probation Service and the Prison Service.
1. INTRODUCTION
The Offender Assessment System, which is usually
shortened to OASys (pronounced "oasis"), is a
standardised process for the assessment of offenders that
has been developed jointly by the National Probation
Service (NPS) and the Prison Service.
It improves the quality of assessment by introducing a
structured, research-based approach to assessing an
offender's likelihood of reconviction, the criminogenic
factors associated with offending, and the risk of harm he
or she presents.
The introduction of OASys in the NPS is well advanced
and the Prison Service is introducing it from April this year.
OASys will replace other assessment tools such as ACE
and LSI-R.
2. OASys BASICS
OASys was developed as a set of paper forms that break
down into a number of different sections. Having
interviewed the offender and read other relevant papers
the assessor completes the OASys documentation
through ticked yes/no, scored or free-text responses to
questions. For example, these may relate to the
offender's criminal history, drug misuse, attitudes and so
on. The full benefits of OASys will only be realised through
its being available as a computerised system, and both the
NPS and Prison Service are making good progress in
developing the OASys electronic version.
3. WHAT OASys PROVIDES
OASys has been designed to:
ƒ Assess how likely an offender is to be reconvicted
ƒ Identify and classify offending-related needs including
basic personality characteristics, thinking deficits and
social issues
ƒ Assess risk of harm to others and also to themselves
ƒ Assist with the management of risk of harm
ƒ Link assessments with supervision plans and sentence
plans
ƒ Indicate need for further specialist assessments
ƒ Measure how an offender changes during the period of
supervision/sentence
An OASys assessment will be carried out at the stage that
the pre-sentence report (PSR) is produced, with further
assessments conducted periodically throughout the
sentence (whether in custody or in the community) and at
the end of sentence. If there is no PSR, OASys will be
completed for the first time at commencement of the
sentence.
4. WHO WILL BE ASSESSED USING
OASys?
OASys will be used for the following groups:
ƒ All offenders subject to court ordered pre-sentence
reports
ƒ All adult offenders subject to community penalties
ƒ Residents of approved probation premises, including
those on bail
ƒ Adults serving six months or more in custody
ƒ Young offenders serving one month or more in custody
ƒ Those released from prison on licence
5. HOW DOES OASys WORK?
The main part of OASys examines the following factors
which research shows to predict the likelihood of an
offender being reconvicted:
ƒ Offending history and current offence
ƒ Social and economic factors: access to
accommodation; education, training and employability;
financial management and income; lifestyle and
associates; relationships, drug and/or alcohol misuse
ƒ Personal factors: thinking and behaviour; attitude
towards offending and towards supervision; emotional
factors such as anxiety or depression.
The impact that each of these factors has on the
offender's risk of reconviction is highlighted, as well as the
risk of his causing serious harm to others or indeed to
himself.
OASys also contains a section on sentence planning as
well as a self-assessment questionnaire which the
offender is asked to complete. The latter is an important
opportunity for the offender to comment on how he sees
himself and his offending. (Evidence suggests that
offenders often recognise their problems; whether or not
they do is of interest to the officer conducting the
assessment). OASys will, where appropriate, trigger the
use of further specialist assessments on such issues as
basic skills, violence and substance misuse.

6. IMPLEMENTATION TIMETABLE

Implementation of OASys, first as a paper-based system

but subsequently as an electronic system, is underway
across the National Probation Service. All 42 probation
areas are due to be using the electronic version (known as
e-OASys) early in 2004. Implementation of the Prison
Service's OASys IT system began in April 2003 and is due
to finish towards the end of 2004.

7. HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

Contact your local office of the National Probation Service

(NPS). Alternatively you may wish to consult the central
OASys team – write to Nadeem Mohammed at the
National Probation Directorate, 2nd floor Horseferry
House, Dean Ryle Street, London SW1P 2AW; email
nadeem.mohammed@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Previous issues of Important Information for Sentencers

are also available:

ƒ Issue 1: Working Together – Probation and the Courts

ƒ Issue 2: What Works – Reducing Reoffending

Issue 4: Enhanced Community Punishment will be

published in June.

For copies please contact your local Probation Area

Board, call the National Probation Directorate on 020 7217
8696, or visit the National Probation Service website,
where this document and others which may be useful to
sentencers are published:
http://www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk

Two videos, An Insight into What Works and Enhanced

Community Punishment, are available from local probation
head offices and can be shown at meetings of sentencers.
 NATIONAL PROBATION SERVICE
AREAS & TELEPHONE NUMBERS
ƒ Avon & Somerset: 0117 983 0000
ƒ Bedfordshire: 01234 213541
ƒ Cambridgeshire: 01223 712345
ƒ Cheshire: 01244 394500
ƒ County Durham: 0191 3839083
ƒ Cumbria: 01228 560057
ƒ Derbyshire: 01629 55422
ƒ Devon & Cornwall: 01392 474100
ƒ Dorset: 01305 224786
ƒ Dyfed-Powys: 01267 221567
ƒ Essex: 01376 501626
ƒ Gloucestershire: 01452 426250
ƒ Greater Manchester: 0161 872 4802
ƒ Gwent: 01495 762462
ƒ Hampshire: 01962 842202
ƒ Hertfordshire: 01992 504444
ƒ Humberside: 01482 867271
ƒ Kent: 01622 350820
ƒ Lancashire: 01772 201209
ƒ Leicestershire & Rutland: 0116 251
6008
ƒ Lincolnshire: 01522 520776
ƒ London: 020 7222 5656
ƒ Merseyside: 0151 920 9201
ƒ Norfolk: 01603 220100
ƒ Northamptonshire: 01604 658000
ƒ Northumbria: 0191 281 5721
ƒ North Wales: 01492 513413
ƒ North Yorkshire: 01609 778644
ƒ Nottinghamshire: 0115 840 6500
ƒ South Wales: 01656 674747
ƒ South Yorkshire: 0114 276 6911
ƒ Staffordshire: 01785 223416
ƒ Suffolk: 01473 408130
ƒ Surrey: 01483 860191
ƒ Sussex: 01273 227979
ƒ Teesside: 01642 230533
ƒ Thames Valley: 01869 255300
ƒ Warwickshire: 01926 405800
ƒ West Mercia: 01562 820071
ƒ West Midlands: 0121 248 6666
ƒ West Yorkshire: 01924 885300
ƒ Wiltshire: 01225 781950
ISSUE 3 – SPRING 2003