The Carey Guides and BITS were designed for people who are medium and high risk because research shows that these are the populations most likely to benefit from interventions.
It is possible that one or more tools may be helpful to address a particular issue with someone who is low risk. In fact, someone who is low risk may greatly benefit from the tools and make positive changes, especially if they are highly motivated. These behavioral changes may help them become more successful in their personal lives. However, the Guides were developed to reduce recidivism. People who are low risk are largely self-correcting, meaning that they are not likely to return to illegal behavior and, therefore, are not in need of intensive programming.
However, if you find that the Guides are useful for people who are low risk, make sure to use them under the right conditions:
- Avoid mixing people who are low risk with people who are medium and high risk in your intervention.
- Don’t pull people who are low risk from the prosocial activities that make them low risk (e.g., school/work, social events, sporting/music activities, family gatherings, etc.).