There is not a lot of debate about the core criminogenic needs. However, there is debate about which ones are the five most influential and—to make things more complicated—the assessment tools don’t all categorize these domains the same. That makes it a challenge.
We see this in many states. There are something like eight commonly used assessment tools and none of them match up perfectly. This is why we emphasize the central eight criminogenic needs in trainings. It is also why we need staff steeped enough in EBP to recognize a criminogenic need when they see it/assess it, recognizing that sometimes their assessment tools won’t exactly isolate things like coping skills. The more staff are familiar with these eight needs, the more they can begin to recognize them, no matter what assessment tool they are using.