Assessing the Risk of Violent Extremism in Prisons: A Comparison between VERA-2R and DRAVY-3

Developing tools to assess the risk of violent extremism in prison is a common concern for penitentiary institutions. In order for first-line practitioners in the penitentiary context to become familiar with and better understand these tools, improve their evaluations, and even adapt or develop new instruments, the aim of this manuscript is to compare the tools and to delve into the strengths and weaknesses of two instruments with different characteristics but similar objectives: the VERA-2R and the DRAVY-3. A systematic comparison of their development, characteristics, structure, indicators, and validity is presented. The analyses show that these tools differ from their theoretical conception and their more specific objectives. However, they also show similarities at the indicator level with several dimensions overlapping. Regarding their validity, both have limitations that should be addressed in future studies. Finally, a review of the main differences and limitations is presented, providing avenues to improve these tools.