The RMA is an executive non-departmental public body, established by section 3 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. The RMA was established to help protect the public by promoting and supporting excellent professional practice in managing the risk of serious harm presented by violent and sexual offenders.
We are independent and impartial as well as being directly accountable to Scottish Ministers, via the Scottish Government Criminal Justice Directorate, for the funding that they provide and for our performance in fulfilling our statutory obligations.
Our overall aim is to exercise our functions for the purpose of ensuring the effective assessment and minimisation of risk. We are working to assist agencies, organisations and individuals within the Scottish criminal justice system to effectively manage high risk offenders and ultimately work towards a safer Scotland.
Our work falls into three main categories:
Policy
- advising and making recommendations to Scottish Ministers on policy;
- monitoring international research and practice for offender risk management and commissioning Scottish developments;
- developing practice from a robust evidence base.
Standard Setting
- Setting Standards for offender risk assessment;
- Setting Standards for offender risk management;
- Setting Standards for the training and competence assessment of practitioners
Operational
- accrediting assessors to undertake offender risk assessments for the High Court;
- accrediting methods of risk assessment;
- approving offender risk management plans.
The following leaflet gives general information on what we do. You can download a copy of About the RMA leaflet here.