The spirit of motivational interviewing (MI) is characterized by partnership, evocation, acceptance, and compassion and is an effective strategy for working with clients in treatment and assessment capacities. MI incorporates a collaborative partnership between the practitioner (therapist or assessor) and client. MI is effective for enhancing criminal justice assessments. For example, when used in risk assessment, MI has made the process collaborative rather than adversarial and helps the clinician obtain information in an efficient manner. Moving from risk identification and assessment to criminal justice treatment, MI has been used as a stand-alone intervention or part of a multicomponent treatment program. It has been delivered to [Page 910]adolescents, teenagers, and adults, in-person individually or in groups—and has also branched to telephone and computer-based interventions.

MI is used ...