Because a primary function of detention screening instruments is to help ensure consistency and regularity in detention decisions, it is best practice for aggravating and mitigating factors to be part of scoring. Typically, aggravating and mitigating factors have low scores—often only one or two points each. These factors have the greatest impact for youth who are on the margin of a detention decision, helping to tip the scale one way or the other. This publication has examples of aggravating and mitigating factors sections from detention screening instruments.
