Violence risk assessment is a decision-making task that transpires in numerous legal and clinical settings in which the possibility of a person’s future violent behavior is of concern. Common contexts in which violence risk assessment occurs include involuntary civil commitment, release from prison or forensic hospital, sentencing, transfer of youths to adult court, and sexually violent predator determinations. Read more about Violence Risk Assessment.
The purpose of violence risk assessment differs somewhat across applications, but at its core, it is the estimation of the likelihood of future violent behavior posed by an individual. In some settings (i.e., treatment discharge planning), risk assessment also includes a specification of the risk factors present in a case and the risk management or intervention strategies that would be necessary to mitigate risk. In other settings (i.e., sexual predator determinations, prison security-level classification decisions), less attention is given to the specific nature of the risk factors that underlie a risk assessment than to the end result (an estimate of level or amount of risk).
Browse other Forensic Psychology Research Topics.