Violence risk assessment is now widely assumed by policy makers and the public to be a core skill of the mental health professions and plays a pivotal role in mental health law throughout the world. Dangerousness to others is a principal standard for inpatient commitment, outpatient commitment, and commitment to a forensic hospital. The imposition
The HCR-20 Violence Risk Assessment Scheme is a 20-item violence risk assessment tool, accompanied by a 97-page user’s manual. It is intended to structure clinical decisions about the risk for violence posed by adult forensic psychiatric patients, civil psychiatric patients, and criminal offenders (whether mentally disordered or not). The HCR-20 is relevant to the field
Domestic violence courts (DVCs) are specialized court settings that deal predominantly with cases involving domestic violence. They have emerged in different state, regional, and national contexts, giving rise to different operational styles and models. For example, courts may sit full or part-time and deal with different levels of offense seriousness and all or various aspects
The Domestic Violence Screening Instrument (DVSI and DVSI-R versions) was designed to assess the risk of repeated domestic violence in the future on the basis of information available at the time of use. The DVSI was originally created by the Division of Probation Services in Colorado. It was crafted as a short, easy criminal records
The percentage of students being victimized at U.S. schools has declined in recent years. Specifically, between 1995 and 2001, the percentage of students who reported being victims of crime at school decreased from 10% to 6%. These numbers included decreases in both theft (from 7% to 4%) and violent victimization (from 3% to 2%). In
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines dating violence as physical, sexual, or psychological violence within a dating relationship. It is a type of intimate-partner violence (IPV). In the United States, an estimated 5.3 million IPV incidents occur each year, and approximately 1,300 people die as a result of domestic violence. Rates of
The representation of sexual violence has been subject to critical inquiry in two main ways. One strand of research explores whether scenes of sexual violence (in films, computer games, and pornography magazines) might trigger sexual aggression. This sort of research is often pursued under the umbrella of psychology and criminology. A second strand, more often
Latin America is a region of the Americas in which the Romance languages, largely derived from Latin, are spoken. Violence, or “violencia,” is a major social problem in this region. Every day, media attention focuses on gang and drug-related violence in Latin America. International homicides, or those involving citizens of other countries, increased 50% from
Violence against women has become a focal concern for international organizations such as the United Nations (2005) and the World Health Organization (2005). Due to this international focus, cultural issues have taken a central role in understanding factors that contribute to violence against women in various countries. Violence against women has been shown to frequently
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) had its origin in the July 1998 U.S Department of Education rule called the principles of effectiveness. This rule, which was passed in light of a spike in youth drug use in the 1990s, required school districts receiving state funding to plan and evaluate their drug