Current Directions in Violence Risk Assessment

Current Directions in Psychological Science, Forthcoming

Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2011-13

16 Pages Posted: 25 Mar 2011

See all articles by Jennifer L. Skeem

Jennifer L. Skeem

University of California, Berkeley

John Monahan

University of Virginia School of Law

Date Written: March 23, 2011

Abstract

A variety of instruments have been published over recent years that improve clinicians’ ability to forecast the likelihood that an individual will behave violently. Increasingly, these instruments are being applied in response to laws that require specialized risk assessments. In this article, we present a framework that goes beyond the "clinical" and "actuarial" dichotomy to describe a continuum of structured approaches to risk assessment. Despite differences among them, there is little evidence that one validated instrument predicts violence better than another. We believe that these group-based instruments are useful for assessing an individual’s risk, and that an instrument should be chosen based on an evaluation’s purpose (i.e., risk assessment vs. risk reduction). The time is ripe to shift attention from predicting violence to understanding its causes and preventing its (re)occurrence.

Keywords: violence, risk assessment, risk reduction

Suggested Citation

Skeem, Jennifer L. and Monahan, John, Current Directions in Violence Risk Assessment (March 23, 2011). Current Directions in Psychological Science, Forthcoming , Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2011-13, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1793193

Jennifer L. Skeem

University of California, Berkeley ( email )

120 Haviland Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7400
United States

John Monahan (Contact Author)

University of Virginia School of Law ( email )

580 Massie Road
Charlottesville, VA 22903
United States
434-924-3632 (Phone)

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