Dangerous/Violence Potential Behaviour

Introduction

The past decade has witnessed a growing interest in the clinical assessment of dangerousness and violence risk (Monahan & Steadman, 1994; Quinsey, Harris, Rice & Cormier, 1998). Successful prediction of often covert, low-frequency events can be particularly difficult to demonstrate. Within groups of mentally ill, criminal offenders, and/or mentally ill criminal offenders, major predictors of violent recidivism are largely the same, with criminal history variables most predictive of future violence relative to clinical variables associated with diagnosis of mental illness (Bonta, Law & Hanson, 1998).

Several assessment protocols have been advanced, including those adapted for specialized types of violence, such as sexual offending. Reliable and valid procedures such as the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R, Hare, 1991), Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG, Quinsey et al., 1998), ...