Criminal Risk Assessment, Combined Static and Dynamic Approaches to

Mental health practitioners are often asked to provide an opinion on the likelihood that an individual will become aggressive or violent, as the criminal justice system aspires not just to punish past criminal behavior but also to reduce future criminal behavior. Formalized criminal risk assessments are one approach to determining and assessing relevant risk factors in order to estimate the probability of reoffending and developing plans to minimize risk. Risk factors refer to personal and environmental characteristics that are shown to be associated with an increased risk of future criminal behavior. Static risk factors are those that do not change over time, generally historical information or other factors unchanged by intervention, whereas dynamic risk factors are those that could possibly change, and they are generally ...