Measuring the Risk of Violence in Forensic Psychiatry

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Abstract

The article describes the understanding of the term "risk of violence" by foreign forensic psychiatrists, which sometimes is translated as "the risk of aggressive actions". The reasons for the existing problem of successful prediction of socially dangerous acts (SDAs) in patients with severe mental disorders are discussed. The following aspects of risk assessment were considered: clinical, legal and methodological. The risk of violence assessment is a complex analysis of multiple sources of information on various characteristics of the patient and his/her life circumstances. The issue of reliability of such forecasts is discussed. The general and specific goals of violence risk assessment are described. A list of characteristics used by professionals in assessing the risk of violence is provided. Brief description of the strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches currently existing in the field of risk assessment: discretionary and non-discretionary, is provided.

General Information

Keywords: risk of violence assessment, mentally ill individuals who committed SDA, actuarial tools, forecast accuracy, clinical judgment, discretionary and non-discretionary approaches.

Journal rubric: Juridical Psychology

Article type: scientific article

For citation: Bulygina V.G. Measuring the Risk of Violence in Forensic Psychiatry [Elektronnyi resurs]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie psyedu.ru [Psychological Science and Education psyedu.ru], 2011. Vol. 3, no. 1 (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Vera G. Bulygina, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of Laboratory of Psychohygiene and Psychoprophylaxis, V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation, Professor, Department of Clinical and Forensic Psychology, Faculty of Legal Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5584-1251, e-mail: ver210@yandex.ru

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