Sections
Assessment of Dangerousness: Introduction | Risk Factors Associated With Violence | Assessment of Current Dangerousness | Psychiatric Inpatients and Risk of Violence | Structured Risk Assessments of Violence | Pharmacological Management of Chronic Aggression | Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Treating Chronic
Aggression | Prosecution of Inpatient Assaults | Summary | Key Points | Suggested Readings | References
Excerpt
The term dangerousness is
not a psychiatric diagnosis; the concept of dangerousness is a legal
judgment based on social policy. In other words, dangerousness is
a broader concept than either violence or dangerous behavior; it
indicates an individual's propensity to commit dangerous
acts (Mulvey and Lidz 1984). Unfortunately, no psychological
test or interview can predict future violence with high accuracy. Relatively
infrequent events (e.g., homicide) are more difficult to predict
than more common events (e.g., domestic violence) because they have
a low base rate of occurrence. The accuracy of a clinician's
assessment of future violence is related to many factors, including
the circumstances of the evaluation and the length of time over
which violence is predicted.