Presenting a comprehensive framework for conducting a scientifically grounded violence risk assessment, this book is authoritative, current, and practical. The essentials of doing this type of evaluation are reviewed, and available risk appraisal instruments are described for general violence, sexual violence, and spousal violence. The authors provide expert advice on choosing suitable instruments and approaches for particular cases, interpreting the resulting data, and communicating with legal decision makers. A detailed outline shows how to organize assessment findings into an effective final report; a sample completed report is featured in the appendix.
Industry Reviews
"One of the immediate qualities to this text is its forthright practical orientation in systematically canvassing procedures that the authors advocate for undertaking a professionally comprehensive and, if necessary, legally defensible evaluation of risk in carious formal capacities. This is commendable, in contrast to much of the more academically oriented literature also available on the same topic. Moreover, Mills et al. are refreshingly candid in explicitly acknowledging their own conceptual leanings and thus are 'straightforward regarding [their] bias about how to conduct risk assessments and note differences from other perspectives where they exist'....Professional disagreement and discourse on risk assessment continues unabated to this present day in both the academic as well as professional realms of forensic psychiatry and psychology....Within this framework...Mills, Kroner, and Morgan have produced a cogent practical guide on how such risk assessments may be undertaken, drawing on their own professional expertise as well as a wealth of contemporary literature within the field. Equipped with this information, their text is a valuable guide and one that is likely to minimize the risks for practitioners in undertaking risk assessments in the future."
