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33 - Decision-Making in Violence Risk Assessment

from Part IV - Postconviction Phase Decisions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2024

Monica K. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
Logan A. Yelderman
Affiliation:
Prairie View A & M University, Texas
Matthew T. Huss
Affiliation:
Creighton University, Omaha
Jason A. Cantone
Affiliation:
George Mason University, Virginia
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Summary

The literature on violence risk assessment has primarily focused on prescriptive approaches, whereby methods are designed to assess risk to arrive at accurate conceptualizations and decisions regarding future risk. However, we have often failed to think about the underlying decision-making process clinicians exhibit, and especially the decision-making within the limitations of their clinical contexts. Understanding this underlying decision-making process is imperative to maximize the success or accuracy of our prescriptive approaches. The current chapter seeks to review the history of decision-making across the generations of violence risk assessment and identify our primary approaches to risk assessment decision-making, or our prescriptive approaches. We then turn our attention toward the decision-making process itself and focus on the information we use to arrive at our decisions regarding violence risk and the use of this information in clinical practice. Finally, we identify areas of future exploration.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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