International Handbook of Threat Assessment

by Meloy, J. Reid; Hoffmann, Jens

• ISBN13: 9780199924554
• ISBN10: 0199924554
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-12-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Threat assessment is a method used by mental health and law enforcement professionals to assess the risk of intended violence toward a specific target, such as attacks and assassinations of public figures, workplace homicides, mass murders, school shootings, and acts of terrorism, both domestic and foreign. Beginning with studies by the U.S. Secret Service twenty years ago, the research and interest in this field has accelerated over the past decade with published scholarship and emerging professional organizations.

International Handbook of Threat Assessment offers a definition of the foundations of threat assessment, systematically explores its fields of practice, and provides information and instruction on the best practices of threat assessment. The volume is divided into three sections. Section I defines the difference between threat assessment and traditional violence risk assessment and discusses threat assessment terminology and practice, contemporary understanding of threats, warning behaviors concerning targeted violence, and the legal basis of threats and targeted violence interventions. Section II elaborates on the various domains of threat assessment, such as workplace violence, public figure attacks, school and campus violence, insider threats, honor-based violence, computer-modeling of violent intent, targeted domestic violence, anonymous threats, and cyberthreats. Section III presents the functions of a number of threat assessment individuals and units, including the UK Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, the LAPD Threat Management Unit, Australia's Problem Behaviour Program, and the U.S. Navy Criminal Investigative Service, among others. This book will serve as the standard reference volume in the field of threat assessment and will be invaluable to mental health and criminal justice professionals who practice threat assessment or are interested in understanding this new field of research.

Author Biography

Dr. J. Reid Meloy is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and a faculty member at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Meloy is a board-certified forensic psychologist and internationally recognized expert in threat assessment. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and an elected affiliate of the International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship.

Dr. Jens Hoffmann is a forensic psychologist and researcher collaborating with several universities in Germany. Dr. Hoffmann is head of the forensic consulting firm Team Psychology and Security and head of Institute Psychology & Threat Management, having offices in Germany and Switzerland. He is also former president and board member of the European Association of Threat Assessment Professionals.

Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword by Robert Fein and Bryan Vossekuil
About the Editors
Contributors

Part I. Threat Assessment - Foundations
1. Threat Assessment and Threat Management
J. Reid Meloy, Stephen Hart, and Jens Hoffmann

2. Explicit Threats of Violence
Lisa J. Warren, Paul E. Mullen, and Troy E. McEwan

3. Warning Behaviors and Their Configurations across Various Domains of Targeted Violence
J. Reid Meloy, Jens Hoffmann, Karoline Roshdi, Justine Glaz-Ocik, and Angela Guldimann

4. Collecting and Assessing Information for Threat Assessment
Bram B. Van der Meer and Margaret L. Diekhuis

5. Legal Issues in Threat Management
Kris Mohandie and Jens Hoffmann

Part II. Threat Assessment - Fields of Practice
6. Workplace Targeted Violence: Threat Assessment Incorporating a Structured Professional Judgment Guide
Stephen G. White

7. Threat Assessment and Management in Higher Education: Enhancing the Standard of Care in the Academy
Eugene R. D. Deisinger, Marisa R. Randazzo, and Jeffrey J. Nolan

8. Threat Assessment in Schools
Kris Mohandie

9. Mass Casualty Homicides on Elementary School Campuses: Threat Management
Lessons Learned from Bath, Michigan to Newtown, Connecticut
Kris Mohandie and J. Reid Meloy

10. Contemporary Research on Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures
Jens Hoffmann, J. Reid Meloy, and Lorraine Sheridan

11. Intimate Partner Violence, Stalking, and Femicide
P. Randall Kropp and Alana N. Cook

12. The Assessment of Anonymous Threatening Communications
Andre Simons and Ronald Tunkel

13. Electronic Threats and Harassment
Mario J. Scalora

14. Computer Modeling of Violent Intent: A Content Analysis Approach
Antonio Sanfilippo, Liam McGrath, and Eric Bell

15. The Use of Threat Assessment in Tactical Operations: Reverse Engineering the Method
James Biesterfeld

16. Insider Threats in Bioterrorism Cases
Ronald Schouten and Gregory Saathoff

17. Threat Assessment of Targeted Honor-based Violence
Henrik Belfrage and Linda Ekman

18. Fundamentals of Threat Assessment for Beginners
Mary Ellen O'Toole and Sharon S. Smith

Part III. Threat Assessment- Operations
19. The LAPD Threat Management Unit
Jeffrey Dunn

20. The Fixated Threat Assessment Center: Implementing a Joint Policing and Psychiatric Approach to Risk Assessment and Management in Public Figure Threat Cases
David V. James, Frank R. Farnham, and Simon P. Wilson

21. Threat Triage: Recognizing the Needle in the Haystack
Sharon S. Smith, Robert B. Woyach, and Mary Ellen O'Toole

22. Domestic Violence Threat Assessment: Putting Knowledge and Skills into Practice
Keith Dormond

23. An Operational Approach to Prosecuting Stalking Cases
Rachel Solov

24. Building up a Threat Assessment Process at Universities: Experiences from Europe
Jens Hoffmann and Katherine Timmel Zamboni

25. The Problem Behavior Program: Threat Assessment and Management in Community Forensic Mental Health
Troy E. McEwan, Rachel D. MacKenzie, and Jennifer McCarthy

26. Threat Assessment within the United States Navy and Marine Corps
Dorian Van Horn

27. Assessing Threats by Direct Interview of the Violent True Believer
J. Reid Meloy and Kris Mohandie