Violent Offenders: Appraising And Managing Risk

by Quinsey, Vernon L.; Cormier, Catherine A.; Rice, Marnie E.; Harris, Grant T.

• ISBN13: 9781591473435
• ISBN10: 1591473438
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-01
• Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn

Summary

Queen's Univ., Ontario, Canada. New edition focuses on the actuarial instruments developed to measure and appraise potential violent offenders. Addresses 20 of the most common arguments against risk appraisal. Previous edition: c1998. For legal and psychological professionals, social workers, and policymakers.

Author Biography

Marnie E. Rice is the scientific director of the Centre for the Study of Aggression and Mental Disorder. Grant T. Harris is the director of research at the Mental Health Centre in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada. Vernon L. Quinsey is a professor of psychology, biology, and psychiatry at Queen's University in Kingston.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	3	(6)
I. Historical and Methodological Context	9	(74)
Historical Perspective	11	(22)
North American Institutions	12	(8)
Adjudication of Insanity Acquittees	20	(6)
Preventive Detention	26	(1)
Mentally Disordered Offenders in Ontario	27	(2)
Oak Ridge	29	(2)
Conclusion	31	(2)
Previous Research on Prediction	33	(16)
Empirical Prediction of Recidivism	35	(6)
Critique	41	(7)
Conclusion	48	(1)
Methods and Measurement	49	(12)
What We Do Not Define	49	(1)
Some Terms Defined	50	(1)
Thinking About Effect Sizes	51	(4)
Measuring Predictive Accuracy	55	(6)
Clinical Judgment	61	(22)
Human Judgment	61	(1)
Clinical Judgment	62	(1)
Prediction of Violence	63	(6)
Clinical and Actuarial Models	69	(4)
Evidence-Based Clinical Practice in Forensic Facilities	73	(1)
Professional Training and Expertise	74	(9)
II. A New Generation of Follow-Up Studies	83	(70)
Mentally Disordered Offenders	85	(30)
Characteristics of Mentally Disordered Offenders	86	(5)
A Follow-Up of a Maximum-Security Token Economy	91	(1)
A Comparative Follow-Up of a Maximum-Security Therapeutic Community	92	(8)
A Follow-Up of Insanity Acquittees and a Comparison Sample of Correctional Inmates	100	(3)
A Comparison of Criminal Recidivism Among Schizophrenic and Nonschizophrenic Offenders	103	(5)
Psychiatric Comorbidity and the Prediction of Violence	108	(5)
Conclusion	113	(2)
Fire Setters	115	(16)
Historical Overview	115	(3)
Characteristics of Fire Setters	118	(3)
Social Competence of Fire Setters	121	(1)
Fire Setter Subtypes	122	(2)
Assessing Risk Among Fire Setters	124	(2)
Oak Ridge Study of Risk Assessment Among Fire Setters	126	(5)
Sex Offenders	131	(22)
Sex Offenders and Sexual Deviance	133	(7)
Is There a Sex Offender Psychology?	140	(1)
Predictors of Recidivism Among Sex Offenders	141	(7)
Treatment and Recidivism Among Sex Offenders	148	(2)
Conclusion	150	(3)
III. Development of Violence Prediction Instruments	153	(72)
Actuarial Prediction of Violence	155	(42)
Construction	155	(8)
Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG)	163	(6)
Application of the VRAG	169	(2)
Special Populations	171	(9)
Redundancy and Robustness of the VRAG	180	(3)
An Analysis of Replications of the VRAG and SORAG	183	(9)
Conclusion	192	(5)
Criticisms of Actuarial Risk Assessment	197	(28)
Twenty Arguments Against Actuarial Risk Appraisal	199	(20)
Presenting Evidence About Actuarial Risk Appraisal	219	(6)
IV. Altering the Risk of Violence and Conclusions	225	(54)
Treatment and Management	227	(40)
Planning Institutional Treatment Programs	228	(21)
Process of Recidivism and Relapse Prevention	249	(3)
Dynamic Risk	252	(13)
Conclusion	265	(2)
Conclusions	267	(12)
Actuarial Prediction and Theory	269	(10)
Epilogue	279	(4)
Appendixes	283	(110)
A. Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG)	283	(4)
B. Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG)	287	(4)
C. Normative Data on the Distribution of Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) and Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) Scores	291	(2)
D. Technical Questions About the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) and the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG)	293	(16)
E. Cormier-Lang System for Quantifying Criminal History	309	(4)
F. Guidelines for the Compilation of a Psychosocial History Suitable for Risk Appraisal	313	(18)
G. Sample Psychosocial History Suitable for Use in Scoring the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) and the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG)	331	(10)
H. Scoring the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) From a Psychosocial History	341	(6)
I. Scoring the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) From a Psychosocial History	347	(6)
J. Actuarial Risk Appraisal Report for an Offender	353	(8)
K. Sample Psychosocial History and Scoring of the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) for a Psychiatric Offender	361	(18)
L. Problem Identification Checklist (File Version)	379	(4)
M. Proximal Risk Factor Scale	383	(2)
N. Dynamic Risk Appraisal Scale	385	(6)
O. Cross-Sectional Oak Ridge Statistics Over 35 Years	391	(2)
References	393	(46)
Author Index	439	(10)
Subject Index	449	(12)
About the Authors	461