Chapter 7: Questions

Question 1

What were the two key findings in the Baxstrom and Dixon studies?

Answer 1

The violence during follow-up was low, and the error rate was high.

Question 2

Prior to the 1990s, a person’s risk of violence was viewed as a _____________. Today, it is viewed as a _____________.

Answer 2

dichotomy / range

Question 3

Which civil rights case was significant in calling into question the accuracy of mental health professionals in predicting violence?

Answer 3

Baxstrom v. Herald

Question 4

The focus on targeting risk factors with intervention has been called which component of risk assessment?

Answer 4

Management component

Question 5

Which of the following accurately summarizes the position of the U.S. and Canadian courts concerning the role of mental health professionals in the prediction of violence?

Answer 5

Both U.S. and Canadian courts permit mental health professionals to testify concerning violence risk.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a civil setting in which risk assessments have been utilized?

A. Immigration
B. Fitness to stand trial
C. Civil commitment
D. Child protection cases

Answer 6

Fitness to stand trial

Question 7

Based on the Smith v. Jones (1999) case, the Supreme Court ruled that doctor–patient confidentiality could be set aside if what was present?

Answer 7

Clear, serious, and imminent danger of serious personal injury

Question 8

If a mental health patient makes a specific threat against another person (i.e., “I’m going to stab my roommate, Sandra, the next time she wakes me up in the middle of the night with her partying”), mental health professionals are expected to intervene to prevent such behaviour. This responsibility is called _________________.

Answer 8

duty to warn

Question 9

According to Canadian legislation, an assessment of risk is required in which of the following circumstances?

Answer 9

Dangerous offender

Question 10

Jason is depressed and has been having thoughts of hurting himself. His roommates are very worried and bring him to the hospital for help. Jason states he does not want to stay at the hospital and wants everyone to leave him alone. Depending on the risk assessment conducted, what could happen?

Answer 10

Jason could be involuntarily hospitalized.

Question 11

In predicting violent acts, a ______________ is an incorrect prediction in which a person is predicted to be violent but does not act violently.

Answer 11

false positive

Question 12

Trevor was a first-time offender serving a sentence for assault. When given a risk assessment, he was classified at a low risk to reoffend, and the parole board believed he would not offend again and was released. Three months later, Trevor was arrested and convicted of committing another assault, this time more violent. What type of prediction outcome does this scenario reflect?

Answer 12

False negative

Question 13

3 main weaknesses of research on the prediction of violence according to Monahan and Steadman (1994)?

Answer 13

• The use of official records can underestimate the accuracy of prediction and overestimate false positives.
• Researchers vary on their definition of the criterion variable, which can affect the research findings.
• Most studies focus on a limited set of risk factors, and violence is caused by a complex interaction between individual and situational factors.

Question 13

Even if you have a very accurate risk-assessment measure, prediction errors still happen. When the base rate for committing a criminal act is low, which type of error occurs more often?

Answer 13

False-positive error

Question 14

What is an “illusory correlation”?

Answer 14

The belief that a correlation exists between two events that in reality are either not correlated or are correlated to a much lesser degree

Question 15

Which of the following is true regarding unstructured clinical judgment of risk?

Answer 15

Risk factors (and combinations of risk factors) vary across clinicians and cases.

Question 16

Assessing risk using structured professional judgment is associated with which of the following characteristics?

Answer 16

Includes both static and dynamic risk factors

Question 17

The dynamic risk study conducted by Quinsey and colleagues (2006) found that _________________.

Answer 17

dynamic risk factors predicted violent incidents

Question 18

Static risk factors are ______________________.

Answer 18

risk factors that do not change over time

Question 19

Dr. James Grigson was a psychiatrist known to use which approach to risk assessment in Texas death penalty cases?

Answer 19

Unstructured clinical judgment

Question 20

3 historical factors identified as a predictor of future criminal behaviour?

Answer 20

• Past supervision failure
• Early onset of criminal behaviour
• Childhood history of maltreatment

Question 21

Dispositional risk factors include __________________.

Answer 21

personality traits

Question 22

Gender is an example of a _____________ risk factor, whereas lack of social support is an example of a(n) ________________ risk factor.

Answer 22

dispositional / contextual

Question 23

Which of the following accurately represents how personality affects risk for violence?

Answer 23

Impulsivity and psychopathy are positively related to recidivism.

Question 24

Certain clinical risk factors have been associated with future violence prediction. Which factors are these, and how are they associated with violence?

Answer 24

Substance abuse and mental disorders both predict violence.

Question 25

The coping relapse model of criminal recidivism attempts to explain the process leading to recidivism. Which of the following is NOT part of the process?

A. Cognitive and emotional appraisal
B. Precipitating situation
C. Previous criminal behaviour
D. Available response mechanism

Answer 25

Previous criminal behaviour

Question 26

Which of the following accurately describes the research on risk assessment in female offenders?

Answer 26

While there are some gender-specific risk factors, there are more similarities than differences.

Question 27

According to the study by Viljoen and colleagues (2010), approximately _________ of clinicians use a risk-assessment tool when assessing risk for violent reoffending.

Answer 27

75%

Question 28

Research by DeMatteo, Heilbrun, and Marczyk (2005) found that ____________ is more of a protective factor for high-risk offenders, whereas ______________ is more of a protective factor for low-risk offenders.

Answer 28

employment stability / strong family connections

Question 29

Which factor is related to desistance from crime?

Answer 29

Being in a marital relationship

Question 30

In the 1960s, two famous cases (Baxstrom v. Herald, 1966; Dixon v. Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1971), discovered that __________________.

Answer 30

clinicians overestimated the violence of the forensic patients

Question 30

Recently, risk for dangerousness has come to be regarded as a range. This means that ___________________.

Answer 30

Probabilities change over time, and risk is based on an interaction between personal characteristics, background, and situation

Question 31

In Smith v. Jones (1999), the Supreme Court of Canada held that ________________.

Answer 31

doctor–patient confidentiality must be set aside in certain instances for the protection of the public

Question 32

Which of the following is a civil setting in which risk assessments have been used?

Answer 32

Child protection

Question 33

The most complete definition of a true positive in a study on violent recidivism is _____________.

Answer 33

a correct prediction of violence

Question 34

A metal detector at the Ottawa courthouse fails to sound an alarm when someone with a knife walks through it. What type of error is this?

Answer 34

False-negative error

Question 35

A possible decision error made by clinicians in which it is believed that a correlation exists between two events that are in fact unrelated, or are correlated to a lesser degree, is defined as a(n) ________________.

Answer 35

illusory correlation

Question 36

Dr. Jerry Smith has been conducting risk assessments for the past 25 years. Given his experience he believes he can predict who will reoffend without the use of structured or standardized instruments. What type of risk-assessment method is Dr. Smith using?

Answer 36

Unstructured clinical judgment

Question 37

Skeem and Monahan (2011) identified four components to violence risk-assessment approaches. Which of the following statements is true?

Answer 37

Actuarial approaches identify, measure, and combine risk factors to create a risk estimate.

Question 38

Dynamic risk factors are _________________.

Answer 38

risk factors that change over time and can be targeted for intervention

Question 39

Which of the following is a dispositional risk factor?

A.Impulsivity
B. History of childhood maltreatment
C. Substance abuse
D. Lack of social support

Answer 39

Impulsivity

Question 40

What is the relationship between age of onset and risk for violence?

Answer 40

Younger age of onset is a strong predictor of violent reoffending in men.

Question 41

Compared to male offenders, female offenders are more likely to ______________________.

Answer 41

be victims of physical and sexual abuse

Question 42

Which of the following is NOT an example of a protective factor in the risk for future violence?

A. Intelligence
B. Prosocial involvement
C. Physical health
D. Strong social supports

Answer 42

Physical health

Question 43

In a study of desistance in a small group of adult high-risk violent offenders, Haggard and colleagues (2001) reported which of the following as a factor associated with desistance?

Answer 43

Social avoidance