Chapter 7: Risk Assessment - Terms

Question 1

A correct prediction that occurs when a person who is predicted to engage in some type of behavior (e.g., a violent act) does so

Answer 1

True Positive

Question 2

A correct prediction that occurs when a person who is predicted not to engage in some type of behaviour (e.g., a violent act) does not

Answer 2

True Negative

Question 2

An incorrect prediction that occurs when a person who is predicted to engage in some type of behavior (e.g., a violent act) but does not

Answer 2

False positive

Question 3

An incorrect prediction that occurs when a person is predicted not to engage in some type of behaviour (e.g., a violent act) but does

Answer 3

False negative

Question 4

Represents the percentage of people within a given population who commit a criminal or violent act

Answer 4

Base rate

Question 5

Belief that a correlation exists between two events that in reality are either not correlated or correlated to a much lesser degree than assumed

Answer 5

Illusory correlation

Question 6

Decisions characterized by a substantial amount of professional discretion and lack of guidelines

Answer 6

Unstructured clinical judgment

Question 7

Decisions are based on risk factors that are selected and combined based on their empirical or statistical association with a specific outcome

Answer 7

Actuarial prediction

Question 8

Decisions are guided by a predetermined list of risk factors that have been selected from the research and professional literature. Judgement of risk level is based on the evaluator’s professional judgement.

Answer 8

Structured professional judgment

Question 9

Risk factors that do not fluctuate over time and are not amendable to change (e.g., criminal history)

Answer 9

Static risk factor / historical risk factors

Question 10

Risk factors that fluctuate over time and are amendable to change (e.g., antisocial attitude)

Answer 10

Dynamic risk factor

Question 11

Risk factors that change rapidly within days, hours, or minutes and often occur just prior to an offence (e.g., level of intoxication)

Answer 11

Acute dynamic risk factor

Question 12

Risk factors that reflect the individual’s traits, tendencies, or style (e.g., negative attitudes)

Answer 12

Dispositional risk factors

Question 13

Types and symptoms of mental disorders (e.g., substance abuse)

Answer 13

Clinical risk factors

Question 14

Risk factors that refer to aspects of the current environment (e.g., access to victims or weapons).

Answer 14

Contextual risk factors / Situational risk factors

Question 15

Factors that mitigate or reduce the likelihood of a negative outcome (e.g., delinquency aggression)

Answer 15

Protective factors

Question 16

The process of ceasing to engage in criminal behaviour

Answer 16

Desistance