Forensic psychology Wk 11 Mod 12 Assessment of risk, dangerousness and recidivism

Question 1

12. What is risk assessment?

Answer 1

Risk assessment is conducted by pscychol and psychs. They make decisions regarding risk and dangerousness attempts to predict future behaviour with a view to protecting public, staff, inmates and individual from self-harm.

Question 2

12. What is the duty to warn and protect?

Answer 2

Psychols and psychs have a general duty to warn or protect people at risk of harm from patient or client.

Question 3

12. Tarasoff Podder case

Answer 3

California Tatiana Tarasoff Podder offender Regent parents resulted in duty to protect.
psych must take active steps to protect the potential victim but not nec warn

Question 4

12. What is APS code of ethics?

Answer 4

Australian Psychological Society.
Can disclose confidential information if
- where there is a legal obligation to do so
- there is an immediate and specified risk of harm to an identifiable person/s that can b averted only by disclosing information

Question 5

12. Predicting Dangerousness

Answer 5

Involves using past behaviour to predict future behaviour. Relates to past dangerous or violent behaviour and the liklihood of similar in the future.

Question 6

12. False Positive

Answer 6

Clinicians tend to over predict the likelihood of the dangerousness of a person

Question 7

12. Activities involved in predicting dangerousness

Answer 7

• who will be violent/dangerous/ criminal

- under what conditions will an individual be violent/aggress/criminal? ie triggers

Question 8

12. What triggers?

Answer 8

Some offenders only offend under influence of drugs or alcohol.
Conditions can be placed on release ie random drug testing.

Question 9

12. Limitations of predictions:

Answer 9

1. limited no. of risk factors used to make predictions- risk prediction tools/instruments
2. Definitions of violence or dangerousness vary
3. Research design and participant samples… ie. results vary according to who sampled and where.. convicted/ accused or teenage/middle aged
4. Studies rarely done in conjunction with each other so results are rarely replicated

Question 10

12. 2 types of risk prediction (mini)

Answer 10

Clinical and Structured approaches
Clinical Judgement - subjective based on knowledge of client
Statistical/empirical evidence prediction methods

Question 11

12. Linear model for risk prediction

Answer 11

not the best but widely used to predict risk of dangerousness. Top questions, lead to lower options. Keep choosing options until you reach the answer at the bottom.

Question 12

12. Clinical approaches

Hypothetico- deductive model

Answer 12

knowledge about previous behaviours and relevant theories used to predict future behaviour. Perform and exp, create or modify theory based on observation. Use the theory to make a prediction. Design an experiment to test the prediction.

Question 13

12. Clinical approaches

Risk assessment model

Answer 13

allows for multi dimensional nature of violence (includes personality, social and polictical context).

Question 14

12. Structure clinical approach

Answer 14

Combination of actuarial measures and clinically relevant variables(clinical judgement).
Clinical measures: Psychopathy checklist - PCL
Violence Risk Appraisal Guide - VRAG
Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offender Recidivism -
RRASOR
Psych will come up with a score and use that with clinical judgement

Question 15

Parole

Answer 15

Prisoner is allowed to serve the final part of their sentence in the community under supervision f a community corrections officer.