WEEK 6

Question 1

Why is there so much controversy over risk assessment?

Answer 1

Controversial practice and one of the most contended in forensic assessment
Questions over who (i.e. profession) should be doing it
History is somewhat hit and miss with real implications
Questions over preventive detention based on past behaviour
Risk assessment precedes threat management

Question 2

what are the three generations of risk assessment to date?

Answer 2

Clinical judgement
Actuarial judgement
Clinical combined with statistical anchoring

Question 3

what is de rigueur

Answer 3

is Structured Professional Judgement

Question 4

what is clinical judgement based on?

Answer 4

Based on the education, training, and experience of the clinician

Question 5

what is clinical judgement limited by?

Answer 5

Limited by the practitioner’s education, training, and experience

Question 6

what is problematic about clinical judgement?

Answer 6

high error rate

Question 7

what was the tendency of clinical judgement?

Answer 7

to over predict

Question 8

what was the belief surrounding actuarial judgement?

Answer 8

Belief was that the way to overcome the problems with clinical judgement was to use data and research to provide a “general picture” of the reference group risk

Question 9

what was the poor aspect of actuarial judgement?

Answer 9

These “risk profiles” have been found to be a poor fit to individual cases

Question 10

in actuarial judgement, what are group norms good and not good for estimating?

Answer 10

group norms are good for estimating what a group is up to but not what the individual is up to

Question 11

what began Structured Professional Judgement

Answer 11

Owing to the problems with pure clinical and statistical assessment moves were made to base clinical judgement on research. this is known as anchoring

Question 12

what is the idea of structured professional judgement?

Answer 12

The idea is to weight the clinician’s assessments with research to avoid over prediction

Question 13

what is the best practice for risk assessment?

Answer 13

structured professional judgement

Question 14

who mostly does threat assessment and threat managements?

Answer 14

Probably most done by psychologists and psychiatrists because of their training in the behavioural sciences
However, also done by investigators, criminologists, crime analysts, and other professionals

Question 15

what are some big questions about threat assessment and management?

Answer 15

who should do them

what to do once the assessment is made

Question 16

where has past practice stopped at?

Answer 16

at the point of the risk/threat assessment

Question 17

what should the practice of TM and TA be about?

Answer 17

managing any assessed threat

Question 18

what is the intervention dilemma in TM and TA?

Answer 18

whether you should assess violence and intervene. This is called the intervention dilemma

Question 19

why is the intervention dilemma a dilemma?

Answer 19

In some cases attempts to intervene may actually make the situation worse (some domestic violence for example) or make no difference at all. but can also improve the situation

Question 20

what must be assessed when considering intervention?

Answer 20

costs/benefits of the intervention

Question 21

what is the process of Risk assessment?

Answer 21

1. first involvement
2. sources of information
3. information analysis
4. intervention
5. monitoring

Question 22

what happens in the first involvement stage of intervention?

Answer 22

Someone acts in a way their behaviour causes concern to others

Question 23

what happens in the sources of information stage of intervention?

Answer 23

letters, threats, interactions, mental and psychological history etc

Question 24

what happens in the information analysis stage or intervention??

Answer 24

look for patterns and associations in the data you have

Question 25

what happens in the intervention stage of intervention?

Answer 25

decide on best approach for the case, focus on victim and harasser behaviours

Question 26

what happens in the monitoring stage of intervention?

Answer 26

ongoing case management dependent on threat level

Question 27

what are the ABCs of TA?

Answer 27

antecedent, behaviour, consequence

Question 28

what is the antecedent of TA?

Answer 28

what caused, or happened in the lead up to the focus event?

Question 29

what is the behaviour of TA?

Answer 29

What was the actual behaviour, including its purpose and intended goals?

Question 30

what is the consequence of TA?

Answer 30

What happened after the manifestation of behaviour?

Question 31

what is leakage?

Answer 31

when people who pose a threat give indications that they will cause the threat

Question 32

what is a case example of leakage?

Answer 32

Mining operation threatened by local farmer who feels he hasn’t been compensated adequately
Mining lease calculation based on actual incursion
Neighbour received more compensation but the incursion was considerably more on his property
Farmer claims to have spent $125,000 on legal fees so far
Negotiations going nowhere and case has dragged on for five years
Company won’t pay more just to appease him because of the precedent this sets
He has threatened to drill through to surface into the coal seam and drop explosives in cramping the shaft
He has rented equipment to do this and has a shot firer’s certificate
Previously stated that “he better run faster than a bullet” and has firearms
Thus far legal counsel, foreman, business manager, and two others have tried to negotiate and he now says “I am sick of talking” about it
Feels like he is being poorly treated
Works the property with his wife and son, third gen farming family