Investigating racial disparities in violence risk assessment using the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide-Version 3 (SARA-V3): Structured professional judgment ratings and recidivism among Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals.

Racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes are widely observed. In Canada, such disparities are particularly evident between Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons. The role of formal risk assessment in contributing to such disparities remains a topic of interest to many, but critical analysis has almost exclusively focused on actuarial or statistical risk measures. Recent research suggests that ratings from other common tools, based on the structured professional judgment model, can also demonstrate racial disparities. This study examined risk assessments produced using a widely used structured professional judgment tool, the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide-Version 3, among a sample of 190 individuals with histories of intimate partner violence. We examined the relationships among race, risk factors, summary risk ratings, and recidivism while also investigating whether participants' racial identity influenced the likelihood of incurring formal sanctions for reported violence. Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide-Version 3 risk factor totals and summary risk ratings were associated with new violent charges. Indigenous individuals were assessed as demonstrating more risk factors and were more likely to be rated as high risk, even after controlling for summed risk factor totals and prior convictions. They were also more likely to recidivate and to have a history of at least one reported act of violence that did not result in formal sanctions. The results suggest that structured professional judgment guidelines can produce disparate results across racial groups. The disparities observed may reflect genuine differences in the likelihood of recidivism, driven by psychologically meaningful risk factors which have origins in deep-rooted systemic and contextual factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

University Student Attitudes Toward Persons With a History of Adult Sexual Violence and Their Correlates With Policy, Treatment, and Management.

Empirical evidence suggests that postsecondary students are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence. Further evidence suggests that most persons convicted of crimes involving sexual violence return to the community, and that social factors, including public policy and community members' attitudes and perceptions, are key determinants of successful reintegration among these persons. Taken together, these observations suggest that students' perspectives should be considered in discourse related to reintegration. The current study aimed to assess the attitudes of a university undergraduate sample toward men convicted of adult sexual violence as well as their level of support for various community-based policies to manage this population upon release from custody. Participants (N = 333) completed a survey battery comprising measures of three dimensions of attitudes toward persons who have sexually offended, perceptions of recidivism and treatment response, and support for various incapacitation/control (IC) and rehabilitative/reintegration (RR)-based policies. Results varied depending on the dimension of attitudes measured, with the affective component appearing to be the most markedly negative. Participants endorsed a mixture of IC and RR policies, with attitudinal measures predicting policy endorsement controlling for relevant demographic variables. The results provide a framework for future research surveying a more representative sample of the Canadian public, while also providing useful information for policymakers relying on community support to reduce sexual offending.

Consistency and Construct Validity of the Five-Level System for Risk Communication Using Static and Dynamic Tools: An Investigation Using the Static-99R and VRS-SO.

This study examined the Council of State Governments' five-level system for risk communication, as applied to the Static-99R and Violence Risk Scale-Sexual Offense Version (VRS-SO). Aims of the system include increasing consistency in risk communication and linking risk categories to psychologically meaningful constructs. We investigated concordance between risk levels assigned by the instruments, and distributions of VRS-SO dynamic needs associated with Static-99R risk levels, among a multisite sample (n = 1,404) of persons who have sexually offended. Concordant categorical risk ratings were assigned in just over a third of cases, suggesting that consistency remains a concern with the system, particularly when conceptually disparate tools are applied. Densities of criminogenic needs varied widely among persons assigned the same risk level by the Static-99R and diverged from the descriptions ascribed by the system. These findings can inform clinical assessments and further refinement of the system.

Assessing dynamic violence risk: Common language risk levels and recidivism rates for the Violence Risk Scale.

The present study features the development of new risk categories and recidivism estimates for the Violence Risk Scale (VRS), a violence risk assessment and treatment planning tool. We employed a combined North American multisite sample (k = 6, N = 1,338) of adult mostly male offenders, many with violent criminal histories, from correctional or forensic mental health settings that had complete VRS scores from archival or field ratings and outcome data from police records (N = 1,100). There were two key objectives: (a) to identify the rates of violent recidivism associated with VRS scores and (b) to generate updated evidence-based VRS violence risk categories with external validation. To achieve the first objective, logistic regression was applied using VRS pretreatment and change scores on treated samples with a minimum 5-year follow-up (k = 5, N = 472) to model 2-, 3-, and 5-year violent and general recidivism estimates, with the resulting logistic regression algorithms retained to generate a VRS recidivism rates calculator. To achieve the second objective, the Council of State Governments' guidelines were applied to generate five risk levels using the common language framework using percentiles, risk ratios (from Cox regression), and absolute violent and general recidivism estimates (from logistic regression). Construct validity of the five risk levels was examined through group comparisons on measures of risk, need, protection, and psychopathy obtained from the constituent samples. VRS applications to enhance risk communication, treatment planning, and violence prevention in light of the updated recidivism estimates and risk categories are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Critical considerations in the development and interpretation of common risk language.

Existing risk communication procedures are marred by various well-documented problems and inconsistencies. The Council of State Governments' Justice Center (United States) developed a five-level system for risk and needs communication, to standardize these procedures and to provide a common risk language. Introduction of a common language could constitute a dramatic shift in criminal justice processes, with wide-ranging impacts. This article provides a critical review of the system and its suitability for application to various risk assessment functions. Issues discussed include: applicability to specialist and generalist offending behavior, the characteristics of suitable instruments, statistical and conceptual priorities, barriers to precision in language, and conceptual issues related to changes in risk level. A thorough understanding of each of these issues is necessary to apply the system to new contexts and populations, and facilitate straightforward and precise risk communication. Absent further elaboration of the system, many problems with risk communication will persist.

On the Ethics and Practicalities of Artificial Intelligence, Risk Assessment, and Race.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been put forth as a potential means of improving and expediting violence risk assessment in forensic psychiatry. Furthermore, it has been proffered as a means of mitigating bias by replacing subjective human judgements with unadulterated data-driven predictions. A recent ethics analysis of AI-informed violence risk assessment enumerated some potential benefits, ethics concerns, and recommendations for further discussion. The current review builds on this previous work by highlighting additional important practical and ethics considerations. These include extant technology for violence risk assessment, paradigmatic concerns with the application of AI to risk assessment and management, and empirical evidence of racial bias in the criminal justice system. Emphasis is given to problems of informed consent, maleficence (e.g., the known iatrogenic effects of overly punitive sanctions), and justice (particularly racial justice). AI appears well suited to certain medical applications, such as the interpretation of diagnostic images, and may well surpass human judgement in accuracy or efficiency with respect to some important tasks. Caution is necessary, however, when applying AI to processes like violence risk assessment that do not conform clearly to simple classification paradigms.

Assessing risk for aggression in forensic psychiatric inpatients: An examination of five measures.

The present study examined risk for inpatient aggression, including treatment-related changes in risk, using a battery of 5 forensic instruments. The relative contributions of different types of risk factors to the assessment of risk for inpatient outcomes were also assessed. The Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20V3, Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability, Violence Risk Scale, Violence Risk Appraisal Guide-Revised, and Psychopathy Checklist-Revised were rated from archival information sources on a sample of 99 adult forensic inpatients from a Canadian psychiatric hospital. Pretreatment and posttreatment ratings were obtained on all dynamic study measures; associations between risk and change ratings with inpatient aggression were examined. Significant pretreatment-posttreatment differences were found on the HCR-20V3, START, and VRS; pretreatment scores on these measures each demonstrated predictive accuracy for inpatient aggression (AUC = .68 to .76) whereas the PCL-R and VRAG-R did not. HCR-20V3, VRS, and START dynamic scores demonstrated incremental predictive validity for inpatient aggression to varying degrees after controlling for static risk factors. Dynamic change scores from these 3 measures also demonstrated incremental concurrent associations with reductions in inpatient aggression after controlling for baseline risk. Several instruments demonstrated predictive validity for inpatient aggression and clinical/dynamic risk and change scores had unique associations with this outcome. The present findings suggest that risk assessments using the HCR-20 V3, START, and VRS may inform the management and reduction of inpatient aggression, as well as assessments of dynamic risk more generally. (PsycINFO Database Record