Forensic Assessment of Violence Risk: A Guide for Risk Assessment and Risk Management

The authoritative source for conducting risk assessments and managing risk

Beginning with a brief historical overview of the field, Forensic Assessment of Violence Risk clarifies the risk assessment model, which begins by exploring the risk assessment question and concludes by connecting the completed risk assessment to effective strategies for risk management.

This vital resource discusses topics including:

• Defining the referral question

• Idiographic factors and the need for individualized assessment

• Understanding the results of a risk assessment

• How to proceed from risk assessment to risk management

Conroy and Murrie successfully capture the advances in risk assessment and forensic assessment seen particularly in the last decade. From task definition to risk communication, prediction to management, adolescents to adults, and civil to criminal contexts, they provide a range of useful information, examples, and conclusions. Forensic Assessment of Violence Risk is valuable for anyone involved in policy-making, litigation, assessment, or interventions related to the risk of violent behavior.
–Kirk Heilbrun, PhD, Department of Psychology, Drexel University

Forensic Assessment of Violence Risk is both an accessible overview for the professional just beginning to conduct risk assessments and a stimulating update for the seasoned forensic risk assessment practitioner. It strikes a good balance between discussion of recent research and practical guidelines for practice.
–Mark D. Cunningham, PhD, ABPP, Dallas, Texas

This guide is indispensable for all forensic mental health professionals who assess violence risk for juveniles, psychiatric patients, sex offenders, and in the context of death penalty cases. The model Conroy and Murrie propose represents the integration of what is currently empirically established in terms of base rates for violence with the need to consider idiographic factors for the individual being evaluated.
–Alan M. Goldstein, PhD, ABPP, Board Certified in Forensic Psychology, Professor Emeritus, John Jay College of Criminal Justice–CUNY

The authoritative source for conducting risk assessments and managing risk

Beginning with a brief historical overview of the field, Forensic Assessment of Violence Risk clarifies the risk assessment model, which begins by exploring the risk assessment question and concludes by connecting the completed risk assessment to effective strategies for risk management.

This vital resource discusses topics including:

• Defining the referral question

• Idiographic factors and the need for individualized assessment

• Understanding the results of a risk assessment

• How to proceed from risk assessment to risk management

“Conroy and Murrie successfully capture the advances in risk assessment and forensic assessment seen particularly in the last decade. From task definition to risk communication, prediction to management, adolescents to adults, and civil to criminal contexts, they provide a range of useful information, examples, and conclusions. Forensic Assessment of Violence Risk is valuable for anyone involved in policy-making, litigation, assessment, or interventions related to the risk of violent behavior.”
―Kirk Heilbrun, PhD, Department of Psychology, Drexel University

“Forensic Assessment of Violence Risk is both an accessible overview for the professional just beginning to conduct risk assessments and a stimulating update for the seasoned forensic risk assessment practitioner. It strikes a good balance between discussion of recent research and practical guidelines for practice.”
―Mark D. Cunningham, PhD, ABPP, Dallas, Texas

“This guide is indispensable for all forensic mental health professionals who assess violence risk for juveniles, psychiatric patients, sex offenders, and in the context of death penalty cases. The model Conroy and Murrie propose represents the integration of what is currently empirically established in terms of base rates for violence with the need to consider idiographic factors for the individual being evaluated.”
―Alan M. Goldstein, PhD, ABPP, Board Certified in Forensic Psychology, Professor Emeritus, John Jay College of Criminal Justice―CUNY

Mary Alice Conroy, PhD, ABPP, directs the Psychological Services Center at Sam Houston State University. She is the President of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology. During a twenty-year career with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, she conducted over 1,200 risk assessments, including risk management planning. She conducts numerous national and training workshops on forensic assessment for lawyers, judges, correctional personnel, and mental health professionals.

Daniel C. Murrie, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Sam Houston State University. He has authored numerous studies related to forensic psychological assessment and maintains a private practice of forensic psychological evaluation, specializing in risk assessment.