I need participation points, and to get that, i have to respond back to classmates discussion posts. S MUST BE NEW AND ORIGINAL WORK. ALL YOU ARE DOING IS WRITING A SUBSTANSIVE RESPONSE TO EACH DISCUSSION. Each response is in a different color (3 responses). Must use one replicable source. respoinse can range from 125 or more words. DUE TODAY 4/20 BY 11pm EST   Good Post. You mentioned that "the drawbacks of current risk assessments makes a positive contribution to forensic psychology by creating urge to find alternative methods of improvements..." .What improvements do you feel will be the most beneficial? Risk assessments are used to determine the probability that a violent individual will reoffend again in the future. One main advantage of a risk assessment is obviously that one can Risk gauge a person’s propensity to commit violent acts. One such test is the HCR-20, the Historical-Clinical Risk, which is made up of 20 questions used to assess violence. This assessment tool can be used to accurately predict violent offenders’ chances of recidivism (Gray, et al, 2008). These risk assessments are generally used in cases of civil commitment when determining the danger that a patient may pose to other people and their property. They are also used in prisons when inmates are eligible for parole or upon their release. The HCR-20 for example, is considered to be a good predictor of future violent behavior, between .70-.76 accurate (Gray, et al, 2008). The Hare psychopathology checklist, is often used in conjunction with the HCR-20 to detect for underlying mental disorders and illnesses. One benefit of using of using risk assessments is that they can be quite accurate in predicting future violent behaviors by analyzing clinical factors, and well as the person’s past behaviors. These assessments may be used to determine treatment options for offenders. A weakness of these risk assessments is that they are clinically analyzed and interpreted by a psychologist. This clinical judgement should be completely objective but that cannot be guaranteed, especially in settings where the psychologist operates in a dual relationship. First, the analyzing acumen of the clinician is not accounted for. Secondly, ‘actuarial assessments’ of violence are more accurate in determining likelihood of violence than clinically analyzed assessments (Murray, 2010). Assessment of risk is the preferred name because prediction gives a sense of certainty in violence occurring in the future. References Gray, Nicole. Taylor, John. Snowden, Robert. 2008. Predicting violent reconvictions using the HCR–20. The British Journal of Psychiatry Apr 2008, 192 (5) 384-387 Murray, J., Thomson, M. 2010. Clinical judgement in violence risk assessment. Europe’s Journal of Psychology . Feb. 2010. There are three types of risk assessment practices currently in use: clinical, actuarial and anamnestic (Ackerman, 2010). Clinical risk assessment is where an evaluator u.

1. I need participation points, and to get that, i have to respond
back to classmates discussion posts. S
MUST BE NEW AND ORIGINAL WORK. ALL YOU ARE
DOING IS WRITING A SUBSTANSIVE RESPONSE TO EACH
DISCUSSION. Each response is in a different color (3
responses). Must use one replicable source. respoinse can range
from 125 or more words. DUE TODAY 4/20 BY 11pm EST
Good Post. You mentioned that "the drawbacks of current risk
assessments makes a positive contribution to forensic
psychology by creating urge to find alternative methods of
improvements..." .What improvements do you feel will be the
most beneficial?
Risk assessments are used to determine the probability that a
violent individual will reoffend again in the future.
One main advantage of a risk assessment is obviously that one
can Risk gauge a person’s propensity to commit violent acts.
One such test is the HCR-20, the Historical-Clinical Risk,
which is made up of 20 questions used to assess violence.
This assessment tool can be used to accurately predict violent
offenders’ chances of recidivism (Gray, et al, 2008).
These risk assessments are generally used in cases of civil
commitment when determining the danger that a patient may
pose to other people and their property. They are also used in
prisons when inmates are eligible for parole or upon their
release.

2. The HCR-20 for example, is considered to be a good predictor
of future violent behavior, between .70-.76 accurate (Gray, et
al, 2008).
The Hare psychopathology checklist, is often used in
conjunction with the HCR-20 to detect for underlying mental
disorders and illnesses.
One benefit of using of using risk assessments is that they can
be quite accurate in predicting future violent behaviors by
analyzing clinical factors, and well as the person’s past
behaviors.
These assessments may be used to determine treatment options
for offenders.
A weakness of these risk assessments is that they are clinically
analyzed and interpreted by a psychologist.
This clinical judgement should be completely objective but that
cannot be guaranteed, especially in settings where the
psychologist operates in a dual relationship.
First, the analyzing acumen of the clinician is not accounted
for.
Secondly, ‘actuarial assessments’ of violence are more accurate
in determining likelihood of violence than clinically analyzed
assessments (Murray, 2010).
Assessment of risk is the preferred name because prediction
gives a sense of certainty in violence occurring in the future.
References

3. Gray, Nicole. Taylor, John. Snowden, Robert. 2008. Predicting
violent reconvictions using the
HCR–20. The British Journal of Psychiatry Apr 2008, 192 (5)
384-387
Murray, J., Thomson, M. 2010. Clinical judgement in violence
risk assessment.
Europe’s Journal of Psychology
.
Feb. 2010.
There are three types of risk assessment practices currently in
use: clinical, actuarial and anamnestic (Ackerman, 2010).
Clinical risk assessment is where an evaluator uses their clinical
judgment to issue an opinion as to the likelihood of recidivism.
The strength of this type of risk assessment is that it is specific
to the offender and not generalized. However, there are a
number of weaknesses, such as the potential for bias and the
lack of consistent procedures (Ackerman, 2010). Unlike the
clinical risk assessment, a strength of the actuarial risk
assessment is that it is based on objective data. A weakness of
the actuarial risk assessment is that it can offer information
without a useful explanation and will still requires the use of
clinical judgment (Ackerman, 2010). Lastly, an anamnestic risk
assessment is where the examiner evaluates each one of an
individual’s offenses independently to look for patterns in order
to predict future behavior.
Examples of current risk assessment measures include the
Violent Risk Appraisal Guide-Revised (VRAG-R) and the Hare
Psychopathy Checklists (PCL-R and PCL-Screening Version).
For both measures, the best way to predict future reoccurrences

4. of violent behavior is evaluating for psychopathy (Ackerman,
2010). One strength of the PCL-R is that it is widely considered
to be the most effective measure of psychopathy (Jaber &
Mahmoud, 2015). One weakness of the PCL-R is the training
needed to administer and evaluate the results of the measure as
well as the length of time needed to an individual to complete
(Jaber & Mahmoud, 2015). The VRAG-R was created with the
purpose of predicting the risk of an offender’s recidivism. One
inherent weakness with the VRAG-R is that, while the measure
has been used on multiple populations, the initial data was
obtained from Canadian males. As such, research has shown
that the VRAG-R is able to more accurately predict the
potential for violent behavior in males than females (Hastings,
Krishnan, Tangney & Stuewig, 2012). Finally, the VRAG-R is
more applicable for predicting short-term recidivism, whereas
the PCL-R is more applicable for predicting long-term
recidivism (Jaber & Mahmoud, 2015).
There are different opinions regarding how to enhance the
strengths and improve the weaknesses found in current risk
assessment methods. Jaber and Mahmoud (2015) suggest one
way would to be use a blend of actuarial and clinical methods.
In doing so, one would gain the benefits of both methods.
Conversely, Quinsey, Harris, Rice and Cormier (2006) advise
against the blending of clinical and actuarial methods and
instead only using actuarial methods.
I would have to say the term “assessment of risk” is preferable
and far less misleading than “prediction of risk.” Assessment of
risk states what is actually being performed – an assessment –
and implies that the evaluation is objective than mere
prediction, which has the connotation of being more subjective.
References

5. Ackerman, M. J. (2010). Essentials of Psychological
Assessment: Essentials of Forensic
Psychological Assessment (2). Hoboken, US: Wiley. Retrieved
from
http://www.ebrary.com
Hastings, M. E., Krishnan, S., Tangney, J. P, and Stuewig, J.
(2011). Predictive and incremental
validity of the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide scores with male
and female jail inmates.
Psychological Assessment,
23(1), 174-183. doi:10.1037/a0021290
Jaber, F. S., and Mahmoud, K. F. (2015). Risk tools for the
prediction of violence: 'VRAG,
HCR-20, PCL-R'.
Journal Of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing
,
22
(2), 133-141 9p. doi:10.1111/jpm.12102
Quinsey, V. L. Harris, G. T. Rice, M. E., and Cormier, C. A.
(2006). Violent offenders:
Appraising and managing risk (2nd ed.). The law and public
policy, (pp. 197-223). Washington, DC, US: American
Psychological Association, xiii, 462 pp.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/11367-009