Premium
The Use of Risk and Need Factors in Forensic Mental Health Decision‐Making and the Role of Gender and Index Offense Severity
Author(s) -
Wilson Catherine M.,
Crocker Anne G.,
Nicholls Tonia L.,
Charette Yanick,
Seto Michael C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.2162
Subject(s) - mental health , psychology , legislation , human factors and ergonomics , risk assessment , forensic psychiatry , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , psychiatry , forensic science , poison control , injury prevention , index (typography) , clinical psychology , applied psychology , medicine , environmental health , political science , computer security , law , pathology , world wide web , computer science , veterinary medicine
Canadian legislation makes Review Boards (RBs) responsible for rendering dispositions for individuals found Not Criminally Responsible on account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD) after considering public safety, the mental condition of the accused, and his/her potential for community reintegration. We reviewed 6,743 RB hearings for 1,794 individuals found NCRMD in the three largest Canadian provinces to investigate whether items from two empirically supported risk assessment measures, the Historical Clinical Risk Management‐20 and the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, were considered. Less than half the items were included in expert reports or in RBs' reasons for dispositions, and consideration of these items differed according to gender and index offense severity of the accused. These items included evidence‐based risk factors and/or legally specified criteria: mental health, treatment, and criminal history. These results illustrate the gap between research on risk factors and the integration of this evidence into practice. In particular, we recommend the implementation of structured measures to reduce the potential for clinicians to be unduly influenced by gender and offense severity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.