NCJ Number
153155
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Using archival data gathered from 245 offenders who were evaluated in terms of their need to remain in a maximum-security psychiatric hospital, this study identified variables that were significantly associated with formal assessments of dangerousness.
Abstract
This exploratory analysis computed correlations for 41 individual variables for clinical recommendations as well as review board decisions, and areas of disagreement between the two. The results showed that, for formal assessments, only paranoid diagnosis and delusions were associated with dangerousness and these variables appeared to be secondarily important. Main diagnostic categories comprising mood or psychotic disorders were unrelated to review board determinations. The best predictors of clinical recommendations of dangerousness were physical assaultiveness and lack of improvement, which suggested that factors predisposing a patient to violence had not been remediated. 1 table and 21 references