Prediction of Violent Behavior - Toward a Second Generation of Theory and Policy

• NCJ Number: 92679
• Journal: American Journal of Psychiatry Volume: 141 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1984) Pages: 10-15
• Author(s): J Monahan
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this paper was presented as the Manfred S Guttmacher Address at the 135th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Toronto, May 15-21, 1982.

Annotation

The 'first generation' of research studies on the prediction of violent behavior found such prediction to be highly inaccurate.

Abstract

Many social policy changes were implemented or recommended on the basis of that research. More recently, a second generation of research and theory on violence prediction has begun to develop that emphasized the limitations of the existing body of research, points to possible improvements in predictive technology, and evaluates public policies involving violence prediction only in the context of the feasible alternatives to those policies. (Publisher abstract)