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Judgments of dangerousness: Are sex offenders assessed differently than civil psychiatric patients?

Publication ,  Journal Article
Mercado, CC; Elbogen, EB; Scalora, M; Tomkins, A
Published in: Psychiatry, Psychology and Law
January 1, 2001

Although there has been a great deal of research on sex offenders, researchers have yet to examine how clinicians assess sex offender dangerousness in practice. The purpose of this study was to take a first step toward understanding how professional and paraprofessional “clinicians” assess sex offenders by comparing how they assess violence in this population with how they assess violence of civil psychiatric patients. Thirty‐five clinicians were asked to list factors they used to assess risk of dangerousness for eight recently discharged patients and to further rate the patients on risk cues derived from the Psychopathy Checklist‐Short Version (PCL‐SV), rendering a total of 280 judgments of dangerousness. Results indicated that clinicians most commonly considered clinical and behavioral types of factors for assessing violence of both clinical populations, however, notable differences emerged when analysing the specific violence risk factors utilised. In particular, clinicians working with sex offenders emphasised contextual factors such as employment opportunities and social support while clinicians working with psychiatric patients emphasised medication compliance as well as underlying psychotic processes, such as delusional thinking and guardedness. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

DOI

EISSN

1934-1687

ISSN

1321-8719

Publication Date

January 1, 2001

Volume

8

Issue

2

Start / End Page

146 / 153

Related Subject Headings

  • Criminology
  • 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
  • 4804 Law in context
  • 4402 Criminology
  • 1801 Law
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

APA
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ICMJE
MLA
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Mercado, C. C., Elbogen, E. B., Scalora, M., & Tomkins, A. (2001). Judgments of dangerousness: Are sex offenders assessed differently than civil psychiatric patients? Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 8(2), 146–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218710109525014
Mercado, C. C., E. B. Elbogen, M. Scalora, and A. Tomkins. “Judgments of dangerousness: Are sex offenders assessed differently than civil psychiatric patients?Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 8, no. 2 (January 1, 2001): 146–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218710109525014.
Mercado CC, Elbogen EB, Scalora M, Tomkins A. Judgments of dangerousness: Are sex offenders assessed differently than civil psychiatric patients? Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 2001 Jan 1;8(2):146–53.
Mercado, C. C., et al. “Judgments of dangerousness: Are sex offenders assessed differently than civil psychiatric patients?Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, vol. 8, no. 2, Jan. 2001, pp. 146–53. Scopus, doi:10.1080/13218710109525014.
Mercado CC, Elbogen EB, Scalora M, Tomkins A. Judgments of dangerousness: Are sex offenders assessed differently than civil psychiatric patients? Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 2001 Jan 1;8(2):146–153.

Published In

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

DOI

EISSN

1934-1687

ISSN

1321-8719

Publication Date

January 1, 2001

Volume

8

Issue

2

Start / End Page

146 / 153

Related Subject Headings

  • Criminology
  • 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
  • 4804 Law in context
  • 4402 Criminology
  • 1801 Law
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology