Risk of Dangerousness Assessments: Harm to Others vs. Harm to Self

The safety and protection of individuals and the community have been discussed and identified in earlier modules. The safety and protection of others are another significant responsibility of the forensic mental health professional.

Forensic assessments are often utilized in the environment of safety and protection services. This assignment highlights the context of such reports, and this information is directly relevant to the psycholegal assessment questions on the comprehensive exam.

Tasks:

Using resources from the professional literature, research forensic assessments. The literature may include the Argosy University online library resources, relevant textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu and .gov).

In a minimum of 300 words, complete the following:

Discuss the differences between a criminal risk of dangerousness assessment regarding violent harm to others and a civil risk of dangerousness assessment regarding harm to one's self.

Identify and describe assessment tools (psychological tests) for harm towards others and assessment tools (psychological tests) for harm towards self.

Be sure to focus on situations of violence risk that do not involve sexual behavior since risk assessment of sexual offenders is the topic of M4 Assignment 2.