The Reliability of Dangerousness Assessments. A Decision Making Exercise
- 1 February 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal College of Psychiatrists in The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 144 (2) , 149-155
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.144.2.149
Abstract
Raters (193) drawn from 6 countries and representing different professional groups considered 16 [psychiatric] case histories. Raters were asked to indicate what degree of dangerousness they attributed to each individual and what they considered to be the optimal management. The level of agreement between raters concerning the assessment of dangerousness was generally low, the level of 60% being reached for 4 cases out of 16. Psychiatrists did not reach a higher level of agreement on the ratings of dangerousness than non-psychiatrists. Psychiatrists had a tendency to rate individuals as more dangerous than did non-psychiatrists. These results do not support the use of dangerousness as a scientifically or operationally valid concept.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Social Control of Deviants in Six CountiesMedicine, Science and the Law, 1981
- Compulsory admissions to mental hospitals in six countriesInternational Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 1981
- Personality disorder and the International Classification of DiseasesPsychological Medicine, 1974
- Can Violence Be Predicted?Crime & Delinquency, 1972
- CONTINUED EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHIATRIG DIAGNOSIS *Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1970
- A TRI‐AXIAL CLASSIFICATION OF MENTAL DISORDERS IN CHILDHOODJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1969
- Classification of the Behavior DisordersAnnual Review of Psychology, 1967