Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Predicting wife assault : a critical review and implications for policy and practice
Other Titles:	Trauma, violence & abuse
Authors:	Hilton, N Zoe Harris, Grant T
Keywords:	Measurement;Perpetrators
Year:	2005
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Citation:	6 (1), 2005
Notes:	This Canadian review provided an overview of prediction research and looked at research evidence for the prediction of wife assault recidivism, lethal wife assault, and wife assault onset. Also examined was the effect of treatment attendance on wife assault recidivism. Discussed in this paper were two methods used to predict violence: Structured Clinical Risk Assessments and Actuarial Risk Assessments. Risk Assessments were considered a more accurate predictor of violent recidivism than clinical judgment or structure clinical tools. The review suggested that the strongest predictors of wife assault recidivism are very similar to the predictors of violent recidivism in general: young age, unemployment prior criminal history and other indices of an unstable, antisocial lifestyle, including substance abuse, psychopathy and treatment dropout. Formal risk assessments and victims’ predictions were also considered valuable indicators of recidivism. Due to limitations in predicting lethal violence, the authors could not conclude that a validated risk assessment for lethal wife assault existed and recommended that a validated wife assault risk assessment be used when lethality was a concern. Predicting wife assault onset using risk assessments was unclear and it was suggested that when attempting to identify men at risk of offending, focus should be on areas such as conduct disorder, substance abuse, mood disorder, jealousy, childhood exposure to violence. The review concluded that that there was no strong evidence that participation in wife assault treatment decreased risk and that non-completion of treatment is related to recidivism. The implications for practice, policy and research were also discussed.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/16249
ISSN:	1524-8380
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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