Interrater reliability, concurrent validity, and predictive validity of the risk for sexual violence protocol.

Objective: This study empirically evaluated risk judgments made using the Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol (RSVP; Hart et al., 2003), a widely used set of structured professional guidelines for assessing and managing sexual violence risk.

Hypothesis: Based on evaluations of other structured professional judgment guidelines, we hypothesized that judgments made using the RSVP would demonstrate good interrater reliability, concurrent validity, and predictive validity.

Utilization and implications of the Static-99 in practice.

The Static-99 is the most commonly used risk assessment instrument for sexual violence in North America and its results can affect highly consequential decisions made in the criminal and civil justice systems. Despite its influence, few studies have systematically examined how the Static-99 is used by clinicians in practice. The current study compares the Static-99 ratings of clinicians to those of researchers for 100 adult males who completed an outpatient sex offender treatment program and were followed up over an average of about 4 years.