Communicating the risk of violent and offending behavior: review and introduction to this special issue.

How to communicate risk of recidivism in correctional and forensic contexts has been a subject of scholarly discussion for two decades. This emerging literature, however, is sparse compared with studies on the assessment of risk for violent and offending behavior. In this special issue of Behavioral Sciences and the Law, we have gathered together empirical and review papers exemplifying promising directions and methodologies.

Cost-effectiveness of electronic training in domestic violence risk assessment: ODARA 101.

The need for domestic violence training has increased with the development of evidence-based risk assessment tools, which must be scored correctly for valid application. Emerging research indicates that training in domestic violence risk assessment can increase scoring accuracy, but despite the increasing popularity of electronic training, it is not yet known whether it can be an effective method of risk assessment training. In the present study, 87 assessors from various professions had training in the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment either face-to-face or using an electronic training program.

Availability of services for parents living with mental disorders: a province-wide survey.

Objective: There is evidence that parents living with mental disorders have limited access to parenting support. We conducted a survey of mental health agencies in Ontario, Canada, to establish a benchmark from which progress in service availability can be evaluated, and to identify any barriers to availability in terms of program location and parent gender.

Method: We surveyed 119 directors of community and inpatient mental health service agencies (54% response rate) and directors of 80 different agencies to which they referred clients for parenting support services (56% response rate).