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AIC research explores onset of violence in people diagnosed with psychosis

Full report: ‘Treating’ violence: An exploration of Mental Health Review Tribunal contact and community treatment order use in people with psychosis

Trends & issues summary: First-time violent offending following psychosis diagnosis

Researchers from the University of New South Wales linked health data, criminal records and births, deaths and marriages records to examine the onset of violent offending following psychosis. They found:

Nearly one in six of those with a psychosis diagnosis who had no prior history of violence subsequently committed a violent offence, most commonly within four years.
Risk of violent offending was associated with being placed on a community treatment order, being male, having an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background, having substance-related psychosis, being aged under 20 years, being single and living in a disadvantaged socio-economic area.
Being placed on a community treatment order delayed the onset of violence, especially in the first year of the order.

AIC Occasional Seminar: How well does the Violence Risk Scale operate across cultures in the Australian context?

Co-presenters: Emma Ziersch and Yilma Woldgabreal

This presentation will share the findings from a cross-jurisdictional study of the Violence Risk Scale (VRS). The VRS is a risk assessment tool used in most correctional agencies to assess and predict risk of future offending, inform decisions around therapeutic intervention and measure changes in violence risk following treatment. While the tool has been used extensively both internationally and in Australia, its cross-cultural applicability to our Australian population is unclear. The study investigated the discriminative and predictive validity of the VRS for Aboriginal and non-Indigenous males convicted of violent offending in multiple jurisdictions.

This presentation will highlight the areas in which the tool performed differently for Aboriginal and non-Indigenous males in custody, and the implications of the findings for correctional practice. It will conclude with some recommendations to reduce bias in the assessment of Aboriginal people under correctional supervision.

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