The Diagnosis and Treatment of Dangerousness

TLDR: In this article, a ten-year study involving 592 male convicted offenders was conducted, and the authors defined dangerousness as a potential for inflicting serious bodily harm on another.

Abstract: Dangerousness in criminal offenders can be reliably diagnosed and effectively treated with a recidivism rate of 6.1 per cent. We define dangerousness as a potential for inflicting serious bodily harm on another.This is a report of a ten-year study involving 592 male convict ed offenders. Most of the crimes that brought these offenders to our notice were sex offenses. Several were compounded by ex treme violence including murder, manslaughier, assault with intent to kill, and assault with a dangerous weapon. The staff's initial diagnosis indicated that 304 of these persons were not dangerous, and they were released into the community after completing their sentences. Twenty-six (8.6 per cent) subse quently committed serious assaultive (dangerous) crimes.The courts concurred in our diagnosis of dangerous in 226 cases and committed these offenders to our special "treatment" facility for an indeterminate period of one day to life. Following treatment for an average period of forty-three months, eighty- two pa...