| Abstract: | Meteorology is often thought of as a field with highly developed techniques for forecasting rare and severe events. Risk assessment of another type of rare and severe event—violence to others—occurs in mental health law. The analogy between these 2 forms of risk assessment is explored in this article. How meteorologists go about assessing the risk of harmful weather is described. Implications from the meteorological analogy are drawn for 1 aspect of violence prediction that is routinely ignored in mental health law: the communication of risk "forecasts." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
