Editorial: Objective and measurable predictors of violence risk and outcome among forensic patients with psychosis

Abstract

Forensic mental health services are tasked with predicting the risk of future violence for patients, to perform the very important societal function of keeping the public safe. The largest proportion of patients within forensic mental health services suffer from psychosis. Thus, it is crucially important that there are objective and measurable predictors of violence risk for this group. Forensic mental health services tend to be the most expensive services within health systems with the longest lengths of stay. Objective or numerical parameters of risk would help to introduce greater consistency into the risk assessment process, which would not only contribute to better public safety and reduce the risk of reputational damage to the service, but also help forensic clinicians to better defend their practice. This Research Topic thus focused on the objective and measurable predictors of violence risk with potential for translation into the clinical practice of risk assessment in forensic psychiatry. On this topic, we highlight four excellent studies as follows.