Handbook

The predominant focus of criminal forensic psychiatry is violent behaviour. In order to practise in the criminal forensic psychiatric arena, practitioners need to understand the various types of violence and the epidemiological distribution of violence. The course will provide a broad overview of specific violent behaviours and equip students with a basis upon which to build a more in-depth understanding of the topics.

Topics covered in this course will include: the relationship between mental illness and violence, risk assessment of mentally disordered offenders: risk assessments, statistical issues and using the HCR-20 risk assessment tool, violence risk formulation and management, theories of aggression, psychopathy and personality disorder, homicide, domestic violence and other types of offending such as fire-setting, stalkers, extremism, and sexual violence.