Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21255891›Full record

SynthesisClinical psychology review2011

A comparative study of violence risk assessment tools: a systematic review and metaregression analysis of 68 studies involving 25,980 participants.

Jay P Singh, Martin Grann, Seena Fazel

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Clinical psychology review, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
67citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
29.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

67 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 650 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. Use of risk assessment instruments to predict violence in forensic psychiatric hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2018
    Pooled it
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  11. Article
  12. Improving risk assessment in forensic mental health: Temporal validation and clinical refinement of the FoVOx risk tool.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026
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7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Jay P SinghDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK.
Martin Grann
Seena Fazel
University of Oxford · GBSwedish Prison and Probation Service · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There are a large number of structured instruments that assist in the assessment of antisocial, violent and sexual risk, and their use appears to be increasing in mental health and criminal justice settings. However, little is known about which commonly used instruments produce the highest rates of predictive validity, and whether overall rates of predictive validity differ by gender, ethnicity, outcome, and other study characteristics. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of nine commonly used risk assessment instruments following PRISMA guidelines. We collected data from 68 studies based on 25,980 participants in 88 independent samples. For 54 of the samples, new tabular data was provided directly by authors. We used four outcome statistics to assess rates of predictive validity, and analyzed sources of heterogeneity using subgroup analysis and metaregression. A tool designed to detect violence risk in juveniles, the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY), produced the highest rates of predictive validity, while an instrument used to identify adults at risk for general offending, the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R), and a personality scale commonly used for the purposes of risk assessment, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), produced the lowest. Instruments produced higher rates of predictive validity in older and in predominantly White samples. Risk assessment procedures and guidelines by mental health services and criminal justice systems may need review in light of these findings.

Indexed as

CrimeHumansRegression AnalysisRisk AssessmentViolence

Identifiers

PMID21255891
OpenAlexW2160661086

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.