Norwegian Developments and Perspectives on Violence Risk Assessment

• Author: Stål Bjørkly,John Olav Roaldset,Pål Hartvig,Jay P. Singh
• Published date: 01 December 2014
• Date: 01 December 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0093854814547949

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2014, Vol. 41, No. 12, December 2014, 1384 –1397.

DOI: 10.1177/0093854814547949

© 2014 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1384

NORWEGIAN DEVELOPMENTS AND

PERSPECTIVES ON VIOLENCE RISK

ASSESSMENT

STÅL BJØRKLY

Molde University College

Oslo University Hospital

PÅL HARTVIG

Oslo University Hospital

JOHN OLAV ROALDSET

Oslo University Hospital

Aalesund Hospital, Møre & Romsdal Health Trust

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology

JAY P. SINGH

Molde University College

Singh Institute of Forensic Research

The first Norwegian tools designed to assess the violence risk of the mentally ill were developed in the late 1980s, though

the first national guidelines for both violence and suicide risk assessment were not published until two decades later in 2007.

This article reviews the history of the field of forensic risk assessment in Norway from its humble beginnings to the present

day. First an overview is provided of the history of forensic psychiatry and the criminal justice system. The main scope,

however, is to discuss current research on and practice of risk assessment of violence in Norway, with an emphasis on the

development and use of Norwegian risk assessment tools and methods. Particular attention is paid to instruments that follow

the structured professional judgment model of risk assessment, as actuarial tools are rarely researched and not routinely

implemented in clinical practice in Norway. Finally, a brief analysis is provided of some controversies concerning risk assess-

ment in the expert witness reports on Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 persons in 2011.

Keywords: forensic; violence risk assessment; mental disorder; violent offenders; Norway

There is a great variety of strategies and tools for assessing risk of violence. They may

be categorized according to how information is used to reach a decision. Unstructured

professional evaluation of risk is substantially a heuristic approach without any predefined

structure guide for what information should be analyzed and how it should be combined

into a risk decision. Anamnestic risk assessment is very similar to the unstructured approach.

Although it provides some guidance, in the sense that the use of anamnestic information is

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Stål Bjørkly, Faculty of

Health and Social Sciences, Molde University College, P.O. Box 2110, NO-6402 Molde, Norway; e-mail: stal.

bjorkly@himolde.no.