A Review of Violence Risk Assessment for Mentally Disordered Patients in Mainland of China

• DOI: 10.1177/0093854814547950
• Date: 01 December 2014
• Published date: 01 December 2014

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2014, Vol. 41, No. 12, December 2014, 1398 –1405.

DOI: 10.1177/0093854814547950

© 2014 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1398

A REVIEW OF VIOLENCE RISK ASSESSMENT

FOR MENTALLY DISORDERED PATIENTS IN

MAINLAND OF CHINA

YAN GU

Sichuan University

JAY P. SINGH

Molde University College

Global Institute of Forensic Research, LLC

LIBING YUN

ZEQING HU

Sichuan University

The Chinese research literature on violence risk assessment is small compared with Western countries. However, violence by

mentally disordered populations is an area of considerable importance in China, given major legal developments in recent

years. The aim of the present article was to provide an overview of the current state of violence risk assessment practices in

China, focusing on the role that such assessments play in forensic and non-forensic hospitals as well as in community treat-

ment settings. The Chinese evidence base on currently available approaches to violence risk assessment was also explored.

Further research on risk assessment, formulation, communication, and management is needed before it can be argued that

practitioners in China charged with making risk-based decisions are using the most scientifically defensible procedures.

Keywords: violence; risk assessment; China; mental illness; forensic

With more than 1.3 billion residents, China is the most populous country in the world.

Despite a stably low annual incidence of violent crime in recent years (0.004%),

interpersonal violence remains a major public health concern (Law Yearbook of China,

2012). Hence, the assessment of violence risk has become an important role tasked to men-

tal health professionals working in both institutional and community settings.

Considerable advances have been made over the past several decades in the accurate

prediction of future violence in mentally disordered populations (Fazel, Singh, Doll, &

Grann, 2012; Skeem & Monahan, 2011). Such advances are welcome, as decisions influ-

enced by violence risk assessments can have far-reaching civil rights and public safety

implications. Despite the importance of this science, however, the violence risk assessment

literature of China is small compared with that of Western countries such as the United

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Zeqing Hu, Department

of Forensic Psychiatry, Sichuan University, No.16. Section 3, RenMin Nan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s

Republic of China; e-mail: huzeqing@126.com/ huzeqing@gmail.com.