Intimate Partner Violence Risk Assessment Tools: A Review

“The purpose of this report is to provide an understanding of intimate partner violence risk assessment tools and of the issues that assessors should consider when choosing an assessment instrument” (p. 1). It is an excellent resource for individuals looking for an introduction to the process of assessing the risk of another violent encounter by an intimate partner. The beginning of this report provides a clear description of what risk assessment and intimate partner violence are. This is followed by an explanation of how a risk assessment tool is used following a violent attack by an intimate partner. The majority of this publication is taken up by a discussion of: the types of intimate partner violence risk assessment instruments based on either unstructured clinical decision making, structured clinical judgment, actuarial approaches or other approaches involving the consultation of the victim or the use of general risk assessment tool; factors to consider when choosing a risk assessment too; and the strengths and weaknesses of these tools. An appendix presents a very nice overview of the various tools according to: structured clinical judgment tools-the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide (SARA), the Domestic Violence Screening Inventory (DVSI), and the Danger Assessment (DA); actuarial tools-the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA), and the Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guise (DVRAG); and risk assessment tools for general and violent offending-the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), and the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R).