Forensic psychiatry & mental health law

Psychiatry & Law Radar

Thu 10 SepPAPER

Headlines are the editor's. Summaries are machine-written and staff reviewed. Nothing here is legal or clinical advice.

Staff reviewed

STRONGER ALIGNMENT NEEDED

— STAFF

The risk instruments routinely relied on in sexually violent person evaluations are validated against general sexual recidivism rather than the violent sexual recidivism that many SVP statutes make the commitment criterion, so an evaluator citing an instrument's predictive support is citing evidence for a different outcome than the one the court is being asked to find.

J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026.