Assessing Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Homicide. Issue No. 250

摘要

A team of researchers studied the Danger Assessment and found that despite certain limitations, the tool can with some reliability identify women who may be at risk of being killed by an intimate partner. The study found that women who score 8 or higher on the Danger Assessment are at very grave risk (the average score for women who were murdered was just under 8). Women who score 4 or higher are at great risk (the average score for abused women was just over 3). The findings indicate that the Danger Assessment tool can assist in assessing battered women who may be at risk of being killed as well as those who are not. The study also found that almost half the murdered women studied did not recognize the high level of their risk. Thus, a tool like the Danger Assessment or another risk assessment process may assist women (and the professionals who help them) to better understand the potential for danger and the level of their risk.