Risk of harm to others / duty to protect
Assess threat toward others and decide whether a legal duty to warn or protect has been triggered.
How this document is used well
Duty-to-protect law originates in Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California (1976) but has diverged sharply since. Some jurisdictions impose a mandatory duty to warn an identifiable victim; some permit but do not require disclosure; some have no such duty at all; and the definitions of "identifiable victim" and "serious threat" differ. You must know your own jurisdiction’s statute. This form structures the assessment; it cannot tell you the law where you practise.
What actually predicts violence
- History of violence — by a wide margin the strongest predictor
- Current substance intoxication or dependence
- Access to weapons
- Specific, identifiable target rather than diffuse anger
- Active persecutory or command symptoms with a specific object
- Recent loss, humiliation, or relationship separation
- Non-adherence to treatment where symptoms drive the risk
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7 required fields outstanding: What was said or done, verbatim where possible; Target; History of violence — what, when, to whom, consequences …