Violence Risk Assessment Subject Interview Form

You have done all your homework, completed your background checks, and have decided it is now important to interview the subject of concern as part of your assessment. What questions do you ask…and perhaps more importantly, how can you be sure the answers are germane in really determining the risk potential of violence?

There are numerous studies that have been done in this area and many more are being conducted. A lot of research by very intelligent and methodical professional clinicians has established numerous issues that should be covered to obtain a good risk assessment. Yet when you read many of these studies, you come away thinking that while it sounds good how is it actually put into practice? In other words – specifically, what questions should you ask? How to you minimize deception? How can you avoid slanted answers as most people usually want to appear normal and nice?

This questionnaire consists of 82 questions…and each one is based upon not only the authors 40 plus years of experience in doing violence risk potential assessments, but the current clinical data researched on the topic. As any good interviewer will tell you, there is no 100% guarantee that you are always going to get a straight or honest answer, so these questions have been designed so that the person answering the questions must explain his or her answers. This gives the interviewer a lot more information to determine if the answers are true or if the person being interviewed is attempting to deceive the interviewer.

Starting with the premise that everyone wants to present their best possible “face” when being interviewed, this questionnaire begins by helping the interviewer gain a certain level of comfortableness with the interviewee as well as establishing a base line in how he or she answers questions to better detect deception. It has been carefully framed so that the questions appear somewhat random, or at least do not follow a definitive pattern so that the interviewee does not get a chance to develop a rhythm or pattern to better aid in their attempts at dishonesty.

While this questionnaire certainly stands alone, it is a powerful tool when put together with several of the other forms offered by The Workthreat Group. For example, starting with the TAC form and then adding the Witness Interview form would provide the person responsible for conducting the assessment a fairly complete picture of the actual risk potential of violence of an individual. Take a look at these other forms and as always, we welcome questions and suggestions about any of our products.

Click here for an example download of the form.