Threat assessment

Threat Assessment is the practice of determining the credibility and seriousness of a potential threat, as well as the probability that the threat will become a reality. Threat assessment is separate to the more established practice of violence-risk assessment, which attempts to predict an individual's general capacity and tendency to react to situations violently. Instead, threat assessment aims to interrupt people on a pathway to commit 'predatory or instrumental violence, the type of behavior associated with targeted attacks,' according to J. Reid Meloy, PhD, co-editor of the International Handbook of Threat Assessment. 'Predatory and affective violence are largely distinctive modes of violence.' Threat Assessment is the practice of determining the credibility and seriousness of a potential threat, as well as the probability that the threat will become a reality. Threat assessment is separate to the more established practice of violence-risk assessment, which attempts to predict an individual's general capacity and tendency to react to situations violently. Instead, threat assessment aims to interrupt people on a pathway to commit 'predatory or instrumental violence, the type of behavior associated with targeted attacks,' according to J. Reid Meloy, PhD, co-editor of the International Handbook of Threat Assessment. 'Predatory and affective violence are largely distinctive modes of violence.'