International Handbook of Threat Assessment

Threat assessment is a method used by mental health and law enforcement professionals to assess the risk of intended violence toward a specific target, such as attacks and assassinations of public figures, workplace homicides, mass murders, school shootings, and acts of terrorism, both domestic and foreign. Beginning with studies by the U.S. Secret Service twenty years ago, the research and interest in this field has accelerated over the past decade with published scholarship and emerging professional organizations.
International Handbook of Threat Assessment offers a definition of the foundations of threat assessment, systematically explores its fields of practice, and provides information and instruction on the best practices of threat assessment. The volume is divided into three sections. Section I defines the difference between threat assessment and traditional violence risk assessment and discusses threat assessment terminology and practice, contemporary understanding of threats, warning behaviors concerning targeted violence, and the legal basis of threats and targeted violence interventions. Section II elaborates on the various domains of threat assessment, such as workplace violence, public figure attacks, school and campus violence, insider threats, honor-based violence, computer-modeling of violent intent, targeted domestic violence, anonymous threats, and cyberthreats. Section III presents the functions of a number of threat assessment individuals and units, including the UK Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, the LAPD Threat Management Unit, Australia's Problem Behaviour Program, and the U.S. Navy Criminal Investigative Service, among others. This book will serve as the standard reference volume in the field of threat assessment and will be invaluable to mental health and criminal justice professionals who practice threat assessment or are interested in understanding this new field of research.

Dr. J. Reid Meloy is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and a faculty member at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Meloy is a board-certified forensic psychologist and internationally recognized expert in threat assessment. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and an elected affiliate of the International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship.
Dr. Jens Hoffmann is a forensic psychologist and researcher collaborating with several universities in Germany. Dr. Hoffmann is head of the forensic consulting firm Team Psychology and Security and head of Institute Psychology & Threat Management, having offices in Germany and Switzerland. He is also former president and board member of the European Association of Threat Assessment Professionals.

ContentsForeword by Robert Fein and Bryan VossekuilAbout the EditorsContributors
Part I. Foundations 1. Threat Assessment and Threat ManagementJ. Reid Meloy, Stephen Hart, and Jens Hoffmann
2. Explicit Threats of ViolenceLisa J. Warren, Paul E. Mullen, and Troy E. McEwan
3. Warning Behaviors and Their Configurations across Various Domains of Targeted ViolenceJ. Reid Meloy, Jens Hoffmann, Karoline Roshdi, Justine Glaz-Ocik, and Angela Guldimann
4. Collecting and Assessing Information for Threat AssessmentBram B. Van der Meer and Margaret L. Diekhuis
5. Legal Issues in Threat ManagementKris Mohandie and Jens Hoffmann
Part II. Fields of Practice 6. Workplace Targeted Violence: Threat Assessment Incorporating a Structured Professional Judgment GuideStephen G. White
7. Threat Assessment and Management in Higher Education: Enhancing the Standard of Care in the AcademyEugene R. D. Deisinger, Marisa R. Randazzo, and Jeffrey J. Nolan
8. Threat Assessment in SchoolsKris Mohandie
9. Mass Casualty Homicides on Elementary School Campuses: Threat ManagementLessons Learned from Bath, Michigan to Newtown, ConnecticutKris Mohandie and J. Reid Meloy
10. Contemporary Research on Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public FiguresJens Hoffmann, J. Reid Meloy, and Lorraine Sheridan
11. Intimate Partner Violence, Stalking, and FemicideP. Randall Kropp and Alana N. Cook
12. The Assessment of Anonymous Threatening CommunicationsAndre Simons and Ronald Tunkel
13. Electronic Threats and HarassmentMario J. Scalora
14. Computer Modeling of Violent Intent: A Content Analysis ApproachAntonio Sanfilippo, Liam McGrath, and Eric Bell
15. The Use of Threat Assessment in Tactical Operations: Reverse Engineering the MethodJames Biesterfeld
16. Insider Threats in Bioterrorism CasesRonald Schouten and Gregory Saathoff
17. Threat Assessment of Targeted Honor-based ViolenceHenrik Belfrage and Linda Ekman
18. Fundamentals of Threat Assessment for BeginnersMary Ellen O'Toole and Sharon S. Smith
Part III. Operations19. The Los Angeles Police Department Threat Management UnitJeffrey Dunn
20. The Fixated Threat Assessment Centre: Implementing a Joint Policing and Psychiatric Approach to Risk Assessment and Management in Public Figure Threat CasesDavid V. James, Frank R. Farnham, and Simon P. Wilson
21. Threat Triage: Recognizing the Needle in the HaystackSharon S. Smith, Robert B. Woyach, and Mary Ellen O'Toole
22. Domestic Violence Threat Assessment: Putting Knowledge and Skills into PracticeKeith Dormond
23. An Operational Approach to Prosecuting Stalking CasesRachel B. Solov
24. Building up a Threat Assessment Process at Universities: Experiences from EuropeJens Hoffmann and Katherine Timmel Zamboni
25. The Problem Behavior Program: Threat Assessment and Management in Community Forensic Mental HealthTroy E. McEwan, Rachel D. MacKenzie, and Jennifer McCarthy
26. Threat Assessment within the US Navy and Marine CorpsDorian Van Horn
27. Assessing Threats by Direct Interview of the Violent True BelieverJ. Reid Meloy and Kris Mohandie