Forensic Risk Assessment
Forensic risk assessment and court-ready psychological reports
We provide independent forensic risk assessment services for solicitors, courts, tribunals, and organisations requiring a defensible, evidence-based opinion. Our work produces a court-ready risk assessment report that is transparent in method, clearly reasoned, and focused on practical risk formulation and a workable risk management plan.
Our approach reflects best-practice principles for the short-term management of violence and aggression (NICE NG10) and established structured approaches to violence risk assessment (e.g., HCR-20V3; SPJ frameworks).
Instruct a Forensic PsychologistForensic Psychologist Risk Assessment: What We Deliver
A forensic psychologist risk assessment typically results in a court-ready report that addresses the specific legal questions and decision points in your instructions. Depending on the forum and the issues in dispute, reports may be suitable as a criminal court psychological report, tribunal psychological report, or family court risk assessment (psychology).
Risk formulation and opinion
We set out the evidence-base, identify credible risk scenarios, specify conditions under which risk is likely to escalate, and articulate uncertainty and limitations. The report distinguishes clearly between facts, inferences, professional reasoning, and the ultimate opinion.
Risk management plan
We provide pragmatic, implementable recommendations for supervision, intervention, safeguarding, and monitoring—aligned with the relevant context (custody, community, hospital, workplace, or family setting) and the referral question.
Structured documentation
Where appropriate, we provide a Structured Professional Judgement narrative and explain how structured findings informed the professional conclusions, supporting auditability and scrutiny in legal settings.
Clarity for the court
Reports are written to be usable: clear headings, explicit reasoning, defined risk scenarios, and practical management actions. Where evidence is limited or disputed, we state this explicitly and explain its impact on confidence in conclusions.
Structured Professional Judgement (SPJ) Risk Assessment
SPJ violence risk assessment
A structured professional judgement risk assessment combines structured consideration of empirically grounded risk factors with professional formulation. This supports a report that remains clinically meaningful while still systematic and auditable.
HCR-20V3 violence risk assessment
Where the referral question concerns future violence, we may undertake an HCR-20V3 violence risk assessment and integrate it into a narrative that links historical patterns, clinical presentation, and future-focused risk management planning. We also address the strengths and limitations of structured tools when applied in legal contexts.
Protective factors assessment (SAPROF)
When relevant, we incorporate a protective factors assessment (SAPROF) to balance risk-focused analysis with strengths-based stabilisers that can reduce risk over time and guide intervention priorities.
SEO terms: SPJ violence risk assessment · HCR-20V3 risk assessment · SAPROF protective factors
Specialist Forensic Risk Domains
Violence and serious harm
We complete assessments including:
- Violence risk assessment for assault
- Violence risk assessment for domestic abuse
- Community violence risk assessment
- Prison violence risk assessment
- Gang affiliation risk assessment
- Arson risk assessment
Where instructed, we can align the report to probation concepts such as Risk of Serious Harm (RoSH) and explain how RoSH language relates to psychological formulation and scenario-led management planning.
Sexual risk and recidivism
Where the referral question relates to sexual risk, we may use (as instructed and clinically appropriate):
- RSVP (Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol; SPJ framework)
- Static-99R assessment (actuarial estimate of sexual recidivism risk)
- SORAG assessment (legacy actuarial tool; where specifically requested)
Where actuarial estimates are provided, we explain scope, assumptions, and limitations, and clarify that absolute recidivism rates vary by sample and must be interpreted in context.
Stalking and harassment
We undertake:
- Stalking risk assessment
- Harassment risk assessment
Approach is selected according to the legal question, available evidence, and whether the focus is contact risk, fixation, escalation, or safeguarding.
Workplace and organisational contexts
Where instructed, we provide risk opinions relevant to workplace safety, safeguarding, professional regulation, and organisational decision-making—ensuring clear boundaries between evidence, analysis, and opinion.
Mental Health and Safeguarding
Mental health and risk assessment
We provide mental health and risk assessment opinions where mental disorder may interact with risk presentation and management needs (e.g., relapse, non-adherence, destabilisation, substance use, acute symptom exacerbation). This may include:
- Psychosis and violence risk assessment
- Personality disorder violence risk assessment
Reports include explicit attention to short-term management principles for violence and aggression in relevant settings (NICE NG10).
Safeguarding risk assessment (adults)
Where the case concerns vulnerability, coercion, exploitation, neglect, or safeguarding processes, we can provide a safeguarding risk assessment aligned with statutory safeguarding duties under section 42 of the Care Act 2014.
Neurodevelopmental Disorder and Offending Risk
Autism and forensic risk assessment
An autism-informed forensic risk assessment considers how social communication differences, sensory needs, rigidity, misunderstanding of social threat cues, or stress responses may (in some individuals) affect risk pathways, vulnerability, and risk management needs. The analysis is individualised and avoids simplistic “diagnosis equals risk” reasoning.
ADHD and forensic risk assessment
An ADHD-informed forensic risk assessment considers how impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, substance misuse vulnerability, and executive functioning constraints may affect offence-paralleling behaviour, compliance, and responsivity to interventions—grounded in the individual evidence rather than assumptions.
Where instructed, neurodevelopmental findings are integrated into formulation, responsivity, and practical adjustments rather than treated as determinative.
Actuarial Tools and Legacy Measures
VRAG assessment and VRAG-R assessment
Where requested, we can include VRAG/VRAG-R outputs within a broader formulation-based opinion, explaining what the tool can and cannot conclude and ensuring actuarial estimates are not misrepresented as individualised predictions.
SORAG assessment
Where relevant, SORAG can be included as part of a wider sexual-violence risk narrative, ensuring clarity about actuarial scope, assumptions, and limitations.
Legal Contexts and Report Types
Criminal and sentencing
- Sentencing psychological report
- Pre-sentence report psychology (psychological report addressing sentencing issues)
- Criminal court psychological report
Where mental disorder, developmental disorder, or neurological impairment is relevant to sentencing considerations, reports can address issues highlighted in sentencing guidance.
Parole and public protection
- Parole risk assessment report
- MAPPA psychological risk assessment
Where appropriate, reports reference public protection expectations for auditable risk assessment and implementable risk management plans within multi-agency frameworks.
Regulatory and professional proceedings
- Fitness to practise risk assessment (regulator)
- Tribunal psychological report
Family proceedings
- Family court risk assessment (psychology)
Reports reflect professional expert witness principles: transparency about methods, limitations, and duty to the court.
Instruct a Forensic Psychologist
Instruction process
To instruct a forensic psychologist, you would typically provide:
- Letter of instruction and specific referral questions
- Key dates (plea, PTR, trial, sentencing, tribunal, case management hearings)
- Disclosure bundle (statements, antecedents/prior convictions, medical records, probation/prison records, previous expert reports)
- Any required framework (e.g., HCR-20V3; RSVP; Static-99R; RoSH focus; MAPPA focus)
We can accept documents uploaded securely for analysis (PDF/Word/RTF/Excel). We will confirm what additional records are required before finalising an opinion.
Request a Fee EstimateFees and Timescales
Expert witness fees (forensic psychologist)
Fees depend on:
- Complexity and volume of disclosure
- Number of interviews and collateral contacts
- Whether structured tools are required (e.g., HCR-20V3, Static-99R, RSVP, SAPROF)
- Time sensitivity and hearing attendance requirements
Written fee estimates are provided based on the instruction letter and an initial review of materials.
Turnaround time (risk assessment report)
Timescales are driven by:
- Speed of disclosure provision
- Scheduling of assessment sessions
- Need for third-party records (GP, mental health services, prison/probation, social care)
- Whether rapid response is required for an imminent hearing
A realistic delivery date is confirmed after initial scoping, with any constraints stated explicitly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between SPJ and actuarial tools?
SPJ tools (e.g., HCR-20V3; RSVP) structure professional reasoning and typically emphasise formulation and management planning. Actuarial tools (e.g., Static-99R; VRAG-R) provide empirically derived estimates for specific outcomes and populations. Many instructions require an integrated approach that is explicit about what each method can and cannot conclude.
Do you provide a risk management plan?
Yes. A practical, implementable risk management plan is a core deliverable, particularly where decisions concern safeguarding, release planning, supervision, or treatment.
Can you address RoSH and MAPPA?
Yes. Where instructed, we can align psychological opinion to RoSH language and MAPPA expectations and present recommendations in a way that is usable within multi-agency public protection processes.
References
British Psychological Society. (2022). Psychologists as expert witnesses: Guidelines and procedures for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
British Psychological Society, & Family Justice Council. (2023). Guidance on the use of psychologists as expert witnesses in the family courts in England and Wales.
de Vogel, V., de Vries Robbé, M., Bouman, Y. H. A., & de Ruiter, C. (2022). Violence risk assessment with the HCR-20(V3) in legal contexts: A critical reflection. Journal of Personality Assessment, 104(2), 252–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2021.2021925
de Vries Robbé, M., de Vogel, V., & Stam, J. (2012). Protective factors for violence risk: Assessment with the SAPROF. Psychology, 3, 1259–1263.
Douglas, K. S., Hart, S. D., Webster, C. D., & Belfrage, H. (2013). HCR-20V3: Assessing risk for violence—User guide. Mental Health, Law, and Policy Institute, Simon Fraser University.
Hanson, R. K., Babchishin, K. M., Helmus, L., & Thornton, D. (2016). What sexual recidivism rates are associated with Static-99R and Static-2002R scores? Sexual Abuse, 28(3), 218–252.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2015). Violence and aggression: Short-term management in mental health, health and community settings (NG10) (last reviewed 2024).
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Lang, C. (2013). Validation of and revision to the VRAG and SORAG: The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide–Revised (VRAG-R). Psychological Assessment.
Ministry of Justice. (2012). Multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA): Guidance.
UK Parliament. (2014). Care Act 2014 (c. 23), s.42.
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Ask About Our Online Remote Video Enabled Version of This Psychological Assessment. Find Out More Here About the Process Here
We carry out offender risk assessments, they are typically based on a review of a number of sources of information:
- A detailed clinical interview;
- Psychometric testing;
- An interview with the prison officers and family members;
- A review of the pre-sentence report;
- A review of medical records; and
- A review of the indictment.
Assessment of Current Mental State
Assessment Psychopathy and Faking Good or Bad
Personality is assessed for psychopathology (e.g. depression, anxiety, and aggression). A comprehensive assessment of psychopathology is carried out and the assessment includes the respondent's approach to the test, including faking good or bad, exaggeration, or defensiveness. There are clinical scales, which correspond to psychiatric diagnostic categories and treatment consideration scales, which assess factors that may relate to treatment of clinical disorders or other risk factors, but which are not captured in psychiatric diagnoses (e.g. suicidal thoughts). Finally the assessment includes interpersonal scales, which provide indicators of interpersonal dimensions of personality functioning.
Intellectual Assessment
Clients also complete an assessment of their cognitive skills. The results are used to assess mental retardation or the cognitive impairments usually found in individuals who have mental health problems.
Assessment of Current Thinking Style
Assessment of the current thinking style, determines whether the individual has come to terms with the seriousness of the offences. This information is gained in part from the clinical interview.
An assessment of engagement in high risk and reckless behaviour is undertaken by using the STATIC-99, an actuarial instrument designed to estimate the probability of recidivism in sex offenders. Other assessment techniques may also be used to identify other important factors.
SUITABILITY OF TREATMENT
The psychometric tests is used to predict whether the client is likely to respond to treatment or reject treatment. Other data is used to validate the results. If the client is suitable for treatment, the client is then matched to a suitable treatment programme, if one exists.
Find A Psychologist Near Me
Advanced Assessments - Psychologists for Legal, Education and Employment
Open Now - 24 hour Service - Open Weekends
We work throughout the UK
UK: +44 208 200 0078 Emergencies: +44 7071 200 344
Advanced Assessments - Expert Witnesses & Psychologists, 4th Floor, 49 St. James's Street, London, SW1A 1JT
180 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9ER
Also at: Westhill House, Highgate Consulting Rooms, 9 Swain's Lane, London N6 6QS
Please do not attend our office if you do not have an appointment
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