Youth Violence Risk Assessment: Gaps in Local Knowledge and Directions for Future Research

ABSTRACT

There is a lack of research on violence risk assessment in South Africa; particularly on the assessment of risk for violence in children and adolescents. This is problematic; because of the strong association between conducting sound assessments and the appropriate referral of youths to intervention programmes. Considering the very high levels of violence in our country; the effective treatment of violent youths is imperative. International literature on violence risk assessment indicates that although a number of instruments designed to assess youth violence risk exist; many primarily focus on identifying psychopathic tendencies in young people; which has stimulated much debate amongst scholars. In addition to paying careful attention to the content of youth violence risk instruments; their administration should be monitored; to ensure that assessment practice is up to standard. Future research efforts in South Africa should be dedicated towards testing the applicability of instruments developed internationally in local settings; and towards the development and testing of local instruments