Violence Risk Assessment of Adults (May 2025) | IN-PERSON

The Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy presents:

Violence Risk Assessment of Adults

Online Resources

This one-day, in-person program introduces violence risk assessment principles and procedures that are relevant to a variety of clinical, forensic, and correctional contexts. Content will include scholarly background in risk assessment as well as clinical applications and procedures, including an overview of relevant risk instruments. In particular, participants will learn the foundations of administration and scoring of the HCR-20-V3 (Historical, Clinical, Risk-20-Version 3), the most widely-used structural professional judgment instrument to assess violence risk.

This introductory program is well-suited for clinicians without prior experience or training in violence risk assessment.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of the program, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the history of violence risk assessment, including both research and practice.

2. Apply a broad theoretical model for violence risk assessment.

3. Describe the research on the relationship between violence and mental illness.

4. Enumerate research-identified risk factors for violence.

5. Discuss the importance of individualized and idiographic considerations when assessing violence risk.

6. Implement best practices for risk communication and forensic report writing.

7. Describe the differences between various types of empirically-supported violence risk assessment instruments.

8. Learn the foundations of administration and scoring of the HCR-20-V3 instrument and practice scoring a sample case.

The Instructors

Elisha Agee, PsyD, is a forensic clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, & Public Policy within the UVA School of Medicine. As a clinician, she performs forensic evaluations (e.g., competency, sanity, violence risk, sexual offending) for state and federal courts in Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. She is also a primary clinical supervisor in the ILPPP postdoctoral fellowship programs. Her research interests include first episode psychosis, psychological trauma, violence risk, and law enforcement practices.

Brett Gardner, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Research within the UVA School of Medicine.  He performs forensic evaluations (e.g., competency to stand trial, sanity, violence risk) in criminal cases through his clinical service.  He also maintains several research programs examining the quality and characteristics of forensic mental health evaluations, the association between juvenile delinquency and adult gun violence, and cognitive bias in forensic science disciplines. 

Daniel Murrie, PhD, serves as the ILPPP’s Director, and as a Professor in the UVA Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences. He oversees the UVA Forensic Clinic within ILPPP, the UVA postdoctoral fellowship in forensic psychology, and ILPPP’s state-university partnership to provide training programs in forensic evaluation.  As a clinician, Dr. Murrie performs forensic evaluations through the ILPPP’s Forensic Clinic, with an emphasis on capital cases.  As a scholar, Dr. Murrie’s research and teaching address a variety of topics in forensic assessment, with a primary program of research addressing bias and quality control in forensic mental health evaluations.  He also consults nationally with several states to improve forensic mental health service systems.

Neither the instructors nor the program planning committee (Daniel Murrie, Ph.D., Lucy Guarnera, Ph.D., & Angela Torres, Ph.D.) have any conflicts of interest or commercial support to disclose.

Continuing Education

Participants can expect to receive up to 5 hours of continuing education credits (CEUs) approved by the American Psychological Association (APA). ILPPP is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. ILPPP maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

We are currently in the process of offering continuing education for attorneys. Unfortunately, we cannot offer continuing education for psychiatrists or social workers/LPCs at this time. Please contact us with any questions.

Training Fees

$250.00 Standard Registration

$100.00 DBHDS/CSB Employees*

*If you are a DBHDS/CSB employee, please use this promo code to get the reduced price: VRAMAY2025

Please note that the reduced price is available only for DBHDS and CSB emplyees, rather than all state employees, because DBHDS partially sponsors this training program. 

Occasionally, large facilities or state agencies outside of Virginia want to send a team of trainees, for whom we can arrange a discounted group rate. Please contact our training coordinator Camilla Beeley at ydt2qs@uvahealth.org to discuss such arrangements.