Workshop B
Mitigating Racial and Cultural Unfairness and Bias in Violence Risk Assessment and Management
7 CE hours
8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Stephen D. Hart, PhD
Lara Guzman-Hosta, PsyD
Danielle Rynczak, JD, PsyD
Although has been written about racial and cultural unfairness and bias in psychology generally and forensic psychology more specifically, there is a lack of specific and detailed guidance for practitioners and researchers concerning how to mitigate racial and cultural unfairness and bias with respect to violence risk assessment and management. The overarching goal of this workshop is to provide learners with such guidance.
In Part 1, the presenters will focus on enhancing the knowledge of learners with respect to: the concepts of race and culture; the importance of race and culture to definitions and theories of violence, and the practice of violence risk assessment and management; the concepts of racial and cultural unfairness and bias and the systems that support them; and the legal and professional obligations of practitioners and researchers to take reasonable steps to mitigate racial and cultural unfairness and bias – including systemic racism and cultural discrimination.
In Part 2, presenters will focus on enhancing the skills of learners with respect to ways they can mitigate racial and cultural unfairness and bias when delivering violence risk assessment and management services and when developing, implementing, and evaluating decision support aids for violence risk assessment and management. The learners will illustrate their recommendations using examples from their own practice and research. A general theme running throughout the workshop is that although practitioners and researchers cannot absolutely prevent or eliminate racial and cultural unfairness and bias, they certainly can – and must – take reasonable steps to mitigate such harm.
Explain the concepts of race and culture.
Discuss theory and research highlighting the importance of race and culture to definitions and theories of violence, as well as to the practice of violence risk assessment and management.
Define the concepts of racial and cultural unfairness and bias as they relate to violence risk assessment.
Discuss the legal and professional (ethical, regulatory) obligations of evaluators to mitigate racial and cultural unfairness and bias in violence risk assessment and management.
Describe and use ways to mitigate racial and cultural unfairness and bias when delivering violence risk assessment and management services and when developing, implementing, and evaluating decision support aids for violence risk assessment and management.