The utility of the Historical Clinical Risk -20 Scale as a predictor of outcomes in decisions to transfer patients from high to lower levels of security-A UK perspective

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Structured Professional Judgment (SPJ) approaches to violence risk assessment are increasingly being adopted into clinical practice in international forensic settings. The aim of this study was to examine the predictive validity of the Historical Clinical Risk -20 (HCR-20) violence risk assessment scale for outcome following transfers from high to medium security in a United Kingdom setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sample was predominately male and mentally ill and the majority of cases were detained under the criminal section of the Mental Health Act (1986). The HCR-20 was rated based on detailed case file information on 72 cases transferred from high to medium security. Outcomes were examined, independent of risk score, and cases were classed as "success or failure" based on established criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean length of follow up was 6 years. The total HCR-20 score was a robust predictor of failure at lower levels of security and return to high security. The Clinical and Risk management items contributed most to predictive accuracy.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although the HCR-20 was designed as a violence risk prediction tool our findings suggest it has potential utility in decisions to transfer patients from high to lower levels of security.</p

Record collectors: Hollywood record labels in the 1950s and 1960s

The affiliation between film and music is the cornerstone of modern entertainment industry synergy. This article examines one of the key chapters in that relationship: the period in the 1950s during which the major studios entered the record business. Ostensibly designed to capitalise on the emerging film soundtrack market, the flurry of mergers, acquisitions and the establishment of new record labels coincided with the rise of rock'n'roll and the explosion of the market for recorded popular music. The studios quickly found that in order to keep their record labels afloat, they needed to establish a foothold in popular music. The processes by which they achieved this transformed the marketing of recorded music, sparking a period of unprecedented commercial success for the record industry in the late 1960s. Simultaneously, from these record subsidiaries Hollywood learned how to market cinema to a youth audience, heralding the arrival of 'New Hollywood'