The START and Inpatient Aggression: An Analysis of Change, and Trauma in a Comparative Sample of Male and Female Forensic Patients

There is considerable literary debate in the forensic psychology field regarding sex differences in relevant risk factors for aggression, and the validity of violence risk instruments. The overarching aim of this thesis was to explore sex differences in the predictive validity of the Short Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability and to examine rates of inpatient aggression in a comparative sample of male and female patients in a forensic hospital setting. A secondary aim was to investigate the effects of trauma history on this violence risk instrument, and on inpatient aggression, and to determine if these effects differed by sex.