Intimate Partner Violence, Stalking, and Femicide

Abstract

Professionals are commonly asked to address the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) in criminal justice, civil court, health care, workplace, and post-secondary settings. This chapter reviews the literature addressing risk factors for IPV and the state of the art for threat assessment tools for this form of violence. Special attention is given to the topics of stalking and killing of intimate partners. While these issues are related to the more general problem of IPV, they require some unique considerations in conducting threat assessments. The chapter concludes that there remain difficulties in the field in defining “threat,” determining the role of the victim in threat assessment, and implementing effective risk management strategies. Promising practices in assessing and managing stalking are presented along with a model for formulating risk in high-lethality situations. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate a structured professional judgment (SPJ) approach to threat assessment in this context.