HCR-20-V3

HCR-20V3: Assessing Risk for Violence

The HCR-20V3 can be used to evaluate risk for violence when there is legal or clinical need to do so.  It was developed from a thorough consideration of the empirical literature concerning factors that relate to violence.  The HCR-20V3 takes its name from three scales — Historical, Clinical (present), Risk Management (future), and from the number of items (20) that it measures.  Each risk item has a four-level rating structure with specific rating guidelines for the presence of risk factors (Present, Possible, Not Present, or Omit).  There is a second rating for the relevance of the same risk factors (High, Moderate, Low, or Omit).

The HCR-20V3 is not designed to be a formal test or scale; there are no assigned numerical values nor are there any specified cutoff scores.  Based on the structured professional judgment (SPJ) model, the HCR-20V3 helps structure an assessment so that important factors will not be missed and, thus, will be emphasized when formulating a final professional judgment about a defendant’s level of risk to commit future acts of violence.