A study of violence within a forensic treatment facility.

According to most studies, psychiatrists cannot reliably predict violent behavior. I For those individuals who have been repeatedly violent, however, there are data to suggest that the likelihood of future violent behavior is greatly increased and, therefore, predictable to some degree. 2 The staff of maximum security treatment facilities for mentally disordered offenders (MSTF-MDO) treat patients known to have had previous violent episodes. This means that both staff and patients within the MSTF are at increased risk of being targets of violent episodes. Previous empirical studies, 35 as well as theoretical papers, b emphasize the multi variant nature of these violent acts and stress the importance of studying environmental factors associated with the aggressive behaviors. 7 III