Violence and Risk Assessment
Risk-focused assessment using the HCR-20 Version 3 structured professional judgment framework, organized around historical, current clinical, and future risk-management factors.
Case dependent
Forensic and Litigation Support
About Violence and Risk Assessment
Dr. Bernard has specialized training in violence and structured risk assessment, including the HCR-20 Version 3 structured professional judgment framework, and is a Certified Danger Assessment Specialist (Johns Hopkins).
Structured professional judgment considers three sets of factors together rather than in isolation, and it addresses the conditions under which risk changes rather than issuing a static label:
Reports can identify risk factors, protective factors, stabilizing factors, potential future risk scenarios, risk-management considerations, factors likely to increase risk, and factors likely to reduce risk. What they do not do is predict a specific future event, and any report that claims otherwise is overstating the method.
- Historical factors: prior violence, relationship instability, employment history, substance-use history, mental-health history, trauma, treatment history, behavioral patterns, prior supervision or compliance concerns
- Current clinical factors: insight, violent ideation, emotional instability, active symptoms, behavioral control, treatment engagement, current substance use, current interpersonal functioning
- Future risk-management factors: housing stability, employment, treatment access, support system, stress exposure, compliance, relationship circumstances, access to services, future destabilizing conditions
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Related services
- Forensic Case ConsultationBehavioral-science expertise applied to a legal matter, for attorneys and litigants who need the psychological issues in a case identified, tested, and explained.Case dependent
- Record Review and Case AnalysisA structured read of the documentary record, available as a stand-alone service or as the foundation of a larger engagement.Case dependent
- Forensic Clinical InterviewsFocused forensic-clinical interviewing, conducted in the forensic role rather than the therapeutic one, when it fits the referral question.Case dependent
- Investigative Interview ConsultationAnalysis of how an interview was conducted and whether methodology affected the information obtained, grounded in PEACE and FETI training.
- Child and Adolescent Forensic Interview IssuesConsultation on developmental factors affecting statements made by children or adolescents, and on what the interview conditions do and do not support.
- Trauma-Informed Forensic AnalysisA scientifically grounded reading of trauma-related behavior, rather than the assumption that any single behavior proves or disproves an allegation.
- Domestic Violence Forensic ConsultationConsultation in matters involving allegations or histories of intimate-partner violence, including treatment progress, behavioral stability, and risk.
- Protective Order and Restraining Order MattersBehavioral consultation in restraining order and protective order proceedings, from a limited opinion letter to full record review, report, and testimony.
- Firearm-Related Behavioral Risk ConsultationBehavioral and psychological factors relevant to firearm-related legal proceedings, analyzed neutrally and confined to the evidence in the individual matter.
- Structured Professional Judgment ReportsComprehensive forensic reports that state the question, the sources, the methodology, the findings, the competing explanations, and the limits.Case dependent
- Forensic Report WritingWritten work sized to the matter, from a short focused memorandum to an extensive forensic report. Complexity determines the fee.Case dependent
- Attorney Consultation and Litigation SupportA discrete consultation or continuing litigation support, including work behind the scenes that never becomes a report.Case dependent
- Expert Report ReviewA methodological review of an existing psychological, psychiatric, behavioral, or forensic report, including whether its conclusions exceed its data.
- Expert Witness ServicesTestimony in person, remotely, or at an evidentiary hearing, prepared to be examined. The appearance fee is $2,000 per court appearance.$2,000 per appearance
- Court Appearance and Hearing PreparationThe preparation work that happens before an appearance: exhibits, anticipated questions, plain-language explanations, and known limitations.
- Ongoing Forensic RetainersA retainer arrangement for comprehensive matters expected to require continuing involvement rather than individual hourly services.Call for information and case-specific pricing
Clinical and forensic services are distinct professional activities. The existence of a therapeutic relationship does not automatically establish a forensic evaluator or expert-witness relationship. Services are provided only within the provider's education, training, professional scope, current licensure status, supervision requirements, and applicable California law. No forensic opinion, legal outcome, court decision, disability determination, VA determination, firearm-rights determination, custody decision, or other administrative or judicial result can be guaranteed. Forensic conclusions are based on the information available, the scope of the referral, applicable methodology, and the professional limitations identified in the individual case. Forensic matters are accepted on a case-by-case basis. Contact the practice to discuss the nature of the matter, deadlines, anticipated services, and retainer requirements.