A look through the PRISM

Violence prevention is a key role for psychologists working in forensic settings. The last decade has witnessed dramatic improvements in approaches to risk management. Psychologists, by training and predilection focus on individual factors that serve to increase risk - personality pathology, relationship instability and addictions, for example. This misses half of the equation; individuals are violent not merely because who they are but also because of where they are. An alternative approach to violence risk management can be predicated on a systematic understanding of the ways in which the functioning of the institutions - prisons and secure forensic settings - affects the level of violence in that institution. Such an approach is outlined here, using case studies to illustrate its utility.