Examining the cognitive contributors to violence risk in forensic samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis

A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to quantitatively summarise the association between measures of cognitive abilities (e.g., neuropsychological and clinical measures, and risk assessments with a cognitive component) and violent outcomes. After acknowledging that existing reviews in this area have largely focused on executive functions and specific diagnostic groups only, the review adopted a broader approach, first examining factors which differentiate violent from non-violent offenders (part one), followed by separately analysing the neuropsychological correlates of violence (part two). Forty-two studies were included in the an-alyses, and 12 individual neuropsychological domains were examined in part one, and five in part two. The findings from this study revealed a large range of effect sizes with wide confidence intervals, highlighting sig-nificant heterogeneity due to methodological differences between studies, calling for a consensus to be reached on the neuropsychological risk factors which are most relevant to violence risk, to bring more focus and spec-ificity to the literature. Measures of impulsivity, inattention, and lack of insight boasted significant correlations with prospectively measured violent outcomes, revealing their potential to add a small amount of incremental validity to existing risk assessments.

Automated summary

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the association between cognitive abilities and violent outcomes. The study found a wide range of effect sizes and significant heterogeneity, calling for a consensus on the most relevant neuropsychological risk factors for violence.