Pathway to Violence

Threat assessment is fact-based and deductive:

Identifying and Assessing Workplace Violence Hazards

Many factors have led to an increase in workplace violence in our society. Guns and other weapons are on the street, and more people are willing to address their problems through violence. Many people believe that workplace violence is random and unpredictable. However, a number of risk factors have been identified that may increase a worker’s risk for violence.
Violence: The attempted or actual act of physical force that causes injury to a worker, including any threatening statement or behavior that gives a worker reasonable cause to believe that he or she is at risk of injury. Workplace Violence includes physical assault, verbal threats, abuse, and intimidation.

Four Fundamental Principles of Violence

1. Violence is a process as well as an act. Careful analysis of violent incidents shows that violent acts often are the culmination of long-developing, identifiable trails of problems, conflicts, disputes, and failures.
2. Violence is the product of an interaction among three factors: The individual who takes violent action, stimulus or triggering conditions that lead the subject to see violence as an option or solution to problems or life situations; and a setting that facilitates or permits the violence, or at least does not stop it from occurring.
3. A key to the investigation and resolution of threat assessment cases is the identification of the subject’s “attack-related” behaviors. Perpetrators of targeted acts of violence engage in discrete behaviors that precede and are linked to their attacks; they consider, plan, and prepare before engaging in violent actions.
4. Threatening situations are more likely to be successfully investigated and managed if other agencies and systems — both within and outside law enforcement or security organizations — are recognized and used to help solve problems presented by a given case. Examples of such systems are those employed by prosecutors, courts, probation, corrections, social service, and mental health agencies; employee assistance programs; victim’s assistance programs; and community groups.