Protocols for Psychological Assessment of Recidivism and Dangerousness: a systematic review of the Brazilian scientific production

Abstract

The psychological assessment of recidivism and dangerousness aims to provide subsidies to legal operators on the possibility of an individual to repeat criminal offenses. In the present study, a systematic review of Portuguese-language articles was carried out in the “SciELO”, “Lilacs” and “Periódicos Capes” databases to identify available instruments to carry out this assessment in Brazilian populations and their predictive capacity. It was found that the Brazilian scientific production is too scarce, only nine empirical studies have been published on the subject and only one instrument with this objective is suitable for use in forensic practice. Six other instruments have been studied, but none are suitable for practical implementation. These results point to the need for scientific production on psychological assessment of recidivism and dangerousness to provide psychologists with the necessary instruments for their performance in Legal Psychology.