PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Forensic Psychiatry
This article is part of the Research TopicInterdisciplinary Approaches to Interpersonal Violence: Psychopathology, Treatment, and PreventionView all articles
From Risky Individuals to Risky Systems: A Conceptual Framework for the Next Generation of Forensic Mental Health Research
Provisionally accepted
- 1Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Canada
- 2Institut National de Psychiatrie Legale Philippe-Pinel, Montreal, Canada
- 3University of Quebec in Outaouais, Gatineau, Canada
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Risk in forensic mental health is often shaped as an individual issue. But what if risk is also produced by the systems meant to provide care and safety? This paper introduces the Risk in Systems Framework, a conceptual model to understand how risk emerges not just within people, but also through institutional practices and structural inequalities. Drawing on established models from criminology, psychology, and public health, the framework explores risk across three levels: the individual, the system, and the broader social structures. It helps identify how policies, professional norms, and historical legacies can shape who is labelled risky and what responses are considered appropriate. By shifting the focus from "risky individuals" to "risky systems," this approach supports more responsive care for people in forensic mental health settings.
Keywords: mentally disordered offenders, psychopathy, recidivism, predictive validity, Prevalence, Behavior, Violence, attitudes
Received: 05 Nov 2025; Accepted: 29 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Crocker and Leclair. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Marichelle Leclair
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