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Violence Risk Assessment At Federal Capital Sentencing: Individualization, Generalization, Relevance, and Scientific Standards

Thomas J. Reidy

The application of group statistical data to violence risk assessment enjoys strong empirical support.Accordingly, this method has dominated expert testimony regarding future dangerousnessat federal capital sentencing trials across the past 5 years. Standards for admissibility of violencerisk assessment testimony in federal capital sentencing are being considered but remain ambiguous.Challenges to violence risk assessment testimony in these cases have broadly centered onissues of relevancy and reliability. Corollary questions include when such assessments are sufficientlyindividualized, whether group data can be generalized across American correctional set-tings,what scientific evidence supports a given methodology, and how information regardingspecial conditions of confinement is relevant to risk. Conceptual perspectives and scientific evidenceregarding each of these issues are discussed.

Key Words: federal • capital • Daubert • risk

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