ABSTRACT
The co-produced Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) provides a mechanism by which individuals can make sense of their internal states and resulting behaviour. It can be considered an alternative explanatory system for what would otherwise be classified as mental health problems using psychiatric diagnosis. The framework considers how the misuse of power can result in the development of human threat responses including offending behaviours and, as such, the PTMF has clear implications for the criminal justice system (CJS). Using case examples, this chapter will consider the importance of incorporating threat responses (including those in response to the system itself) into risk assessment. How trauma within the system may obstruct this type of examination will be acknowledged. How these experiences can present differing forms of power, and how the threat response may change in relation to these in different contexts will also be explored. The authors will explain how the PTMF can assist in understanding how threat responses relate to the risk of serious harm, or not as the case may be, and suggest ways in which we can try to intervene to change this dynamic through the development of meaning. Suggestions for how the PTMF may be utilised within the CJS will be outlined.
