ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the admissibility of testimony about violence risk under the Constitution and the rules of evidence. It also discusses the interplay between these rules and standards of proof. Finally, it discusses a number of other legal and policy issues—involving the right to jury trial, discrimination on racial and other grounds, and fairness and justice claims—that do not directly raise admissibility questions but nonetheless might lead to concerns about legal reliance on risk assessments. The courts have rarely rejected testimony about risk, although a smattering of cases have expressed concerns about expert qualifications, opinions that offer predictions about individuals based on group data, risk assessment tools that have disparate racial or gender impacts, and tools validated on a different population than that of the subject.
