ABSTRACT
This chapter distinguishes between risk assessment and risk management, and considers how risk management is theorised, operationalised and problematised within forensic services. An absence of shared understanding of risk management can lead to fragmentation and conflict in interdisciplinary or interagency contexts. Similarly, dialectical conceptualisations of risk management, sometimes found within professional networks, may compress the potential for positive outcomes for service users. Within a societal context which places high expectations on expert systems, this chapter explores a range of potential configurations of risk management, such as risk containment versus risk taking, and discusses their respective implications for service delivery.
