Measuring Progress in Hospital Order Treatment: Relationship between Levels of Security and C and R Scores of the HCR-20

Abstract

Although it is generally presumed that there will be an association between the levels of security at which clients are held in a forensic hospital and the formal ratings of violence risk ascribed to them, such a relationship is seldom demonstrated. One measure in this study was the security level of 218 inpatients held in a German forensic hospital. The other measure was the C- and R-score of the HCR-20 (CR-10). The results were clear in showing an orderly correspondence between the two measures (C-scale: r = .37; Rscale: r = .52). The CR-10 part of the HCR-20 seems to be a useful measure to gauge progress in forensic psychiatric inpatient treatment.