One of the highest priorities of public policy regarding intimate partner violence (IPV) is to prevent it before it becomes a more violent process and a matter of law enforcement. As victims of domestic violence enter the YWCA or the Family Justice Center (FJC), they go through standard intake assessments, but currently there is no systematic risk assessment for future violence. The purpose of the present project is to provide a convenient, secure, and self-administered "Risk Inventory of Stalking Context" (RISC) violence risk assessment for intake assessment. Based on over a decade of meta-analytic research and expert consultation, the major stalking-related variables known to be predictive of violence in intimate relationships have been incorporated into a paper-and-pencil self-administered survey. Such a survey, however, will be far more utilitarian for intake assessments if it is developed into a secure, convenient and online form. This form will need to be (a) highly secure, (b) "bulletproof" in stability and ease of use, and (c) provided easy "administrative" access for ongoing content modifications based on evolving needs of the participating institutions. This system would need to be able to download data into an Excel file format for easy merging into other data compilation and statistical programs (e.g., SPSS), easily uploaded to a variety of operating systems and hardware, and capable of producing automatic profile alerts and/or feedback guides reflecting client risk level.
