The authors investigated the predictive validity of judgments of
dangerousness made in the context of emergency civil commitment. The
medical charts of 101 consecutive patients involuntarily admitted to a
university-based acute inpatient unit were reviewed for evidence of
violence within the first 72 hours of hospitalization. More than two-
thirds of the patients committed as a danger to others engaged in some type
of violence, compared with fewer than one-third of other involuntary
patients. The findings suggest that the emergency commitment situation
permits judgments of dangerousness with a relatively high degree of
short-term predictive validity.
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