Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

Evaluations of structural reliability have reported

Cronbach’s alpha averaging about .75 to .80, and

evaluations of short-term test-retest reliability have

reported correlations averaging about .90. Given that

the DA is an actuarial test of violence risk, these find-

ings are actually somewhat disappointing: First, they

indicate that the risk factors included in the test are at

least moderately correlated, which suggests that they

are likely to be substantially redundant as predictors

of intimate partner violence. Second, they indicate

that the DA is apparently insensitive to short-term

changes or fluctuations in violence risk.

Little or no information is available concerning the

interrater reliability of the DA—that is, agreement

between victims and evaluators or agreement among

evaluators with respect to the item or total scores.

There have been no studies evaluating the psycho-

metric properties of the DA within the framework of

modern test theory.

Validity

Some support for the validity of the DA comes from

retrospective studies that found a significant associa-

tion between total scores and measures of the serious-

ness of past intimate partner violence. Some research

has attempted to determine whether the DA can dis-

criminate between victims of lethal (or life threaten-

ing) versus nonlethal intimate partner violence, with

disappointing results; but this may be because the DA

must be scored on the basis of information provided

by collateral informants (e.g., relatives, friends) when

victims are deceased, possibly resulting in decreased

validity of test scores.

There is also some research supporting the predic-

tive validity of the DA with respect to intimate partner

violence. First, indirect evidence comes from studies

that found moderate to high correlations, typically

between .55 and .75, between DA total scores and

scores on other measures related to risk of intimate

partner violence, such as the Conflict Tactics Scale

and the Index of Spouse Abuse. Second, direct evi-

dence comes from prospective studies that have found

a moderate association between DA total scores and

repeated intimate partner violence. Although there

have been few direct comparisons, the predictive

validity of the DA appears to be about the same as that

of other procedures for assessing risk of intimate part-

ner violence. To date, there has been no investigation

of the predictive validity of the DA specifically with

respect to life-threatening violence, the purpose for

which it was originally developed.

Recommendations

The DA can be useful as part of a comprehensive

assessment of risk of intimate partner violence. It has

two important strengths: It systematically gathers infor-

mation from victims, who can provide a unique per-

spective on the history of violence in the relationship

and on the perpetrator’s background and psychosocial

adjustment, and it considers victim vulnerability factors

that are relevant to safety planning.

The DA also has some important limitations. There

is no formal manual to guide proper administration,

scoring, and interpretation or that provides the techni-

cal information necessary to undertake a comprehen-

sive review of the test. There is a lack of information

concerning the interrater reliability of DA item and

total scores. There is a lack of systematic research on

the predictive validity of the DA with respect to inti-

mate partner violence in general and no research with

respect to life-threatening intimate partner violence.

At the present time, then, it may be best to use the DA

as structured professional guidelines for risk assess-

ment rather than as a quantitative or actuarial test.

Stephen D. Hart and Kelly A. Watt

See alsoDomestic Violence Screening Instrument (DVSI);

Intimate Partner Violence; Spousal Assault Risk

Assessment (SARA); Violence Risk Assessment

Further Readings

Campbell, J. C. (1995). Assessing dangerousness.Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Campbell, J. C., Webster, D., Koziol-McLain, J., Block, C.,

Campbell, D., Curry, M., et al. (2003). Risk factors for

femicide in abusive relationships: Results from a multisite

case control study. American Journal of Public Health,

93,1089–1097.

DEATHPENALTY

Most countries have abolished the death penalty. The

United States retains the death penalty, although it has

attempted to make executions more humane. The

186 ———Death Penalty

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