The VPS is based on the violence prediction literature, legal and political issues in risk assessment of violent men, procedures for assessing dangerousness, and statistics on a sample of 332 men admitted to a mental hospital for treatment and 286 additional men assessed and documented like the others but not followed beyond the evaluation period. The VPS is based on such predictive factors as identifying and background information, circumstances leading to evaluation, current offense information, family and childhood history, education, occupational history, medical and psychiatric history, substance use, criminal history, and adult functioning and sex history. Risk assessment is viewed as an expanding responsibility for mental health professionals, and the need to integrate clinical and actuarial judgments when assessing dangerousness in high-risk men is stressed. Appendixes contain a sample psychosocial assessment, a sample actuarial risk appraisal, and static predictors of violent recidivism in mentally disordered offenders. References, notes, tables, and figures