"Dispositional" risk factors for violence are those that reflect the individual person's predispositions, traits, tendencies, or styles. Within the dispositional domain lie many relatively enduring characteristics of persons that have been nominated as risk factors for violence. The three chapters that focus on "dispositional" factors address what the editors believe to be the most promising candidates for dispositional markers of risk: anger, impulsivity, and psychopathy. "Clinical" risk factors for violence reflect the various types and symptoms of mental disorder. Two chapters in this section are concerned with the epidemiology of mental disorder; two chapters address special symptom patterns (delusions and hallucinations); and the final chapter of this section addresses the link between personality disorders and violent behavior. The concluding section of the book contains two chapters on "historical" and "contextual" risk factors for violence. "Historical" risk factors refer to events that have been experienced in the past that may predispose a person to act violently. "Contextual" risk factors refer to aspects of the current environment that may be conducive to the occurrence of violent behavior. One chapter considers the ways in which the interaction between a person's life history and demographic characteristics can lead to violence. The second chapter addresses whether social networks and social support are factors that influence the presence of violent behavior among persons with severe, persistent mental illness. The final paper describes how certain methodological principles for risk assessment research are being applied in the MacArthur Risk Assessment Study. For individual chapters, see NCJ-165557-68. Chapter references, tables, and figures, and a subject index