This study examined the discrimination and calibration properties of the Violence
Risk Appraisal Guide–Revised (VRAG-R) within a large subset of the population of
574 individuals who had been found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of
Mental Disorder (NCRMD) in Alberta. The VRAG-R was scored on all individuals
identified viaThe Alberta NCR Projectdatabase from every file
that contained sufficient relevant information and recidivism data were obtained
via official criminal records. The VRAG-R demonstrated strong discrimination
properties for general and violent recidivism over 5-year, 10-year, and global
follow-ups. Calibration analyses, however, indicated that the VRAG-R
substantially over estimated violence risk and that there was poor agreement
between expected and observed recidivism rates for this population. When
examined in the male subsample, these issues remained but to a lesser degree;
examination of VRAG-R discrimination and calibration for females was not
possible due to a lack of recidivists. Results indicated strong discrimination
but poor calibration properties of the VRAG-R in this NCRMD population. Overall,
the results support the use of the VRAG-R within a population of persons found
NCRMD when employed in tandem with other measures as part of a comprehensive
psychological risk assessment.