Suicide-Related Forensic Assessments

Suicide-related forensic assessment procedures are an important component of a forensic professional’s responsibilities in a correctional setting due to the excessively high occurrence of prison suicide as associated to the general population. Suicide is a major cause of death among prisoners and the assessment of suicide risk should not be viewed as a single opportunity at intake but rather an ongoing process (Weiner & Otto, 2013). An inmate can become suicidal at any point during their confinement therefore suicide-related forensic assessment procedures should begin at the point of transfer to the correctional facility and continue until the offender is released from custody. When conducting suicide-related forensic assessments there are