Research Projects

Several research projects of the Department of Forensic Psychiatry of LMU München are aiming at quality assurance and quality improvement of the assessment and treatment of mentally disordered offenders. Another project is directed to improve the assessment and the support for victims of violence and trauma. Evaluation of treatment in the forensic setting is another field of research in the department. Social therapy in prisons and outpatient treatment of mentally ill offenders are the targets of several studies. This research is carried out in cooperation with prisons outpatient services of forensic hospitals and supported by the Bavarian ministries of justice and of welfare.

The theoretical and empirical foundation of risk assessment has been a topic of research in the departement for a long time. The focus of this research is shifting now from identification of risk variables for relapse to the identification of treatment relevant predictors. The aim of this research is to identify individuals, who will profit best from the therapies available in the forensic setting. The improvement of the assessment of culpability, the evaluation of treatment and prediction of treatment response as well as risk assessment are the major contributions to the prevention of future victimizations by offenders.


Co-operation Partners