Campbell Danger Assessment (DA)
Definition
20-item victim-completed femicide risk instrument by Jacquelyn Campbell (Johns Hopkins). Validated in the 2004 Campbell et al. 11-city study (AUC 0.67-0.72). Items include strangulation history, escalation, weapon use, and threats to kill.
- Item count
- 20 victim-completed items
- Author
- Jacquelyn Campbell, Johns Hopkins
- Validation study
- 2004 Campbell et al. 11-city study
- Reported AUC
- 0.67 to 0.72
- Key items
- Strangulation history, escalation, weapon use, threats to kill
Common questions
What does an AUC of 0.67 to 0.72 mean for using this tool in practice?+
An AUC in this range indicates fair, not strong, discrimination between cases that later escalated to lethal violence and those that did not. It supports using the score as one input alongside professional judgement, not as a stand-alone predictor of femicide risk.
Why is the tool victim-completed rather than clinician-scored?+
Self-report from the victim captures details of the relationship's history, such as prior strangulation and threats, that are often unavailable from records or third parties and are strongly associated with lethality risk in the validation research.
How does this instrument differ from a general domestic-violence risk checklist?+
It is specifically calibrated toward femicide risk in intimate-partner relationships, weighting items such as strangulation and access to weapons that the validating research found most predictive of lethal outcomes, rather than general recidivism risk.
Related terms
- Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart Typology
- Three-category IPV perpetrator taxonomy (family-only, dysphoric-borderline, generally violent-antisocial) based on violence severity, psychopathology, and criminal versatility (Psychological Bulletin, 1994). Family-only is the...
- Johnson's IPV Typology
- Conceptual taxonomy distinguishing intimate terrorism (systematic coercive control across economic, social, surveillance domains) from situational couple violence (conflict-specific physical violence without broader...
- Mullen-Pathé Five-Class Typology
- Stalker typology from a Forensicare clinical sample (1999): rejected, intimacy-seeking, incompetent suitor, resentful, and predatory. Rejected and predatory subtypes carry the highest...
- Non-Fatal Strangulation
- Strangulation that does not result in death; associated with fourfold femicide risk elevation (McQuown et al. 2016). Multiple US states have dedicated...
- PWDVA 2005 and BNS § 78
- India's primary domestic-violence civil remedial statute (PWDVA 2005) providing Protection, Residence, Monetary Relief, Custody, and Compensation Orders; and BNS 2023 § 78...
- Stalking Risk Profile (SRP)
- Structured professional judgement stalking risk assessment instrument (Pathé, MacKenzie and colleagues, Forensicare 2009) using the Mullen-Pathé typology framework; produces a low-medium-high risk...