EU funded research projects
Scientific knowledge and evidence-based risk assessment and risk management of violent extremism and terrorism are important for policy issues and for all professionals involved.
In recent years, the number of VERA-2R trained professionals in Europe has increased and the number of purposes for which the VERA-2R is applied has expanded. In the past years, the Netherlands Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (NIFP), in collaboration with European partners, has been able to benefit from a European funding for research into terrorism and violent extremism in two projects: DARE and VERAPRO2EU.
DARE
The first project ‘Database and Assessment of Risks of violent Extremists’ had two principle objectives. The first goal was training: professionals of six Member States were trained in the use of the VERA-2R tool to deploy it in different judicial contexts. The second goal was the development of the European Database of Terrorist offenders (EDT). The aim of the EDT was to map factors related to engagement in terrorist activities. This has relevance for effective policy and professional judicial practice related to violent extremists and terrorists in European Member States.
VERAPRO2EU
During the second project the EDT was expanded and research was conducted on the validity of the VERA-2R and on the question how the VERA-2R is applied in practice. The project aimed to improve risk management and risk communication for terrorist offenders during and after their detention. This allows for more effective communication between European Member States regarding violent extremist risk management.
An extensive validation project was carried out in which the following psychometric properties of the VERA-2R were investigated: test-retest reliability, discriminative validity, divergent validity, content validity and predictive validity. The results can be found here and here.
Also, research was carried out to find out if it is clear how EU professionals use the VERA-2R and if risk reports are in accordance with the SPJ-method and other quality measures. The results can be found here.
This project was supported by the European Commission under Grant (Call JUST-JCOO-AG-2020, Project 101007383).
The content of the reports, publication, etc. within this project represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
Both projects were carried out in collaboration with the Dutch Probation Service, the Belgian Justitiehuizen and the Belgian FOD and OCAD and the Swedish Prison and Probation Board.