World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Law
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Law

D-Index
84
Citations
28330
World Ranking
10
National Ranking
9

Psychology

D-Index
93
Citations
35079
World Ranking
838
National Ranking
528

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Law in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Law in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Law in United States Leader Award
  • 2016 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1984 - Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
  • 1979 - Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA)

Overview

John Monahan is affiliated with the University of Virginia in the United States. Their research is concentrated in the social sciences with a particular focus on sociology and political science, clinical psychology, and fields related to health and organizational behavior.

Their work extensively covers topics in criminal justice and corrections analysis, psychopathy, forensic psychiatry, sexual offending, and crime patterns and interventions. Additionally, they have contributed to research in global public health policies and epidemiology, public health policies and education, gun ownership and violence research, and viral infections and outbreaks research.

Some of the recent papers authored or co-authored by John Monahan include:

  • The predictive performance of criminal risk assessment tools used at sentencing: Systematic review of validation studies (2022, Journal of Criminal Justice)
  • The Empirical Case for Pretrial Risk Assessment Instruments (2021, Criminal Justice and Behavior)
  • The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Partnerships of Equitable Vaccine Access (2023, The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics)
  • Pretrial Risk Assessment, Release Recommendations, and Racial Bias (2023, Criminal Justice and Behavior)
  • Advancing Legal Preparedness through the Global Health Security Agenda (2022, The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics)

Frequent collaborators in John Monahan's research include Sarah L. Desmarais, Katie Gottschalk, Jennifer L. Skeem, Sam Halabi, and Lawrence O. Gostin. These co-authors reflect interdisciplinary and policy-relevant dimensions of their work.

John Monahan's work has been published repeatedly in specific venues, notably:

  • Criminal Justice and Behavior
  • The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics
  • Law and Human Behavior
  • Journal of Criminal Justice
  • Behavioral Sciences & the Law

The scientist has been recognized by professional organizations, having been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016, a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1984, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 1979.

Best Publications

  • Violence by people discharged from acute psychiatric inpatient facilities and by others in the same neighborhoods.

    Henry J. Steadman;Edward P. Mulvey;John Monahan;Pamela Clark Robbins

  • Rethinking Risk Assessment: The MacArthur Study of Mental Disorder and Violence

    John Monahan;Henry J. Steadman;Eric Silver;Paul S. Appelbaum

  • Psychological Science Can Improve Diagnostic Decisions

    John A. Swets;Robyn M. Dawes;John Monahan

  • Predicting Violent Behavior: An Assessment of Clinical Techniques

    John Monahan

  • Clinical Prediction of Violent Behavior

    John T. Monahan

  • Violence and mental disorder: Developments in risk assessment.

    John Monahan;Henry J. Steadman

  • Mental disorder and violent behavior. Perceptions and evidence.

    John T. Monahan

  • The public's view of the competence, dangerousness, and need for legal coercion of persons with mental health problems.

    Bernice A. Pescosolido;John Monahan;Bruce G. Link;Ann Stueve

  • Better decisions through science.

    John A. Swets;Robyn M. Dawes;John Monahan

  • Violence risk assessment and risk communication: the effects of using actual cases, providing instruction, and employing probability versus frequency formats.

    Paul Slovic;John Monahan;Donald G. MacGregor

  • Psychology and community change

    Kenneth Heller;John Monahan

  • Violence and delusions: data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study.

    Paul S. Appelbaum;Pamela Clark Robbins;John Monahan

  • The Clinical Prediction of Violent Behavior

    John T. Monahan

  • A Classification Tree Approach to the Development of Actuarial Violence Risk Assessment Tools

    Henry J. Steadman;Eric Silver;John Monahan;Paul S. Appelbaum

  • Developing a clinically useful actuarial tool for assessing violence risk

    John Monahan;Henry J. Steadman;Paul S. Appelbaum;Pamela Clark Robbins

  • The prediction of violent behavior: toward a second generation of theory and policy.

    John T. Monahan

  • Social Authority: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Establishing Social Science in Law

    John T. Monahan;W. Laurens Walker

  • Social Frameworks: A New Use of Social Science in Law

    John T. Monahan;W. Laurens Walker

  • Psychotic symptoms and disorders and the risk of violent behaviour in the community

    Jeffrey W. Swanson;Randy Borum;Marvin S. Swartz;John Monahan

  • Two scales for measuring patients' perceptions for coercion during mental hospital admission

    William Gardner;Steven K. Hoge;Nancy Bennett;M.P.H. Loren H. Roth M.D.

  • Psychopathy, treatment involvement, and subsequent violence among civil psychiatric patients.

    Jennifer L. Skeem;John Monahan;Edward P. Mulvey

  • Perceived Coercion in Mental Hospital Admission: Pressures and Process

    Charles W. Lidz;Steven K. Hoge;William Gardner;Nancy S. Bennett

  • Coercion and commitment: understanding involuntary mental hospital admission.

    John Monahan;Steven K. Hoge;Charles W. Lidz;Loren H. Roth

  • An actuarial model of violence risk assessment for persons with mental disorders

    John Monahan;Henry J. Steadman;Pamela Clark Robbins;Paul Appelbaum

  • Crime and Mental Disorder: An Epidemiological Approach

    John Monahan;Henry J. Steadman

  • Rethinking Risk Assessment

    Unknown

Frequent Co-Authors

Henry J. Steadman
Henry J. Steadman Policy Research Associates
Richard J. Bonnie
Richard J. Bonnie University of Virginia
Jennifer L. Skeem
Jennifer L. Skeem University of California, Berkeley
Jeffrey W. Swanson
Jeffrey W. Swanson Duke University
Norman G. Poythress
Norman G. Poythress University of South Florida
Charles W. Lidz
Charles W. Lidz University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Edward P. Mulvey
Edward P. Mulvey University of Pittsburgh
Eric Silver
Eric Silver Pennsylvania State University
Richard A. Van Dorn
Richard A. Van Dorn Policy Research Associates
Thomas Grisso
Thomas Grisso University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

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