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Peer-reviewed article

The Dilemma of Predicting Violent Radicalization

Parents, educators, law enforcement officials, and health professionals are all concerned about the violent radicalization of adolescents. Health professionals may be called on to assess teenagers regarding the risk that they will become…

By John D. LantosJanuary 1, 20171 min readin PEDIATRICS

Parents, educators, law enforcement officials, and health professionals are all concerned about the violent radicalization of adolescents. Health professionals may be called on to assess teenagers regarding the risk that they will become dangerous. We present a case in which a psychiatrist is asked to do a forensic evaluation of a young adolescent who said troubling things and had some concerning posts on his Facebook page. The evaluation reveals things about both the young boy and his community.

Originally published at PEDIATRICS · January 1, 2017.

About the author

John D. Lantos is a pediatrician and bioethicist writing on AI in medicine, neonatal intensive care, and end-of-life decisions. His essays appear in JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics, the Hastings Center Report, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Aeon. Read more about John.

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