There is a dearth of research on risk management of violent patients during the phase of transition from hospital to community care. D ischarge can only be contemplated when identi® ed risk factors are managed and tested in non-secure environments. Therefore this process should proceed cautiously and over as protracted a period as circumstances allow. A gradated programme which caters for various levels of risk allows for the testing of measures within a relatively well controlled milieu. Initial measures would include anticipating and preparing for future living arrangements (especially accommodation, supervision, ® nances) and psychoeducation for the patient and care givers. Speci® c risk factors, such as co-morbidity (especially alcohol and substance abuse), and relationship dif® culties may need specialized or particular individual interventions. Increasingly cultural issues will have to be considered and incorporated into management plans.M ost clinicians contem plate the discharge of dif® cult and previously violent patients with trepidation. The clinical team is confronted with competing interests: the need to treat and return the individual to the com munity, and the necessity of protecting others from possible harm. Various other factors have to be considered, such as the requirem ents of relevant legislation, problems encountered during previous attem pts at rehabilitation, and the resources available in the region. Unfortunately, the m ilieu of secure units is generally far removed from the demands and realities patients will confront outside' (Prins, 1990; Tong & M acKay, 1959). There will always be a sm all nucleus of treatm entresistant psychotic individuals with im pressive histories of sym ptom-driven violence for whom inde® nite institutionalization is appropriate, even though their behaviour in hospital m ay be exemplary. Som e will only be allowed brief (albeit frequent) supervised forays into the local surrounds. But for most, risk m anagement will have progressed as a counterpoint to risk assessm ent such that their eventual re-integration into society becomes possible. This process begins on admission and continues throughout rehabilitation. The pre-discharge period, during which the recent m em ories of containm ent in a secure unit com bine with the patient' s impatience to leave, is an exquisitely sensitive (and often precarious) opportunity to achieve long-lasting therapeutic gains.A com plicating factor is that m ost patients possess little insight into their disorder (or behaviour that precipitated the adm ission), and have had to submit to treatment under varying degrees of coercion. Whether continued m onitoring and m anagem ent in the com munity should be enforced by resorting to legislative measures rem ains contro-