Reports of serious and lethal violence elicit fears for public safety; violence is not only a topic for criminal justice agencies across the globe but is clearly a general public health concern. In the last decades, violence is high up on the agenda of the public health sector,with more and more researchers, policymakers, and practitioners realizing the consequences for entire populations. The search for possibilities to prevent and moderate the consequences of violence in different settings is continuing. Violence is a sensitive topic that is often used by administrations to score political points, increasing people’s fear for personal safety. More often than not, the mental health status of a violent perpetrator is mentioned and questioned. The association between mental illness and violence is of global concern, and numerous studies have investigated in detail the relationship between the two, using well-designed studies, with the best available methodological components. Despite the fact that this is a relatively well-researched area, there is little consensus among researchers about how to best convey this knowledge to the public and legislators. Popular media often function as a translator of research results, and it is common that mentally ill individuals are portrayed as dangerous and wicked. This diverts the focus from the actual empirical research results. The topic of the general perception ofmental illness and the use of this term is discussed in Chap. 3 in this volume.