Ch. 4 - Forensic Assessment in Civil Domains Flashcards
Civil Committment
Involuntary treatment or hospitalization of individuals on the grounds that they pose a risk to themselves or others on account of mental disorder
Parens patriae powers
Powers that allow governments to act as guardian or caretaker for individual who are deemed unable to make decisions about their own health and welfare because they are physically or mentally ill
Police Powers
powers that give police the authority to control people who threaten public order, whether or not they are physically or mentally ill
Criminal Commitment
Incarceration following conviction for a criminal offence
Least Restrictive Alternative Principle
The principle that holds that the goal of protecting the person or the public must be accomplished in a way that minimizes any infringement on the person’s rights and freedoms
Casual Nexus
The connection between a mental disorder and the risk that an individual may harm self or others
Actuarial Instruments
Highly structured tests that tell evaluators exactly what risk factors to consider and how to combine them to estimate the probability of future harm; they are based on research indicating factors that are predictive of criminal behaviour, which are assigned a numerical weight and combined into a risk scale that yields a total score or a specific estimate of the probability of violence
Classification of Violence Risk (COVR)
An actuarial instrument designed to estimate the likelihood that a person discharged from an emergency psychiatric unit will commit an act of physical violence within the next 20 weeks
Structured Professional Judgement
Instruments based on research identifying predictors of future risk that do not tell evaluators how risk factors should be weighted or combined and cannot be used to estimate the probability of future harm
HCR-20
An instrument to guide evaluations of risk for actual, attempted, or threatened physical harm of other people in institutional and community settings
Parenting Capacity Evaluations
A psychological assessment of an individual’s suitability to act as a caregiver for children
“Tender years” doctrine
The perspective that mothers should be granted custody due to their special abilities when it came to rearing young children
Best Interests of the Child Principle
The perspective that legal decisions should provide children with childrearing environments that are most likely to ensure optimal development in light of their unique needs and circumstances
Child maltreatment
The abuse or neglect of children by parents or other people in a position of power, trust, or responsibility
Child Abuse
The commission of acts that deliberately or recklessly threaten the safety and well-being of children
