Forensic Flashcards

1
Q

Forensic definition

A

Application of psych to law - intersection of psych and law
Young discipline - UK (1953), US (2001), Aus (1993)
Different to forensic science - does use scientific methods but areas of practice are different

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2
Q

What do forensic psych do?

A

Apply psych knowledge/skills within legal framework or criminal justice system - need endorsement
Often assessments of clients to address prediction of risk, diagnosis, judicial decision making

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3
Q

Where do forensic psychs work?

A
  • Legal/court - trial consultant
  • expert witness
  • child custody
  • Prisons
  • clinical forensic psych practitioners
  • criminal investigations
  • research/teaching
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4
Q

3 types of forensic assessment

A

1- forensic assessment instruments (only used in forensic setting and relevant to legal standard)
2- forensically relevant instruments (general measures with specific utility in forensic setting)
3 - Clinical instruments (parallels intelligence and personality assessments with population differences)

Always consider effects of cultural expression

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5
Q

Ideological clash

A

Psychology is objective, truth seeking and empirical
The law is zealous advocate (does anything legal to help clients goals), justice seeking, adversarial system (each side comes up with theory and presents to impartial person)

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6
Q

Assist in court to make decisions on…

A
  • Fitness to stand trial
  • not guilty due to mental impairment
  • custody evaluations
  • bail recommendations
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7
Q

Psychs present in court

A
  • Expert testimony after assessment
  • forensic assessment if relevant to legal standards in case

Both objective and factual based

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8
Q

3 Aus jurisdictions

A
  • Criminal- against public or crown
  • civil- between individuals or organisations
  • family
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9
Q

Fitness to stand trial

A

Determines capacity to understand various elements of criminal trial

Could be due to cognitive decline, intellectual disability, mental illness, psychological trauma, psychosis

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10
Q

MacArthur competence assessment tool

A

Use tool or structured clinical assessment to determine if client is unable to:
• understand charge
• enter a plea or exercise the right to challenge jury
• understand nature of trial (it is an inquiry to see if person committed offence)
• follow course of trial
• understand effect of evidence that gives support to prosecution
• Give instruction to legal team

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11
Q

Mental impairment asking

A

Retrospective evaluation- were they responsible for their actions at the time of the crime?
Assessed with rogers criminal responsibility assessment scales

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12
Q

Mental impairment defence

A

Is a legal term not a medical term - no diagnosis of mental impairment
Either did not know nature of conduct or that it was wrong
Mental impairment defence is established must be found not guilty due to mental impairment
Juries often reluctant to return this verdict due to sense of injustice (can often result in more time served)

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13
Q

Custody evaluations

A

Independent, non biased from child’s perspective

Interviews with all parties, personality and cognitive testing, demographic assessment and risk assessment
Are more specific assessments but not widely used

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14
Q

Risk assessment

A

Readiness for parole: some will violate laws at first opportunity eg- people with psychopathy diagnosis 4 times more likely to fail on prison release
Assessment of risk for violence: actual, attempted and threatened

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15
Q

2 types risk assessment

A

Structured clinical judgement: flexible, dynamic clinical interviews for treatment and prevention. Subjective and inaccurate, low inter-rater and test-retest reliability

Actuarial: formal rules assessing risk factors. Reliable and consistent with predictive validity, transparency and accountability (important for expert testimony)

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16
Q

Risk factors

A

Static: features of offenders history that predict recidivism and not amenable to intervention eg - prior convictions

Dynamic: potentially changeable eg- substance abuse, negative peer evaluations

17
Q

Static-99 R

A

10 items normed for male sex offenders
Derived purely from stats and used widely
Static = referring to specific time point

Qs= age at release, ever lived with lover, prior non sexual violence, prior sex offences, any unrelated, stranger, male victims

18
Q

Psychopathy checklist revised

A

Psychopathy under scores lots of offending, particularly violent

Looks at static and dynamic traits and behaviours

Actuarial (easy scoring) and structured clinical judgement
Lots of research supports tool
• gold standard for recidivism and violence prediction
• Good reliability and validity
• norms for males and females and youth version
Limitation- low anxiety not considered

19
Q

Other forensic tests

A

Stalking risk profile (SRP) - structured guidelines to assess and manage stalking risk

The risk for sexual violence protocol (RSVP) - identifies potential risk factors, relevance and risk formulation/management

HCR-20 violence risk assessment- historical past, clinical (symptoms, treatment complience), risk management (living situation, support, stress)

20
Q

Primary purpose forensic assessment and therapeutic assessment difference

A

Forensic: assist decision makes in legal system to address specific legal issues

Therapeutic: diagnose and treat clients with psychological or mental problems

21
Q

Key forensic and therapeuticdifferences

A

Source info much broader for forensic
Responses less reliable for forensic
Clarification of reasoning and limits of knowledge more important
Write report longer, and documents finding, reasoning and conclusion

22
Q

Faking (malingerng)

A

Important to administer extra tests to ensure clients telling the truth
Some tests have them built in (MMPI-2)
Designed to uncovering faking - structured interview of reported symptoms (172 items, 1 hour long)

23
Q

Limitations

A
  • Self report prone to malingering
  • structured clinical interview has reliability and validity issues
  • Actuarial not used in many assessments because of age of discipline
  • Small sample sizes used to validate some instruments