Forensic Applications of Psychological Testing

Question 1

Forensic Psychology

Answer 1

• Application of methods, theories & concepts of psychology within the legal system
• Focuses on impact of police officer, victim, juror, expert witness, lawyer, judge, defendant, prison guard, parole officer, and/or society at large on the legal system

Question 2

Common Roles of the (Clinical) Forensic Psychologist

Answer 2

• Evaluate prison inmates
• Law enforcement screening
• Consult w/ lawyers
• Jury selection
• Testify as expert witness
• Forensic assessment areas

Question 3

Evaluation of Police Candidates

Answer 3

• Personal Interviews (Law Enforcement Candidate Interview)
• Observations of Candidates Performing in Special Situations (Clues Test- candidates are given 10 minutes to investigate a set of planted clues about the disappearance of hypothetical city worker)
• Psychological Tests (Personality & Psychopathology (MMPI-2), Intelligence & Academic Achievement, Decision-Making & Impulse Control)

Question 4

The Insanity Defense

Answer 4

An insanity defense is based on theory that most people can choose to follow the law, but a few select persons cannot be held accountable because of a mental disorder deprives them of the ability to make rational/voluntary choices

Question 5

What is “Insanity”?

Answer 5

• Legal concept, not clinical
• Mental illness of such severity that a person cannot reliably distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affair, is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior

Question 6

M’Naghten Rule

Answer 6

• M’Naghten attempted to kill British Prime Minister due to his belief that Peel was involved in a conspiracy targeting M’Naghten (likely schizo)
• Inadvertently murdered secretary as well
• Set down rules for a standard test for criminal liability in relation to mentally disordered defendants

Question 7

Insanity Defense Requires Jury to Answer 2 Questions

Answer 7

• Did the defendant know what she was doing when she committed the crime?
• Did the defendant understand that her actions were wrong?

Question 8

Competency

Answer 8

• The mental state of the defendant at the time of trial
• Criminal proceedings should not continue against someone who cannot understand their nature and purpose
• This rule applies at every stage of the CJ process, but is most often applied at pretrial hearings

Question 9

Competency Screening Test

Answer 9

• 22 item sentence completion task designed as an initial screening test for incompetence
• 2(competent answer), 1(questionably competent), 0(incompetent answer)
• 0-66; score of 20 or less suggests possible incompetence to stand trial

Question 10

Psychopathy

Answer 10

Extreme variant of antisocial personality disorder over-represented in violent offender population
-Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Question 11

Sexual Dangerousness

Answer 11

Sexually invasive offenders often meet dx criteria for paraphilic disorders, i.e. recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviors involving nonconsenting persons that cause impairment
-Gold standard for dx of paraphilic disorders is plethysmograph

Question 12

Actuarial Risk Assessment

Answer 12

-Statistical formulas that combine “risk factors” to maximize predictive accuracy

Question 13

Static-99R

Answer 13

10-item actuarial risk assessment to be applied to make sex offenders upon the time of their release from imprisonment to the community

Question 14

Effort Testing

Answer 14

-Faking or exaggerating impairment is a major concern in forensic procedings

Question 15

Rey 15-Item Visual Memory Test

Answer 15

• Participants are shown a 15-item display w/ 4 rows of basic sequential progressions for 10s
• Asked to reproduce items from memory
• Individuals w/ sever brain injury are able to reliably perform tasks w/o errors (>6 errors = cutoff for invalid effort)

Question 16

Test of Memory Malingering

Answer 16

• Performance validity test with a high degree of face validity w/ in the context of neuropsychological evaluation
• Presented with the same series of 50 line drawings over two separate learning trials
• Each trial followed by a recognition trial where examinees are given a series of 50-forced choices between line drawing that was presented before, and one that was not
• Examinees are given feedback on whether their choice is correct or not on every trial
• Cutoff of 45/50 on recognition trial 2 has almost 100% specificity & sensitivity in identifying suboptimal effort!