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forensic psychology > the role of mental illness in court and juries > Flashcards

the role of mental illness in court and juries Flashcards

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1
Q

what are the four categories of mental disorders that are most likely to be associated with criminal conduct?

A
  • schizophrenic disorders
  • paranoid or delusional disorders
  • mood disorders (major depression)
  • antisocial personality disorder
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2
Q

what are the two elements that must be present for criminal guilt to be established? explain

A
  • actus reus: a wrongful deed, objective component, based on evidence
  • mens rea: criminal intent, subjective component
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3
Q

what are the two burdens of proof?

A
  • beyond a reasonable doubt
  • preponderance of the evidence
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4
Q

explain ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’

A
  • standard of proof required for all criminal proceedings
  • proof that is just short of absolute certainty
  • fully satisfied, entirely convinced
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5
Q

explain ‘preponderance of the evidence’

A
  • standard of proof for civil suits, fitness to stand trial, and insanity defense
  • proof that one side has more evidence in its favour than the other
  • who has the most convincing story
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6
Q

what are the three conditions to check for an accused to be unfit to stand trial?

A
  • unable to understand the nature or object of the proceedings
  • unable to understand the prossible consequences of the proceedings
  • unable to communicate with counsel
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7
Q

what happens after a person is declared unfit to stand trial

A
  • proceedings are halted until competency is restored
  • detained in a hospital or conditionally discharged
  • reassessment within 45 days, then on a yearly basis, if still unfit, crown must make a prima facie case every two years (must prove that there is still sufficient evidence to bring accused to trial)
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8
Q

according to r v demers (2004) and bill c-10, when does the court have the authority to order an absolute discharge?

A
  • if the accusd is unlikely to ever becoe fit to stand trial
  • does not pose a threat to society
  • a stay of proceedings (not proceed w trial) is in the interests of the proper administration of justice
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9
Q

who can asses unfit to stand trial

A
  • medical practitioners or other professionals designated by the attorney general (mostly psychiatrists)
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10
Q

what is the most common instrument for assessing fit to stand trial?

A

fitness interview test revised (fit-r)

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11
Q

what are some common caracs of ppl deemed unfit to stand trial?

A
  • have psychotic disorder
  • unemployed
  • previous hospitalization
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12
Q

what conditions must a person meet to be NCRMD?

A
  • must suffer from a mental disorder
  • must fail to appreciate the nature or quality of their act (or omission)
  • may understand what they are doing , but not believe it to be wrong
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13
Q

the crown may raise the issue of NCRMD under what two situations?

A
  • following a guilty verdict
  • if stated by the defence that the defendant has a mental illness
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14
Q

who has to come to an agreement for the NCRMD to stand?

A

defence and prosecution/crown

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15
Q

what are the possible dispositions following a finding of NCRMD?

A
  • absolute discharge (released without any restrictions)
  • conditional discharge
  • sent to psychiatric facility
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16
Q

what is the most common instrument for assessing insanity (NCRMD)?

A

the rogers criminal responsibility assessment scale

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17
Q

what are the five scales of the rogers criminal responsibility assessment scale?

A
  • patient reliability (detect malingering)
  • organicity (assess possible organic conditions like mental retardation)
  • psychopathology (symptoms of functional disturbance like anxiety)
  • cognitive control (hallucinations, delusions, understand criminality of behaviour)
  • behavioral control (whether person lacked behavioural control, monitor behavior)
18
Q

what are some other conditions that can be used as a defence?

A
  • automatism (unconscious, involuntary behavior such that the person committing the act is not aware of what they are doing)
  • intoxication (voluntary intoxication is not recognized as a defence for violent crimes, often used to mitigate criminal responsibility)
  • sexsomnia (a form of parasomnia defined by engaging in sexual acts while asleep, used twice in Canada for NCRMS successfully)
  • PTSD (cannot be used as a defence, but used to mitigate criminal responsibility
  • Dissociative identity disorder (generally does not work for defence, easier to fake)
  • amnesia (worries of malingering, but can be used as defence if clean connection can be made btwn brain injury and memory loss)
19
Q

explain the distinction btwn non insane and insane automatism

A
  • non insane -> must prove automatism
  • insane -> must use the NCRMD defense
20
Q

what are some common misconceptions abt the NCRMD defence?

A
  • it is commonly used – in Canada, 2 cases per 1000 adult criminal cases
  • it is usually successful
  • most acquittees commit murder
  • it is a loophole
  • defendants are not confined very long
  • defendants are dangerous
21
Q

name the three types of offenses in canada

A
  • summary offense
  • indictable offense
  • hybrid offense
22
Q

what is a summary offense?who is it tried by?

A
  • minor criminal offense, w less than 6 months in jail (ex. shoplifting)
  • case tried by judge alone
23
Q

what are the three types of indictable offenses?

A
  • less serious indictable offense (theft, fraud…) -> tried by judge alone
  • highly serious indictable offense (murder, treason…) -> must b tried by judge and jury
  • other indictable offense (anything else, like robbery, arson) -> accused can decide to be tried by judge alone or judge and jury
24
Q

what is a hybrid offense?

A
  • a cross btwn indictable and summary offense (ex. sexual assault)
  • the crown attorney decides whether to proceed w the case as a summary offense or indictable offense
  • most time tried by judge alone
25
Q

what is a jury act?

A
  • provincial and territorial legislation that outlines the eligibility criteria for jury service and how prospective jurors must be selected
  • criteria vary slightly across jurisdictions (e.g. minimal age)
26
Q

what is a jury summons?

A
  • a court order that states a time and place to go for jury duty – does not guarantee you will be selected as a juror
27
Q

what are the consequences for ignoring a jury summons?

A

fine or jail time

28
Q

what is a peremptory challenge?

A

being able to reject a jury selection w/o having to provide a reason

29
Q

what is challenge for cause?

A

having to give a reason for why wanting to reject a jury selection, judge gives final decision

30
Q

are lawyers able to select favourable jurors?

A
  • no. in canada, based on the info the lawyers have on the jurors (name, address, occupation and physical demeanour), it not enough to make a valid decision
31
Q

what is scientific jury selection?

A
  • rejecting prospective jurors who would be unsympathetic to one’s case and accepting those who would be sympathetic based on predetermined characteristics
32
Q

what are the two approaches to scientific jury selection? explain

A
  • broad-based approach : traits or attitudes (lawyers ask general questions to prospective jurors)
  • case-specific approach: issues of the case (asks specific questions that relates to facts of the case)
33
Q

what are the two fundamental caracs to juries? explain

A
  • representativeness: a jury composition that represents the community where the crime occurred
  • impartiality: characteristic of jurors who are unbiased,
    must set aside any pre-existing biases, must ignore any information that is not part of the admissible evidence, must not have any connection to the defendant
34
Q

what are the two threats to impartiality?

A
  • negative pretrial publicity related to an increase number of guilty verdicts
  • positive pre-trial publicity can bias jurors in favour of a defendant
35
Q

what are ways to keep potential jurors impartial?

A
  • change of venue: moving a trial to a community other than the one in which the crime occurred
  • adjournment: delaying the trial
  • challenge for cause: an option to reject biased jurors
36
Q

what is the main function of a jury?

A
  • to apply the law as provided by the judge and render a verdict of guilt or innocence
37
Q

what are some other functions of a jury?

A
  • use the wisdom of 12 to reach a verdict
  • act as the conscience of the community
  • protect against out-of-date laws
  • increase knowledge about the justice system
38
Q

can a jury ignore the law?

A
  • technically no, but it happens
  • jury nullification: occurs when a jury ignores the law and evidence, rendering a verdict based on some other criteria
39
Q

what are the four different techiques of jury behaviour research? explain

A
  • post-trial interviews: asking the jurors why they reached the verdict they did (note: not allowed in Canada)
  • archives: reviewing records of trials and police interviews of witnesses
  • simulations: simulating a trial to study the effect of independent variables
  • field studies: using actual jurors while they are serving on jury duty (note: not allowed in Canada)
40
Q

what are some factors that may influence the ability of jurors to dismiss inadmissiable evidence?

A
  • strenght of the evidence: when evidence is weak, they consider the inadmissibility of evidence n more likey to use in their verdict; if strong evidence (like weapon), then its very easy to eliminate it (not include it)
  • reason provided by the judge to disregard the evidence: instruction to disregard bc evidence obtained illegal (less likely to disregard) vs bc evidence poor quality and difficult to comprehend (more likely to disregard)
41
Q

what are the six variables identified as having a relation to the verdict? explain

A
  • demographic variables: gender, race, socioeconomic status and education of jurors;
    black sheep effect – when evidence is strong, similarity between defendant and jury leads to punitiveness
  • personality traits: authoritarianism and dogmatism, conservative = pro-prosecution bias
  • attitudes: positive attitudes towards capital punishement = pro-prosecution, guilty verdict
  • defendant caracs: attractiveness of the defendant (if crime unrelated to attractivenes = more lenient, if crime related to attractiveness = more severr verdict) (w/o deliberation = plain looking = more guilty vs
    with deliberation = attractive person = more guilty)
  • victim carac: sexual assult cases (victim sexual history tends to bias verdict, victim blame esp when victim is sexually active)
  • expert testimony: race n gender of experts (if talking abt female topics as a female, more credibility to the jury); complexity of testimony and credential of expert (convinced with higher creditial of expert when talking abt complex topics; but also the strength and coherence of evidence is important); battered woman syndrom (for sexual assult cases)

forensic psychology (7 decks)

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