Pgs 593-604

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Forensic Psychology

• Chapter 28
• Pgs 593-604

Every chapter and subchapter of sense psychology
may help clear up the chaos and confusion which
prevail in the observations of eyewitnesses.
-
Hugo Münsterberg (1908)
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I. Introduction

• 1. Forensic Psychology is defined as the
  application of psychological findings to legal
  processes.
• 2. The intersection of psychology and the law has
  grown in two separate directions
• Psychological research findings have increasingly
  been used to inform various legal processes
• The practice of clinical forensic psychology as
  part of the forensic field.

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II. Psychological Research and the Law

• Hugo Munsterberg (1908) realized that
  psychological research findings had the potential
  to inform the criminal justice system about the
  unreliability of eyewitness accounts.

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• 2. It was not until 65 years later that
  psychologists developed specific research designs
  to assess the accuracy of eyewitnesses.
• 3. Buckhout (1974) tested that theory in a study
  on purse snatching- determined memory was
  selective process, not a copying process
• Only 7 out of 52 witnesses could identify the
  suspect
• recollection is falsified with the passage of
  time and is influenced by beliefs, motives,
  stress, environmental factors, expectancy, and
  stereotypes.
• Faulty 90 of the time

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• 4. Problems in accuracy of eyewitnesses include
• Unreliability of human information processing
  system
• Procedures used by law enforcement officials to
  obtain eyewitness accounts of crimes

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• 5. Kasin et al (2001) cite numerous problems with
  criminal justice system processes
• Wording of questions,
• line up instructions,
• confidence malleability,
• mug shots,
• induced biases,
• post event information,
• child witness suggestibility,
• attitudes and expectations,

• hypnotic suggestibility,
• alcohol intoxication,
• cross race bias,
• weapon focus,
• forgetting curve,
• exposure time,
• unconscious transference

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• 6. With all this researchcourts seemed reluctant
  to accept the proposition that eyewitness
  identification is unreliable
• changed with the advent of DNA
• Many defendants were proved innocent with use of
  DNA when original convictions were based solely
  on uncorroborated eyewitness testimony

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• 7. As a result of the high number of cases
  overturned, in 1999, Attorney General Janet Reno
  ordered the National Institute of Justice to
  develop national guidelines for law enforcement
  in collecting eyewitness testimony.

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• 8. The same type of psychological research is
  being conducted in earwitness testimony.
• 9. According to Ollson et al, 1998 - has also
  been shown to be poorer than eyewitness testimony
  in accuracy

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• 10. False confessions (Kassin, 1997, 1998) are
  much more common than previously thought.
• Certain characteristics ( low self-esteem,
  eagerness to please, anxiety, compliance, and
  need for notoriety) can lead individuals to make
  false confessions.
• 11. Sigmund Freund (1959) believed many criminals
  harbor unconscious guilt feelings and commit
  crimes in order to be punished
• 12. Other psychological factors may also be
  involved individuals become fatigued and
  frightened during interrogation and develop a
  desire to confess.
• 13. Just as a subject may delude himself into
  thinking he committed the crime, he may
  temporarily delude himself into thinking he did
  NOT commit the crime.

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• 14. The application of psychological research by
  the legal system has an interesting history.
• Brown v Brown, 1954, cited psychological research
  (in a footnote) for the first time
• Ballew v Georgia, 1974, referenced the study on
  the effect of a group size on the jury making
  decision
• 1980 - Barrier on the credibility and usefulness
  of psychological research was lifted
• Psychological research in areas such as ability
  of mental health professionals to predict violent
  behavior has been cited in recent decisions

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III. Criminal Forensic Psychology

• 1. In 1909, William Healy established first
  court clinic as an adjunct to the Cook County
  Juvenile Court in Chicago, Ill
• Juvenile justice system has always stressed
  rehabilitation
• 2. In 1914 first adult court clinic was
  established
• Mental health practitioners began to routinely
  evaluate and treat criminal defendants
• On a pre-trial basis to determine competency and
  criminal responsibility or proper disposition for
  the sex offender.

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• 3. Society has always been unsure how to deal
  with the repetitive sex offender, whose conduct
  obviously stems from psychological sources.
• Rapists, exhibitionists, voyeur, child molester,
  sex murderer
• 4. In 1930s, many states enacted sexual
  psychopath laws, which mandated evaluation and
  treatment of sex offenders
• Allay public hysteria over brutal crimes
• 5. By the end of the 1960s, almost every state
  has specialized diagnostic and treatment
  programs- both free standing and in prison

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• 6. Clinical Psychology did not gain licensure as
  an independent profession in all states until the
  1970s
• Psychologists were occasionally called to testify
  in court to the results of psychological testing
  or under the auspices of a psychiatrist
• 7. Forensic psychologists are involved in
• Assessment
• Treatment
• Provision of testimony in a variety of legal
  cases such as family law, civil law and criminal
  law
• Developing specializations in specific areas,
  such as sexual harassment, etc

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IV. Forensic Assessment Distinctions between
Clinical and Forensic Approach

• 1. Clinical psychologists are taught to
• evaluate their patient through interviews,
  psychological testing and information from family
  members, friends, hospital records and records
  from previous therapists
• listen to patients concerns, and accept
  patients symptoms as valid
• Lying, deceit, exaggeration and malingering do
  occur, but are secondary matters

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• 2. Forensic psychologists can not automatically
  accept a litigants description of what happened.
• has an obvious motive to lie, exaggerate, or
  distort symptoms and events
• maybe seeking to create a psychological defense,
  recover money or damages, or to transfer from a
  jail to a hospital
• 3. Traditional clinical approach can not be used
  in forensic assessments

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• 4. Criminals version of events, background and
  symptom description must be corroborated by the
  forensic psychologist.
• 5. Dimensions Distinguishing Therapeutic from
  Forensic Assessment
• Scope
• Importance of Client Perspective
• Voluntariness
• Autonomy
• Threats to Validity
• Relationships and Dynamics
• Pace and Setting

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V. Psychological Testing Traditional and
Specialized Forensic Tests

• 1. Psychological testing is either quantitative
  or quasi-quantitative method of evaluating
  personality, psychopathology and mental
  functioning.
• Testing assists in reducing subjectivity of
  clinical evaluation
• Due to its objectivity, psychological testing is
  used a lot in forensic assessments

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• 2. Traditionally used psychological tests
• Personality Inventories
• Projective Personality Tests
• Tests of General Educational Functioning
• Tests of Memory Functioning
• Tests for Neuropsychological Impairment
• Test for Specific Disorders

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A. Projective Tests

• 3. These tests are designed to have individuals
  respond to a visual stimulus, and when asked to
  respond to it, the individuals response will
  reveal aspects of his or her personality
• The Rorschach ink blot test is the most widely
  used projective test
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) subject is
  shown a number of pictures and subject is asked
  to create a story, and it is assumed the subject
  will reveal wishes, thoughts, conflicts, motives
  and feelings

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A. Projective Testscont.

• Projective Figure Drawings person is asked to
  draw a house, a tree, a person, person of
  opposite sex, worst thing they can think of, or
  similar topics and interpretation is made from
  them
• Bender-Gestalt test asks subject to copy nine
  geometric figures, and interpretation is done by
  psychologist from way drawing is done

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B. Personality Inventories

• 4. Highly standardized and have considerable
  empirical validation
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
  (MMPI)
• California Psychological Inventory (CPI)
• Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI)

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C. Intellectual and Cognitive Assessment

• 5. Intellectual and cognitive assessment is
  critical in any forensic assessment
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
• Halsted-Reitan
• Luria-Nebraska

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D. Specialized Forensic Tests

• 6. Due to traditional psychological tests not
  being developed to address specific forensic
  issues, a number of researchers have developed
  specialized tests to focus directly on specific
  legal questions
• Competence to waive Miranda Rights
• Competence to stand trial
• Legal Insanity
• Child Custody/Parental Fitness
• Guardianship and Conservatorship
• Competence for medical treatment decision making

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VI. Interviews in Altered States of Consciousness

• 1. Use of narcoanalysis, which is intravenous
  injection of item such as sodium amytal, places
  person in trance
• Used primarily for therapeutic purposes
• Hypnosis has also been used, however, its
  usefulness is not clear-cut

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VII. Complicating Factors in Forensic Assessment
Deception Syndromes

• 1. Forensic examiner should develop a low
  threshold for suspecting deception in forensic
  settings, since distortion or exaggeration
  commonly occur
• 2. Types of deception include malingering and
  dissimulation
• Pseudo-malingering where a mentally ill
  individual feigns mental illness they have
• Gansers syndrome true disorder which had
  appearance of malingering, example- 225

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• 3. Some criminals claim there is a rational
  motive for their behavior
• Other offenders try to convince themselves their
  crime was unplanned, provoked by victim or an
  accident
• Other criminals simply engage in lying