Download - Current Forensic Assessment Techniques
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Current Forensic Assessment
Techniques
Understanding and Appreciating Miranda Rights
Rogers Criminal Responsibility Assessment Scales
MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-CriminalAdjudication (MACCAT-CA)
HCR-20 for Risk Assessment
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-r)
Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS)
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Understanding and Appreciation of
Miranda Rights
Grisso, T. (1986)Evaluating Competencies: Forensic
Assessments and Instruments. New York: Plenum.
Grisso, T. (1998) Forensic Evaluation of Juveniles. Sarasota,
FL: Professional Resource Press.
Grisso, T. & Schwartz, (2000) Youth on Trial: A
Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
Fulero, S. & Everington, C. (1995) Assessing competency to
waive Miranda rights in defendants with mental retardation.
Law and Human Behavior, 19, 533-543.
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Miranda issues-continued
Meets Daubert criteria (technique is tested/verified, peer-reviewed
scrutiny, error rate, reliability, validity are known)
Purpose is to quantify both the situational factors as well as suspect
characteristics that are involved in custodial statements
Must have actual statement of Miranda from the jurisdiction in question Was it read or presented to client; did client sign
Condition of the client at the time of arrest, i.e. substances, sleep, etc
Corollary information including psych testing of cognitive capacity
Waivers must be: voluntary, knowing, and intelligent School records of educational achievement, reading level, IQ
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Description of the test:
Assessment involves 4 subtests taking approximately 1 hour
Comprehension of Miranda Rights
Comprehension based on paraphrased description by client,vocabulary used
Comprehension of Miranda Rights-Recognition
Statement read by examiner with 3 paraphrased choices
Comprehension of Miranda Vocabulary
Critical words of Miranda are to be defined by client
Function of Rights in Interrogation
Grasping the significance of warning re:
Nature of interrogation-jeopardy associated with interrogation
Right to Counsel-the function of legal counsel
Right to Silence-protections related to right to silence, jeopardy ofconfessions
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Rogers Criminal Responsibility Assessment
Scales A systematic method of analyzing mental state at the time of the
crime
This has never been done before despite very poor reliability ofprevious interview assessment methods
Poythress, N.G. & Petrella, R. (1983) The quality of forensicexaminations: An interdisciplinary study. J. of Consulting andClinical Psychology, 51, 76-85.
This test also meets Daubert criteria and has been developed over20 years
Takes into account the following definition of criminalresponsibility
ALI includes 5 operational constructs: mental disease/defect, lackof substantial capacity, appreciation, wrongfulness, and conformity
of conduct to the law The following definitions may be utilized but less data on these
MNaughten includes 4 operational constructs: defect of reason,know, nature and quality of act, wrongfulness
Both have substantial cognitive requirements
Guilty but Mentally Ill is also taken into account
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Before the Test Cautionary notes: 1) cannot substitute for good clinical/forensic
interview; 2) need for thorough neuropsychological assessment toappreciate cognitive behavior; 3) application of anything otherALI standard has limited data and look for updated researchwhich is being done
Careful decision about who does this evaluation, i.e. someonewho has very good clinical as well as appreciation of forensic
issues and who uses multiple sources of information related tothoughts, behavior, and emotions preceding and subsequent totarget time period
Data to provide to your examiner should include:
School records
Medical and Psychiatric records/history Previous criminal history
Examiner should do several comprehensive clinical interviews
Specific evaluation of thoughts, behaviors, substances, andemotions, immediately preceding, during, and after the crime
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Description of the Test:
30 Item guideline for the 3 Insanity decision trees
The 30 items that should be answered after interviews and dataare reviewed are:
1. Reliability of patient self-report which is under his voluntarycontrol
2. Involuntary interference with patients self-report
3. Level of intoxication at the time of the alleged crime (bearing inmind the exclusion of voluntary intoxication)
4. Evidence of brain damage or disease
5. Relationship of brain damage to the commission of the allegedcrime
6. Mental Retardation
7. Relationship of mental retardation to the commission of thealleged crime
8. Observable bizarre behavior at the time of the alleged offense
9. General level of anxiety at the time of the alleged offense
10. Amnesia for the alleged crime (examiners assessmentincluding malingering evaluation)
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Description of the Test-continued 30 Items-continued
11. Delusions at the time of the crime
12. Hallucinations at the time of the crime 13. Depressed mood at the time of the alleged crime
14. Elevated or expansive mood at the time of the alleged crime
15. Patients level of verbal coherence at the time of the allegedcrime
16. Intensity and appropriateness of affect during the commission
of the alleged crime 17. Evidence of formal thought disorder at the time of the alleged
crime
18. Planning and preparation for the alleged crime
19. Awareness of the criminality of behavior during thecommission of the alleged crime
20. Focus on the alleged crime
21. Level of activity in commission of the alleged crime
22. Responsible social behavior during the week prior to thecommission of the alleged crime
23. Patients reported self-control over the alleged criminal
behavior
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Description of the Test-continued
5 Additional assessment criteria for MNaughten and GBMI
standards 26. Impaired judgment on the basis of a mental disorder during the
period of the alleged crime
27. Psychopathologically-based impairment of behavior at the time
of the alleged crime
28. Impaired reality testing at the time of the alleged crime
29. Capacity for self-care of personal and home-environmental
needs at the time of the alleged crime
30. Awareness of wrongfulness of the alleged criminal behavior
All responses should be justified with data and scored 1-6 based on
no information (1) to most severe symptomatology (6)
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MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-
Criminal Adjudication The current competency assessment tools in use have been
superceded by this instrument (Competence AssessmentInstrument-CAI, 1973; Competency Screening Test-CST, 1971;Georgia Court Competency Test-GCCT, 1979; andInterdisciplinary Fitness Interview-IFI, 1984)
They all quickly address rapid identification of competent client,so skewed toward government assessment
None of the old tools adequately address anything but factualunderstanding of Dusky
They do not address a clients ability to reason and assist counsel
The MacCAT systematically, in a standardized, scorable fashion,addresses factual knowledge, reasoning capacity, as well as the
ability to choose salient information to tell a defense attorney inpreparation of a case
The format includes a hypothetical case example as well as inthe clients own case
Meets Daubert criteria and is the result of multidisciplinary usein two cross country, multi-site, MacArthur Foundation research
projects
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Description of the Test
Section 1: Items 1-8 assesses Understanding Role of defense and prosecuting attorneys
Elements of an offense
What constitutes a lesser offense
Role of the jury
Role of the judge at the trial
Consequences of conviction
Pleading guilty
What rights are waived when pleading guilty
Section 2: Items 9-16 assesses Reasoning Self-defense
Mitigating evidence of prosecutions evidence of intent
Possible provocation in hypothetical
Fear as a motivator
Intoxication as mitigation Seeking information
Weighing consequences
Making comparisons
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Competence Assessment description-continued
Section 3: Items 17-22 assesses Appreciation
This section directly pertains to the clients own circumstances
Likelihood of being treated fairly
Likelihood of being assisted by their defense attorney
Probability of revealing critical information to defense attorney
Assessment of probability of being found guilty
Likely punishment
Likelihood of pleading guilty
These are not just simple answers to questions as the examiner asks
for the thinking behind the response
Paranoid ideation is elicited if it is there
Realistic or unrealistic appraisal of evidence in the case
Scored on a 0, 1, 2 point basis (worst to best response)
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Interpretation of Competence
The scores in each of the 3 domains is compared to one of 3
groups of criterion groups:
Criminal defendants with no mental health history in whom
competence is not questioned
Criminal defendants with various types of mental health disorder
whose competence is not questioned Criminal defendants adjudicated incompetent to proceed as a
result of mental illness
An examiner bias: record the test so that you can have atranscript of what is said
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Risk Assessment and Prediction
of Violence In bold face because it is an area you must
become familiar with in capital
representation!
There are two tools that are currently in use,
remember these names:
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hares PCL-r)
HCR-20 (Webster, Douglas, Eaves, and Hart)
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Dos and Donts
in Risk Assessment
Do familiarize yourself with these techniques; get a preprint
copy of Freedmans paper; make sure your expert is well-versedand familiar
Problems in letting the psych expert use them in capital cases
How to think about:
Origin is to address risk of violence in civil commitment and thoseeligible for conditional release in criminal cases (specificallyMDSO)
Was not designed or intended to address any question in capitalcases where conditional release is never an issue
Risk of violence within prison cannot be addressed by theseinstruments because no norms for it, limited studies of incarceratedprisoners and violence risk
Want to be prepared for risk assessment issues by looking at baserate (prevalence data) of violence within prison settings using theirown data (# of incidents reported)
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Robert Hares Psychopathy Checklist-Revised
15+ years of research originally done in Canada on white,
young, probationers has grown into contribution to DSM-IVantisocial diagnosis
Comes in various forms: the original 20 Item form, the 12 Item
Screening Version, the Youth Version for 12-17 year olds, the
Child Version for 5-12 year olds
Consists of two factors: Factor 1-Interpersonal/Affectivepersonality traits and Factor 2-Socially Deviant Behavior
Each item is scored on a 0-not like client, 1-similar to client but
not enough information to say exactly like client, 2-matches
prototype
The higher the score the more psychopathy the person has
The dangers lie in misuse
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Description of the Test:
Recommendation to get all background records re: school,
medical, criminal, probation/parole reports, work history
Do extensive clinical interview paying careful attention to the
interpersonal style of the interviewee and his answers to an
interview that is outlined in the manual covering: school, work
histories; career goals and finances; health, family of originrelationships, sex/relationships, drug use, child/adolescent and
adult antisocial behavior
Can perform the PCL-r without clinical interview if necessary,
although an additional deception/malingering check is how the
client answers vs. how background history is recorded(discrepancies)
Many proponents argue that it is best to do the record review and
interview then score the client on the measure
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PCL-R Items FACTOR 1 ITEMS
1. Glibness/Superficial
Charm
2. Grandiose sense of self
4. Pathological lying
5. Conning/Manipulative
6. Lack of remorse or guilt
7. Shallow Affect
8. Callous/Lack of empathy
16. Failure to accept
responsibility for
behavior
NO LOADING ONFACTORS
11. Promiscuous sexual
behavior
17. Many short-term marital
relationships
20. Criminal versatility
FACTOR 2 ITEMS
3. Need for stimulation/
proneness to boredom
9. Parasitic lifestyle
10. Poor behavioral controls
(re: anger control)
12. Early behavioral problems 13. Lack of realistic, long-term
goals
14. Impulsivity
15. Irresponsibility
18. Juvenile delinquency
19. Revocation of conditional
release
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PCL-R Items-continued
NO LOADING ON EITHER FACTOR
11. Promiscuous sexual behavior
17. Many short-term marital relationships 20. Criminal versatility
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HCR-20
HCR-20 is a 20 item organizational scheme for collecting(H)istory, (C)linical, (R)isk Management data on the client
The manual states it is an experimental, research tool (pgs. vi and
5)
This instrument and the PCL-R are frequently used together to
construct an actuarial prediction dataset that has been shown to beslightly predictive in the research literature
However, the use of a research instrument does not meet Daubert
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Test Description: The item organization
Historical Items Clinical Items
1. Previous violence 1. Lack of insight
2. Young age at 1st violent incident 2. Negative attitudes
3. Relationship instability 3. Active symptoms of mental
4. Employment problems illness
5. Substance use problems 4. Impulsivity
6. Major mental illness 5. Unresponsive to treatment
7. Psychopathy (PCL-R score) 8. Early maladjustment
9. Personality disorder
10. Prior supervision failure
Risk Management Items
1. Plans lack feasibility These Risk items are
2. Exposure to destabilizers often used to provide
3. Lack of Personal Support context to the appearance
4. Noncompliance with remediation attempts of violent acts
5. Stress
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How would your client score?
You should be aware of this every
time a mental health professionallooks at your client: Be prepared!