PSYO 355 forensic psychology

Carson Crimeni

- instead of calling for help they made him a meme

- video posted to popular social-media platform over several hours that night, even as the boy is overheating and losing the ability to speak

- bystander effect

- "Carson almost died lol"

- Pressures

- what came first, cruel intentions or an addiction to creating content?- National Post article

Manslaughter

Means to cause bodily harm that they know is likely to cause their death, and is reckless whether death ensures or not

CSI effect...

How might that impact?

1. leading juries to demand forensic evidence

2. leading juries to place excessive trust in forensic evidence

- 40% of the forensic shown on TV are beyond the level of current science

Public Overstepping

- public sloothing settling on Pablo Vergara murdering Elisa Lam at Cecil Hotel

- Vergara worked as a corpse-painted metal artist (slitwrist-band)

Public Overstepping Issues

Issues

- serious online harassment towards Pablo (even by professionals and media)

- Some incorrectly listed his as a major suspect

- Conspiracy and cover-ups flourished

- Pablo aka Morbid wasn't even present at the Cecil hotel when Elisa was murdered

- Pablo attempted suicide when no one believed him

Matthew Phelps, Sept 6, 2017

- Laura Phelps, 29

- Pastor Matthew Phelps, 28

- North Carolina man who took cold medicine, woke up to find wife stabbed to death, could face death penalty

- "it's a very tragic situation, sad and tragic,"

- 6.5 min 911 call at 1 am, confess to killing his wife

- impact of medication

- previous mental health issues

- previous criminal/antisocial/ history

- automatism- dissociative state

- malingering

- lying/deception in general

- personality

- stress

- life with no parole

- money issues

- depression since very young

- digital footprint is showing he had a secret life

forensic psychology definition and meanings

Forensic psych: apply knowledge of the mind and human behavior to the criminal justice system

- forensic- "forensis" "of the forum" where the law courts of ancient Rome was held

- forensic => legal

- synonymous with "legal psychology" or "psychology & law"

- CPA- specialty section

Forensic Psychology focus

Focuses on human behavior in legal contexts

- research and application

- researchers and clinicians

Must include issues that arise at the intersection between psychology and law

Forensic Psychology Job Positions

Lots of diversity in jobs, opportunities

- conduct research (in uni, or private setting)

- teach

- counsel prisoners

- politics

Many psychologists who have non forensic practices may find themselves unintentionally working in forensic area

- ex. client with drinking issues gets caught stealing from liquor store

Increasingly diverse roles

Forensic psychology services often rest on the overarching ethical principle of public beneficence and justice

- everyone in society benefits when the court system has access to relevant information that helps

HOWEVER, there are legally vulnerable individuals

Legally vulnerable

Prisoners

- conditional consent, or no consent

Forensic patients (psychiatric hospitals)

- no consent

Psychologists

Children

Ill feelings (from vulnerable)

May cause feelings of revenge

- child custody (revenge from parent who didn't receive child)

- risk assessment (may label someone who IS high risk but CLAIMS to be low risk)

Heilbrun & Brooks (2010) psychology, public policy, law

- large 35 page document

- insane growth in past 3 decades

- APA- forensic psychology

Roles of forensic psychologist

- prison/hospital

- expert testimony

- conduct research

- academic

- risk assessment

- work with police

- combination

Clinical Forensic Psychologist roles

Assessment

- child custody, criminal responsibility, NCRMD

Treatment (legal context)

Expert testimony

Personnel selection

Prepare criminal profiles

Critical incident stress debriefings

ERT

- emergency response team

Assessment "4 pillars"

Forensic Psychological Opinion

- 1 Clinical interview

- 2 Psychometric assessment

- 3 Collateral information

- 4 Scientific research

Nancy Crampton- Brophy 68

- Author of "the wrong husband" "how to murder your husband"

- Charged with murder and unlawful use of a weapon

- Husband 63 year old chef, fatally shot in kitchen at Oregon Culinary Institute on June 2

Experimental Forensic Psychology

Expert testimony for "state of the science"

- memory, perception, development, social psychology issues, personality

- jury decision making effectiveness of risk assessment strategies, eyewitness lineups, questioning styles etc

- consultation for jury selection, litigation strategy, and state of science

law vs science/psychology: philosophical difference

- law: adversarial (involving or characterized by conflict or opposition)

- science: inquisitorial

Values

Belief of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment

- values change over time and vary between culture

- values influence the law

- conflicts between the values of psychology and the values of the law

- repressed memories

Values changed same sex relationship in APA

- Forensic psychiatrist at 1972 APA meeting wore a mask and came out as gay and talked about how homosexuality needs to be removed from the DSM

- 1973, APA removed the diagnosis of homosexuality from DSM

what year did we abolish capital punishment

1976

- Brutalization hypothesis/theory: state sanctioned execution leads to higher likelihood citizens engage in murder

Alberta sexual sterilization act

1928-1972

- enacted: Edmonton, Alberta

- patient may safely be discharged if the danger of procreation with its risk of multiplication of the evil by the transmission of the disability to progeny were eliminated, the board may direct.. sexual sterilization of the inmate

R.v. Francois

- accused for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 13 year old

- only evidence was blocked out memories that came back in a flashback after a number of years

Legal system - Intuition over empiricism

- experience and intuition over data

Legal system - R.v. Jabarianha 2001

- "Mr. Corkum and Mr. J. were less than believable. Each exhibited classic signs of discomfort when challenged...Each was evasive at times or his eyes shifted around. Thus in certain points of the story displayed signs of untruthfulness."

Legal system

- psychology

- judge/law

- stare decisis

- psychology: empirical results determine the truth- innovation and counter- intuitive thinking

- judge/law: each case is unique and that accumulate data is not necessarily relevant in a single case

- stare decisis: court must adhere to prior law and precedent where appropriate and when applicable

Legal system - DNA exoneration

- great contemporary importance

- until very recently refusal of some legal authorities, including appellate court judges, to change their decisions even in the light of DNA evidence

When can use expert evidence

- statistics reliability and validity

- go beyond the knowledge of the case

legal system- Canada- room for expert Testimony (R.v.Mohan)

R.v.Mohan

- Relevance, necessity, absence of any exclusionary rule, qualification of the expert

- evidence must be proven and qualified by an expert

- necessity- go beyond common sense

- beyond common sense: issues that are beyond the experience and knowledge of juries and judge

Relevance, excluded if...

- its probative value is overborne by its prejudicial effect

- the time required is not commensurate with its value

- it can influence the trier of fact out of proportion to its reliability

- reliability vs effect factor has special significance in assessing the admissibility of expert evidence

Qualifications: recent decision

- Considered the duty owed by an expert witness to the court to be independent, impartial and unbiased

Acid test

Whether the expert's opinion would not change regardless of which party retained him or her

legal system- specific criticisms of psychology

- lack of ecological validity- jury research (mock juries to see process but cant look into decision making)

- venturing beyond their expertise/ imposing their own values

- confusing

- not always legit- Hired guns

Forensic clinicians understanding of bias (R1)

Bias, or systematic influences that create errors in judgment, can affect psychological evaluations in ways that lead to erroneous diagnoses and opinions.

- Anchoring: tendency to pay attention to the first piece of information available, or relying to heavily on it when making decisions

- Confirmation bias: see information that confirms what you believe and discard information that contradicts what you believe

One study found judges rulings in competence to stand trial hearings usually follow the opinions forensic evaluators provide

Evaluator risk scores

- Defense retained evaluators tended to assign lower risk scores

-Prosecution retained evaluators tended to assign higher risk scores

Forensic clinicians understanding of bias (R1) participants

National survey, sample of 120 randomly selected licensed psychologists w/ forensic interests

- familiarity w/ understanding of cognitive biases

- self-reported strategies to mitigate bias

- relation of a and b to psychologists cognitive reflection abilities

Most reported familiarity with well-known biases

Forensic clinicians understanding of bias (R1) Familiarity with biases

Some psychologists...

- reported little familiarity with actual bias

- endorsed sham biases as real

- failed to recognize effective bias mitigation strategies

- endorsed ineffective bias mitigation strategies

Nearly everyone endorsed introspection as an effective bias mitigation strategy

Forensic clinicians understanding of bias (R1) Introspection alone

Introspection alone—that is, looking inward for bias and finding no indication of bias

- not sufficient to identify or mitigate the effects of bias.

- likely serves to create a false sense of reassurance

Forensic clinicians understanding of bias (R1) Blind charging techniques

Blind charging: a decision regarding whether to charge a defendant is made without the availability of demographic information

- effort to reduce the problematic pattern of racially biased charging decisions

Forensic clinicians understanding of bias (R1) Limitations

- 17% low response rate in study

- response rate was expected given general response rates in these types of surveys

Remote Forensic Evaluations and Treatment in the Time of COVID-19 (R2)

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Convenience

- Safety

- Client comfort

- Flexibility

Cons

-Appearance and behavior affected as may be more difficult to assess

- Some clinical conditions are unsuitable (suicidal, visual or hearing challenges)

- Confidentiality

- Communication and physical comfort (tissue), or unsure how to proceed after certain information

Remote Forensic Evaluations and Treatment in the Time of COVID-19 (R2)

Clients

On average, participants were satisfied with the therapeutic relationship that was developed

- Some participants (n = 38, 27.1%) reported that clients had expressed a preference for remote engagement

- Similar number reported that some had expressed concerns about receiving treatment remotely (n = 38, 26.4%)

Remote Forensic Evaluations and Treatment in the Time of COVID-19 (R2)

Assessment Implications

Concerns

- privacy

- security

- confidentiality

- standardized monitoring, timing, and set up

Younger clinicians reported higher perceived competence with delivering treatment and preference for AVE

Dr. Stephen Pittby

- forensic psychologist murdered outside his office

- consulted on JonBenet Ramsey

- Examined Dwight Lamon Jones as part of Jones Divorce

Dwight Lamon Jones

- Examined by Dr. Stephen Pittby

- Murdered 6 people over 5 days in Arizona

- Ruminated as he thought Jones assessment was unfair

- Caused the death of Marshall Levine who was using Pittby's office when attempting to kill Pittby

Dr. Richard Martinez

- The role of forensic psychiatrist and forensic psychologists in terms of evaluating individuals and testifying as an 'expert is primarily as an educator to the criminal justice system'," he said. "So what's important to stress is it's not about taking sides

- We have a core ethical responsibility to strive for 'objective, fair opinions' based on lots of info ... and present a somewhat objective understanding of the individual within a particular offense

Dr. John Bradford

- had a mental breakdown hit without warning less than half an hour after he watched Canadian Air Force colonel Russell Williams brutally assaulting two young women

- through his carrier he become skilled at emotionally detaching himself from all manner of horrendous images.

- refused to look at any more video evidence after returning

- attempted to review a similar case (Magnotta), but declined b/c evidence was too traumatic

- Bradford's self-diagnosis of PTSD, but just fear of the files and case info (ex. Video interview, files) not fear of the incident as he didn't personally experience it

- only took a week of after heart attack, but a month off after video

Nurses PTSD

- nurses are suggesting some of the work they are exposed to is causes PTSD, again same context as above, not necessarily their trauma but something is affecting them

Canadian assessment for breaching confidentiality

- clear risk to an identifiable class of victims

- risk of serious bodily harm or death

- danger is imminent

- suicide

Risks of breaching confidentiality

- risk of breaking trust with patient

- threat to clinician if they stop the individual from harming others

Unclear factors of breaching confidentiality

Factors

- clarity factor: it is important, as a general rule, that a group or person must always be ascertainable

- seriousness factor: requires that the threat be such that the intended victim is in danger of being killed or of suffering serious bodily harm

- imminence factor: the nature of the threat must be such that it creates a sense of urgency. This sense of urgency may be applicable to some time in the future.

If after considering all appropriate factors it is determined that the threat to public safety outweighs the need to preserve solicitor-client privilege, then the privilege must be set aside. When it is, the disclosure should be limited so that it includes only the information necessary to protect public safety

Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California (1976)

- In Tarasoff, a patient told his psychotherapist that he intended to kill an unnamed but readily identifiable woman

- psychotherapist told the campus police

- patient did not return to therapy.

- He began stalking Tarasoff again, befriending and moving in with her brother

- oct 27, 1969, he attacked Tarasoff, first shooting her with a pellet gun and then stabbing her to death

1976 -> Established the duty of psychotherapists to warn third parties when they believe their client poses an imminent threat

2001 Gene Colello

- told his father he was going to kill Keith Ewing

- dating his ex gf

- Colello's father told his son's therapist, Dr. David Goldstein about the threat

- took Colello to the hospital and released next day

2005 -> court ruled therapist have a duty to warn potential victims including advising families of threat against them but also to protect

Therapist duty

1976 -> Established the duty of psychotherapists to warn third parties when they believe their client poses an imminent threat

2005 -> court ruling was expanded to include being advised by family members of patient

2012 -> Tarasoff ruling was amended to reflect duty as not only warning but protecting possible victims

Code of ethics

- book "The dangerous case of Donald Trump: A case study in contested ethics and the public uses of professional expertise"

Code of ethics

- Goldwater rule: requirement for practitioners to avoid diagnosis of public figure with whom they have no therapeutic relationship

- Duty to warn which impels them to provide warnings when the risk of danger is suspected

When can bypass Goldwater rule

Bypass

- if trust is also violated if the profession fails in its duty to alert the public when a person who holds the power of life and death over all of us shows sign of clear, dangerous mental impairment

If someone in presidential role exhibits

- impaired empathy, impulsivity, sense of entitlement, dehumanizing treatment of vulnerable people, manipulation, paranoia, the absence of guilt

Section 7.3 of APA code of professional ethics

- it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer professional opinion on public figure

- unless he/she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement

Goldwater history

- political journal fact

- polled several thousands psychiatrists regarding their opinion on the mental health of Barry Goldwater

- 1964 -> 1,189 psychiatrists said Goldwater was not fit for office

- psychiatrists lacked both consent, and the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive evaluation from Goldwater

Facebook and their moderators

- failing to protect moderators from mental trauma, lawsuit claims

- FB bombarded with images of livestreamed broadcast or videos for child abuse, rape, torture, bestiality, beheading, suicidal murder

Opening up while locked down: Client disclosure in correctional settings. (R3)

- Incarcerated individuals experience mental health symptoms resulting from: the stress of incarceration, as well as from prior histories of trauma (50%M; 80%F)

Psychologists can

- Help incarcerated individuals address existing mental health issues (self-harm)

- Cope with the trauma of incarceration Prepare for successful re‐entry into society

Opening up while locked down: Client disclosure in correctional settings. (R3)

Prisoners experience

- loss of autonomy and material possesions

- prolonged isolation

- lack of meaningful activity

- marked by fear of violence and sexual exploitation

Opening up while locked down: Client disclosure in correctional settings. (R3)

mental health care for inmates

Correctional settings are required by law to provide inmates with adequate mental health care

Factors that inhibit disclosure

- childhood abuse

- bootstrap and self-reliance

- confidentiality

- rat

- suicidality

- the setting

- vulnerability

- consequences prisoners may fear (increased monitoring, reduced visitation, docked commissary, and extended sentences, harm from others)

Opening up while locked down: Client disclosure in correctional settings. (R3)

reasons to breach confidentiality

- risk of escape

inmate responsible for creation of disorder within the facility

Opening up while locked down: Client disclosure in correctional settings. (R3)

solutions

- reframe, understand vulnerability

- serious violence or harm

Whores of the Court

- the fraud of psychiatric testimony and the rape of American justice

- some compelling arguments but quite a bit of theatrics

Daubert criteria

Case

- whether drug Bendectin, taken pregnant women caused birth defects

- both side had experts

- experts on one side accused of using questionable techniques

Criteria

- researcher has been peer reviewed

- research is testable (falsified)

- research has recognized rate of error

- research adheres to professional standards (ethical review)

Trigger warnings

Dozens of psychological studies consistently show

- do not seem to lessen negative reactions to disturbing material in students,trauma survivors, or those diagnosed with P.T.S.D

- may heighten reaction to trigger and increase response/fear of it

- reinforced the belief on the part of trauma survivors that trauma was central (rather than incidental or peripheral) to their identity

Expert witness

- other witnesses can only testify about what they have directly observed (fact witness)

- nearly impossible to prosecute an expert witness for perjury

- perjury: deliberate, willful giving of false, misleading, or incomplete testimony under oath

Karla Homolka

- guilty of 2 counts of manslaughter

- assessed by several mental health professionals, stating Karla suffered from

- stress

- anxiety

- depression

- learned helplessness

- ptsd

- psychic numbing

- lack of affect

- battered woman syndrome

- domestic abuse and domination

- supposed concentration camp survivor

- released in 2005 thought to have duped mental health professionals and justice system

Clinical-forensic psychology in Canada: A survey of practitioner characteristics, attitudes, and psychological assessment practices (R4) participants

- practice survey, 110 Can. forensic psychologists

- 47% of doctoral-level participants had forensic experience

- 36% reported attending a graduate program w/ formal training in forensic

- 53% of all, completed a practicum in forensic or correctional setting

Clinical-forensic psychology in Canada: A survey of practitioner characteristics, attitudes, and psychological assessment practices (R4) common forensic evaluations and caveats

Most commonly performed types of forensic psychological evaluations were:

- violence risk assessments (70%)

- general risk assessments (54%)

- and presentence assessments (30%)

Caveats

- sample (94%) caucasian

- survey open from June 2014 till April 2015

biological theories- lombroso

- Lombroso 1835-1909

- father of modern criminology

- shifted interest in criminology from legal system to individual

- aggressive personality is inborn

- sloping forehead

- bumps on head particularly the destructiveness center above left ear

- bushy eyebrows, tending to meet across nose

- tattoo on body

- physical characteristic could be used to detect the criminal type

- theory criminals are individuals who failed to evolve to a fully human and civilized state

- imbalance of the hemispheres (asymmetry of cranium)

- criminal traits could be correlated with physiological traits

- left handed increases criminal probability

- 1743 -> King George outlawed inferring traits from facial features (stereotype, issues)

Born Criminal (Lombroso)

born criminal- had certain characteristics which were atavistic (genetic throwbacks)

- not as evolutionary advanced as other humans

- display facial features of stigmata

Females - Lombroso

- 1895 theory for females

-The criminal qualities of a man + the "worst personality features of women:

- "Deceit", "cunning" and "spite" that were not apparent among males

- Often had tattoos

Width-to-length - wider faces

- The wider a man's face relative to its length, the more aggressive the participants tended to think he was

- higher width-to-height ratio more closely resembles the facial expression of anger

- It's also possible that the width-to-height ratio correlates with some other cue that's used by observers to judge aggressiveness.

Eugenists

- laws passed in the US authorized the State to sterilize, by castration, social deviants so that their defect could not be passed on to new gen

1st official profile 1888

-jack the ripper

Munsterberg

- the founder

- On the witness stand 1908

- memory distortions

- eyewitness accuracy

- confessions

- suggestibility

- hypnosis

- crime detection

- prevention of crime

- vain

- loquacious

- arrogant

- pugnacious

Binet

- children susceptible to suggestive questioning techniques 1990

- direct vs free recall

Julian Varendonck

- asked children

- retroactive memory falsification process

1970s Yuille, Wells, Loftus, Yarmey

- during the 1970s more professionals and people in general were becoming disillusioned with the failure of psychology to apply to real world

deception

A trick; an attempt to make someone believe something that is not true

Ezekiel Stephen

- Justice Terry Clarkson criticized the accent and "antics" of a medical examiner before rejecting his findings

Dr. Adeagbo

- was calm, rational, reasonable, arrogant, petulant, exasperated, combative, argumentative, and angry that physician's attitudes were demonstrated not just verbally but also in his movements, body language and physical antics

Peter Beckett

- after 3 weeks of a trial and four day of deliberation. Peter Beckett was convicted in deliberately drowning his wife Laura Letts Beckett

- given mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years

Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon

- appeal overturned the conviction

- ruling that Justice Beames erred in admitting certain evidence during the trial, including "inherently unreliable demeanor evidence" how an accused acted during an event

"invited the jury to engage in improper speculation"

Oh Tyranny historian Timothy Snyder

- believe in truth, to abandon facts is to abandon freedom

- if nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so.

- if nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights

terrorism hoax

- terror hoax charged followed investigation into U.S podcast content RMCP says

- "other avenues of information" before charging Toronto area man with allegedly faking his involvement with ISIS

Someone is being truthful- student response

1. These eyes

- lack of eye contact/ keep looking around/ sudden eye movement

- too little or too much

- to left

- darting eyes when certain words or phrases

- blinking too much

- micro-expression

NOT RELIABLE

2. tone says it all

- tone sounds false, change in pitch tone

- voice tremors

3. too many details

- unrealistic, irrelevant, unnecessary amount of details

- too planned out

- too short/ avoid question details

- just something about speech patter

- don't use conjunctions

4. inconsistent story

- not necessarily

Credibility- how honest a witness is being

vs

Reliability- how accurate his/her memory is

5. behavioral

- behavioral inconsistencies

- abnormal body language

- deviation from normal body language

Nervousness

- fidgeting/fiddling

- nervous hand gestures, expression of anxiety

- heartrate

- position of feet

potpourri

- overconfidence

- facial features

- trust gut

- defensiveness

- lack of reliability

- consistent or subtle persistence of a reoccurring pattern

Sender Demeanor Theory

- focus on the sender's demeanor as key to effective or ineffective lying

- as opposed to: the content of message, receiver's lie detection skills

The somatic marker hypothesis

bioregulatory signals, including those that constitute feelings and emotions, provide the principle guide for decisions

- can be at an unconscious level

- observing lies can trigger automatic reactions of the mind and body

- amygdala, a key subcortical brain region associated with threat detection (Adolphs, 1999) increases in activity when people observe deception

a) people experience physiological reactions indicating increased sympathetic arousal while observing high stakes lies and

b) attending to these psychological reactions may improve lie detection accuracy

TPF- tipping point framework

- suggest that response biases, which consistently tip in the direction of thinking and saying others are telling the truth

- influenced by social norms and cost associated with norm violations

- when the cost of branding someone a liar outweights the cost of being decieved

- people are not likely to say or even think that social target it lying

introceptivity intervention

- tested whether we could instruct ordinary observers to attend to and capitalize upon their psychological experiences

Can ordinary people detect deception after all?

- using methods of measurement that circumvent controlled, conscious cognition

- when individual differences or situational factors portend potent risks to lie detection failure, such as in high stakes or threatening settings

- when factors diminish concern over the rs or reputation costs of asserting that someone has lied

Meissner

- as we conduct more research we will learn more about deception. This research has enormous potential to revolutionize law enforcement, military and private sector investigations.

Defining deceptions

- Ekman- deliberate attempt to mislead another person by either concealing or falsifying information

- commission or omission

how to decide fake news

- more attention getting

- more unique

- more interesting

- more compelling

the crux

- there is simply too much information now, traveling over too many channels for people on any side to be satisfied with a single, straightforward answer to any question

there is no consensus reality

- idea of a single, shared reality

- an artifact of the 20th century, when most people got information from a handful of big mainstream sources