PSYC 361 Chapter 18 -- Forensic Psych

Expert Witness

An expert who gives opinions and inferences on psychological damage to the victim in court.

Lay Witness

Testifies to the facts using their own observations as evidence.

Expert Testimony

Opinions, judgments, and inferences of expert witnesses.

Insanity Plea

If someone accused of a crime is judged to be sane, they will get probation, fines, jail time or death; if judged insane, they may escape their punishments.

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI)

A legal defense that is rarely used and rarely successful, placing the burden of proof on the defendant to prove they were insane during the crime.

Burden of Proof

The obligation to prove one's assertion; in the case of an NGRI plea, it is on the defendant to prove insanity.

Criminal Psychological Profiles

Profiles created by psychologists to assist detectives in understanding criminal behavior.

Jury Decision Making

The study of how juries make decisions, often providing guidance to attorneys on jury selection and questioning.

Cross Examination

A stage in court where a witness is questioned by the opposing counsel to test their credibility.

Complicated Matters

Cases that require behavioral experts due to their complexity.

CREDIBILITY

The quality of being trusted and believed in, which is tested during cross-examination.

Pretrial Preparation

The extensive work required before trial, including studying, interviewing, testing, and conference calls.

Mental Disorder

A condition that may affect a person's ability to understand their actions during a crime.

Legal Term

The word 'insanity' is a legal term and not a psychological term.

Deterministic View of Science

A perspective that assumes all behavior is rationally chosen, which creates problems in understanding insanity.

Sufficiently Ill

A condition that may warrant forced hospitalization.

Execution of Dead Peoples' Wills

A legal process that forensic psychologists may be called upon to assist with.

Personality Testing

A method used by law enforcement agencies to screen candidates for police work.

Judges and Attorneys

Legal professionals who seek the expertise of clinical psychologists.

Victim

The individual who is the subject of a crime and may be affected by psychological damage.

Defendant

The individual accused of a crime in a court of law.

Plaintiff

The accuser or victim in a legal case.

M NAGHTEN RULE

The oldest test for criminal insanity where defendants can't be held responsible for their actions if they could not tell that their actions were wrong at the time.

DURHAM STANDARD

Adopted by Judge David Bazelon of the US court of appeals in 1954, it states that people accused of a crime are not responsible if their act was the product of mental illness.

AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE

Established in 1971, it states that people can't be held responsible if the behavior was a result of a mental disorder, or they don't understand what they were doing at the time.

GUILTY BUT MENTALLY ILL

An additional verdict available to jurors where convicted individuals may first be sent to a psychiatric facility for treatment.

Competency to stand trial

Refers to the defendant's mental status at the time of the trial and not when the crime was committed.

LAWYER

Defendants must have the ability to consult with a lawyer with a reasonable degree of understanding.

MENTAL STATUS EXAM

A brief examination that will most likely be insufficient to determine competency to stand trial.

CRIMINAL CASES

Cases filed by the government and led by a prosecuting attorney.

CIVIL CASES

Cases filed by an individual or corporation towards another individual.

INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT

Hospitalization into a mental hospital that occurs against the will of the individual.

Length of involuntary commitment

Goes from a day to weeks or so depending on the jurisdiction.

HEARING

Takes place after a person is released to decide whether detention should continue or not.

VOLUNTARY COMMITMENT

When an individual agrees to admission and is also allowed to leave at any time.

INTENT

Some hospitals require individuals to indicate their intent several days in advance to initiate commitment proceedings.

DANGEROUS

For the court to agree to commitment, it must be determined that the person is actually dangerous to self or others.

DISABLED

A condition where a person is incapable of making decisions, which is a criterion for court-ordered commitment.

Domestic issues

Issues that require court intervention, such as child custody cases and parental fitness.

BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD

The doctrine that takes precedence in custody disputes.

EMOTIONAL TIES

Factors considered by courts when making child custody rulings.

CAPACITY

The ability of competing parties to give the child love and affection as well as continuation of education and proper raising.

Providing the child

Includes ensuring the child has food, clothing, etc.

LENGTH

Length of time child has lived in a stable environment and desirability of maintaining that environment.

MORAL FITNESS

Moral fitness of competing fitness.

HOME AND SCHOOL RECORDS

Home and school records of the child.

PREFERENCE OF CHILD

Preference of child.

PERMANENCE

Permanence of the custodial home.

JOINT CUSTODY

The present norm for child custody cases is joint custody where the child's living arrangements and ability to make legal decisions (legal custody) are shared by the parents.

VISITATION RIGHTS

Court given right of the non custodial parent to see and visit the child.

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST

A forensic psychologist may be hired by the court or the parent(s) when custody disputes need to be settled.

CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATION

According to the APA, the child custody evaluation must address three major issues: development and psychological welfare, strengths and limitations of each parent, how each member of the family interacts with the others.

PREDICTING DANGEROUSNESS

The vast majority of people that get violent diagnoses have no history of violence, albeit some outliers.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIMINAL PROFILING

Psychological criminal profiling addresses who did the crime in the first place using behavioral and emotional clues from the crime scene.

BEHAVIORAL CONSISTENCY

An offender's crimes tend to be similar to one another, like an MO.

HOMOLOGY

Similar crimes are committed by similar offenders.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY

Psychological autopsy aims to reconstruct a person's psychological state to shed light on what preceded their death.

LIMITATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSIES

The most important limitation is because the individual who we are questioning is technically dead, this information is always secondhand.

VALIDITY IS IMPOSSIBLE

Validity is impossible → whether they accurately portray the person's state of mind at the time of death is not guaranteed.

JURY SELECTION

Forensic psychologists may work with attorneys to choose their jury.

VOIR DIRE

The part of a trial where attorneys conduct a preliminary examination of the potential jurors.

BIASES

Discover biases during jury selection.

PREPARATION FOR VOIR DIRE

Interview client and key informants, learn about legal strategy used in the case, develop jury selection strategy and questions to pick out the jury.

WITNESS PREPARATION

The goal of witness preparation is to help witnesses prepare their testimonies in ways that are loyal to the truth and optimize the likelihood of favorable verdict.

ROLE PLAY

Role play in how to respond to threats and pressure by the opposing attorney.

HELPING ATTORNEYS PRESENT ARGUMENTS

Psychologists can help attorneys in ways they present their cases and evidence.

Eyewitness Testimony

A powerful factor in the conviction of criminals that can also lead to convictions of innocent people.

Unreliable

Eyewitness testimony is often unreliable and inaccurate.

Societal Biases

Bias perceptions of who is assumed to be the criminal influenced by societal biases and media depictions.

Cognitive Biases

Factors that can distort memory, as demonstrated by the Loftus eyewitness memory study.

Leading Questions

Wording changes that can influence eyewitness memory and identification.

Fallibility of Memory

The concept that memory can be easily distorted and is not always accurate.

Factors Influencing Eyewitness Identification

Stress, amount of information present, procedures for identification, personal biases, weapons present, and age of eyewitness.

Strength of Eyewitness Studies

Researchers know who the real culprit is, allowing for inferences about the cause of effects.

Random Assignment

A method that permits inferences about the cause of effects in eyewitness studies.

Overestimation of Misidentification

The problem where eyewitness misidentification is often overestimated in studies.

Field Studies

Research methods that report how often eyewitnesses identify the actual suspect or an innocent filler person.

Preliminary Interview

A method to avoid problems with eyewitness identification.

Double Blind Lineups

A procedure to ensure that neither the witness nor the lineup administrator knows the suspect.

Lineup Fillers

The inclusion of many fillers in a lineup to reduce misidentification.

Immediate Confidence Statement

A statement from witnesses about their confidence in their identification made immediately after identification.

Video Recording

Recording the identification process to ensure accuracy and accountability.

No Repeated Identifications

Avoiding multiple identifications to reduce the chance of misidentification.

Jury Behavior

The influence of juries on trial outcomes, including verdicts and penalties.

Bias in Juries

The requirement for juries to be without bias to ensure a fair trial.

Instructions to Juries

How juries respond to instructions can determine the defendant's outcome.

Comprehension of Jurors

Improving jurors' comprehension and decision-making through clear instructions.

Backfire Effect of Instructions

Some jury instructions meant to protect the defendant can have the opposite effect.