Forensic Psych Exam 3

Ground Rules of NICHD

- An "I don't know" instruction (stating that it's okay to say this rather than make something up)

- An "oath to tell the truth"

- An explicit statement that the interview does not know what happened

Problem with CSAAS (child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome)

- Behave in ways that conceal abuse:

o Delayed disclosure of the abuse

o Denial that abuse occurred

o Recantation of allegations after initial disclosure

- Delayed disclosure is not unusual

o But denial and recantation are unusual

Hearsay testimony

- Hearsay testimony allowed by most states

o Testifying about what someone else said

o Adult hearsay testimony viewed as more consistent, credible, complete, and accurate

o Liar's stereotype of child testimony

repression

- Little evidence that repression occurs

o More common response is intrusive remembering

Therapy techniques used to (falsely) recover memories

- Bad therapy techniques that have led to false memories can have long-lasting effects on mental health

o Perhaps altered the brain's emotional circuitry?

o In a survey of 183 claims of repressed memories:

§ Found increase in:

· Suicidal thoughts

· Hospitalizations

· Self-mutilations

· Divorce rates

Loftus (1997)

- Participants were asked to recall 4 childhood events twice

o 3 were real, 1 was false (getting lost at the mall as a child)

- 25% later recalled the false even as real

Suggestions drawn from research on implanted false memories

- Research suggests:

o False memories are not implanted in everyone

o Some therapy techniques facilitate false memories

o Expectancies play a big roles

o Experimental setting does not induce the pressure and distress experienced in real world when repressed memories are recovered

Reasons fot concern about competency

- Where should the standard be set?

o High standards may cause people ignorant of court system not to stand trial

- Defendant's ability to participate in defense increases chances of just verdict

- Legitimacy of legal system may be undermined

Adjudicative competence (Bonnie, 1993)

-foundational competence: capacity to assist counsel

o Implies a basic understanding of the trial process and the capacity to provide a lawyer with information relevant to the trial

o Ensures fairness, dignity, and accuracy of justice system

-decisional competence: capacity to make informed, independent decisions

Indiana v. Edwards (2008)

Higher standard of competency to waive an attorney for those with a mental disorder

Characteristics of those found incompetent

- Be unemployed

- Be unmarried

- Have lower intelligence

- Have history of mental disorders

- Most commonly schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or ID

- Have history of drug abuse

- Be charged with a less serious crime

Jackson v. Indiana (1972)

- Limited the period of confinement to the time necessary to determine if the defendant could be returned to competency in the foreseeable future

- Periods of 4-18 months with extensions if still deemed incompetent

Involuntary civil commitment

- Involuntary civil commitment is difficult

o Gravely disabled

o Imminently dangerous to self or others

Sell v. U.S. (2003)

- A criminal defendant who was not a danger to him/herself or others could be forcibly medicated if the treatment was:

o Medically appropriate

o Unlikely to have side effects that would undermine the trial fairness

o Necessary to further a significant government interest, such as the prosecution of a serious crime

- Should occur as a last resort

Malingering

deliberate feigning of physical or psychological symptoms in order to gain a positive outcome or avoid a negative outcome

Retribution

- Punishment for crime should be proportionate to the harm committed

o Requires that individual understood what they were doing

Deterrence

- an individual should be punished so that s/he learns that committing a crime leads to:

o Punishment - specific deterrence

o Vicarious punishment - general deterrence

mens rea

the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime

Volitional capacity

defendant's inability to control behavior

Misconceptions about insanity defense

- 74% believe that mental illness affects one's capacity to make rational decisions and form criminal intent

- 66% believe that insanity should not be allowed as a defense

- Many believe:

o Unscrupulous lawyers are frequently using the insanity defense

o A convenient loophole to help violent criminals escape their rightful punishment

o Gullible juries can be easily convinced to find a defendant NGRI

o "Hired gun" psychologists-can throw some money at them and they'll say that the person is deemed insane

- Insanity defense is used in <1% of cases

o Fails about 75% of the time

o 90% of cases insanity defense is successful, both prosecution and defense agree it's appropriate

o < 1/3 are murder cases

- Tend to spend more time in psychiatric hospital than if they served a prison sentence

- No legal instructions stating that individual will be admitted to a hospital

o When instructions are given, defendant is more likely to be found NGRI

Insanity defense reform act (1984)

- At the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts

- Removes volitional capacity (impulsivity piece, policeman at the elbow)

- Affirmative defense

o Defense has burden of proof that defendant is insane

- No ultimate issue testimony

o Expert testimony cannot explicitly state whether they believe defendant was sane at time of crime

o Insanity decision is left up to jurors

- Slightly modified M'Naghten rule

Research on juror's view of insanity

- No difference in NGRI verdicts with different standards or instructions

- Jurors interpret instructions using their own understanding of insanity

- Not constrained by the narrow legal definition of insanity

Children's memory and cognition

- Under the age of 5, children have difficult distinguishing imagined from real events

- Ability to encode, store, and retrieve information not fully developed in young children

- Greater risk for inaccuracy with suggestive or biased questioning

Signs a recovered memory is implanted/false

- False memories tend to:

o Be recovered over time using suggestive or coercive techniques

o Start as vague images or feelings instead of clear, detailed recollections

o Involve repeated abuse that extended into adolescence

o Involve abuse that occurred before or around the age of 3

§ Brain is unable to remember episodic memories first 3 years of life

o Involve extremely rare forms of abuse

Insanity

criminal's state of mind at the time the crime was committed

competency to stand trial

- ability to participate adequately in criminal proceedings and to aid in one's own defense

o Most common evaluation performed by a forensic psychologist

challenges assessing insanity

- Retrospective evaluation of mental state is difficult

o Mental state may have changed since crime

- Elements of insanity are vague

- State use different insanity standards

- Juror perception of insanity is unclear

M'Naghten Rule

- Presumption that defendants are sane and responsible for their crime

- Requirement that the accused:

o Must have been laboring under a defect of reason, from disease or the mind

o Did not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing

§ OR if he did know, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong