Risk & Threat Assessment, Legal Competency, and Insanity Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering risk and threat assessment concepts, psychopathy, landmark legal cases, competency, criminal responsibility, and the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model.

Risk

The statistical chance that something bad or harmful will happen in a certain setting and timeframe.

Threat

A potentially harmful person or event; evaluated by looking at whether they have the intent and the capability to cause harm.

Vulnerability

Weaknesses or conditions that make it easier for harm to happen.

Impact

The severity of the damage if the harmful event occurs (e.g., injury, death, or major disruption).

Violence Risk Assessment

Evaluating how likely someone is to commit a violent act in the future based on their history and current situation.

Behavioral Threat Assessment

Investigating whether someone is actively moving toward committing targeted violence (looking at warning signs, behavior, and intervention opportunities).

Base Rates

How often a specific event actually happens in the general population; rare events are very hard to predict accurately.

False Positives

When an assessment tool incorrectly classifies someone as high-risk, but they never actually offend.

Unstructured Clinical Judgment

A psychologist making a gut-level professional guess without using standardized rules; highly prone to personal bias and inconsistency.

Actuarial Assessment

Using a strict, math-based formula and statistical weights to score a person's risk (like a calculator).

Structured Professional Judgment (SPJ)

Combining professional expertise with a structured checklist of proven risk factors to guide decision-making and risk management.

Static Risk Factors

Historical, unchangeable traits (e.g., past convictions, age at first offense).

Dynamic Risk Factors

Changeable, current conditions (e.g., active drug use, homelessness, acute psychiatric symptoms).

Protective Factors

Positive supports that lower risk (e.g., stable housing, supportive family, job training, treatment engagement).

O'Connor v. Donaldson (1975)

Landmark case establishing that having a mental illness is not enough on its own to lock someone up against their will if they aren't dangerous and can live safely.

Tarasoff (1976)

Landmark case establishing that mental health professionals have a "duty to protect" and warn an intended victim if a patient makes a serious, credible threat against them.

Barefoot v. Estelle (1983)

Landmark case that allowed psychiatrists to testify in court about a defendant's "future dangerousness," even though long-term predictions are notoriously unreliable.

Psychopathy

A personality disorder defined by a mix of cold interpersonal traits (like lacking empathy or remorse), impulsive lifestyles, and antisocial behavior.

Psychopathy vs. ASPD

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) focuses mostly on rule-breaking behaviors, while psychopathy also requires deep emotional and interpersonal deficits (like a total lack of guilt and superficial charm).

Cleckley’s Clinical Portrait

The classic 1941 description of a psychopath featuring superficial charm, zero remorse, poor judgment, and unreliability.

The Four PCL-R Facets

The core areas measured by the gold-standard psychopathy test: (a) Interpersonal (manipulative/charming), (b) Affective (cold/remorseless), (c) Lifestyle (impulsive/irresponsible), and (d) Antisocial (early behavioral problems/rule breaking).

Competency to Stand Trial

A present-tense question asking: Can the defendant understand what is happening right now and help their lawyer defend them?

The Dusky Standard

The legal test requiring a defendant to have (1) factual understanding of the charges, (2) rational understanding of the case, and (3) the ability to consult with their attorney.

Jackson v. Indiana (1972)

Landmark case establishing that you cannot lock up an incompetent defendant in a hospital forever; if they aren't going to regain competence soon, they must be released or handled through normal civil commitment.

MSO (Mental State at the Time of the Offense)

A past-tense look at what was going on in the defendant’s mind when the crime happened.

Actus Reus & Mens Rea

Actus reus is the guilty act itself; mens rea is the required criminal intent.

Legal Insanity

A legal term (not a medical one) meaning a mental disease so severely impaired the person that they shouldn't be held criminally responsible.

NGRI (Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity)

A verdict stating the person was insane during the crime; they are legally excused, but almost always sent to a secure psychiatric hospital.

GBMI (Guilty but Mentally Ill)

A verdict meaning the defendant was mentally ill but still legally responsible and guilty, so they go to prison (with theoretical promises of treatment).

M'Naghten Rule

A strict, purely cognitive insanity test: Did the mental disease stop the person from knowing what they were doing or knowing that it was wrong?

ALI / MPC Standard

A broader insanity test used by many states that asks if the person lacked substantial capacity to appreciate wrongfulness or to conform their conduct to the law (adds a control/volitional prong).

Risk Principle (RNR)

Match the level of treatment intensity to the person's risk level. Give heavy treatment to high-risk individuals and light treatment to low-risk individuals (intense treatment can actually make low-risk people worse).

Need Principle (RNR)

Focus treatment on dynamic criminogenic needs—the specific changeable habits and thoughts that actually drive crime (like antisocial friends or pro-criminal thinking), rather than general issues like low self-esteem.

Responsivity Principle (RNR)

Deliver treatment in a way the person can actually absorb—primarily using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) tailored to the individual's learning style, motivation, and background.

The "Big Four" Risk Factors

The most powerful criminogenic needs: (a) History of antisocial behavior, (b) Antisocial personality patterns, (c) Antisocial thoughts/attitudes, and (d) Antisocial peers.