Psy of courts week 1-3

The narrow definition of Forensic Psychology

Limits the field to clinical, counseling, or school psychologists who serve as experts within the judicial system

• Broad Definition

Includes any application of psychological knowledge (social, developmental, cognitive, etc.) to any legal matter.

What is the official year that forensic psychology was recognized as a specialty

2001

Core Tensions: Psychology vs. Law

The two disciplines often clash due to fundamental differences in their goals and methods

Precedent vs. Innovation

Law relies on stare decisis (past cases), while psychology emphasizes creativity and new ideas.

Authority vs. Data

- Law is hierarchical, with lower courts bound by higher ones.

- Psychology is empirical, relying on the accumulation of data.

Justice vs. Truth

-Law is adversarial, seeking justice through conflicting viewpoints.

- Psychology is experimental, seeking objective truth.

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive

- Law tells people how they ought to behave, whereas

-Psychology describes how they actually behave.

Specifics vs. Principles:

-Law is idiographic (focusing on specific cases);

Psychology is nomothetic (seeking general principles).

Certainty vs. Probability

- Law often requires dichotomous (guilty/not guilty) decisions,

- while psychology relies on statistical probabilities.

Professional Roles and Applications

Forensic psychologists assist the legal system in various capacities

Expert Testimony

Providing evaluations for criminal matters (competence to stand trial, sanity) and civil matters (parental capacity, managing finances).

Social Fact Testimony

Research for case-specific questions, such as consumer confusion in trademark disputes

Social Authority Testimony

Providing general findings to courts, such as the unreliability of eyewitness confidence

Assisting Law Enforcement

Engaging in investigative psychology (offender profiling) and personnel services, such as screening candidates and providing mental health services to officers

Assisting Attorneys

Helping with jury selection (voir dire) and using "shadow juries" to gain feedback during trials.

Quasi-Judicial Roles

Serving as mediators in custody disputes or as parent coordinators for high-conflict divorced parents

Offender Rehabilitation

Using the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) Model, which matches treatment intensity to an offender's risk level and targets criminogenic needs. This model can reduce reoffending rates by up to 30%

European Roots

Early pioneers like Alfred Binet (suggestibility research) and William Stern (reality experiments) established the "science of testimony."

Hugo Münsterberg

Known as the "Father of Applied Psychology," he aggressively promoted psychology's use in law through his 1908 book, On the Witness Stand.

William Marston

A student of Münsterberg who discovered the link between blood pressure and lying, creating the basis for the polygraph.

State v. Driver (1921)

The first published case where a U.S. psychologist qualified as an expert.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Psychologists provided testimony on the harmful effects of segregation.

Jenkins v. United States (1962)

A victory that established psychologists as legitimate experts on mental illness in federal courts

Frye Standard (1923)

Originating from Frye v. United States, this was the dominant test for scientific evidence for nearly 70 years. It requires that a scientific principle or discovery be "generally accepted" within its relevant field to be admissible. Under this rule, testimony from a few experts is insufficient; the technique must have broad support in the scientific community

Daubert Standard (1993): Established by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals,

• Established by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals,Inc., this rule requires trial judges to act as "gatekeepers" to ensure expert testimony is both relevant and reliable.

• Admissibility is based on a flexible inquiry into five factors: testability, peer review, error rates, maintenance of standards, and general acceptance. This standard was later extended to include all technical and specialized knowledge by Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael.

Federal Rule of Evidence 702

Amended in 2023, this rule clarifies that a proponent must demonstrate it is "more likely than not" (preponderance of evidence) that the expert's testimony is based on sufficient data and reliable methods, and that these methods were reliably applied to the facts of the case.

Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology

The American Psychological Association (APA) established these guidelines to improve service quality and encourage a high level of professional practice when psychologists apply their expertise to legal matters.

Responsibilities and Integrity

• Forensic practitioners must strive for accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness, resisting partisan pressures to provide misleading evidence.

• They must remain impartial and fair, weighing all data and rival hypotheses without bias.

Competence

Practitioners are responsible for maintaining an up-to-date understanding of both psychology and the law. They should only provide services within their scope of expertise and must recognize how personal beliefs or cultural differences might impact their impartiality

Relationships and Conflicts

- Practitioners should clarify their role (e.g., examiner, consultant, expert witness) and who the "client" is at the start of any service.

- They must avoid conflicts of interest and multiple relationships—such as providing both therapeutic and forensic services to the same person—which can impair objectivity and cause harm

Conflict of interest

A situation in which a person in a position of responsibility or trust has competing professional or personal interests that make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially.

multiple relationships

A circumstance in which a clinical psychologist has a professional relationship with an individual and also has another type of relationship with the same person, or has a relationship with someone closely associated with the person

Informed Consent and Privacy:

• Recipients must be informed about the nature of the services, the purpose of thee xamination, and any limits on confidentiality and privilege

• For court-ordered examinations, a practitioner can proceed without the examinee's consent, but they must still explain the process and the consequences of participation or non-participation

Methods and Assessment:

- Practitioners should use multiple sources of information to corroborate data and avoid relying on a single source.

- Assessments should focus on legally relevant factors and use instruments with established validity for the population being tested

- Differences between forensic and therapeutic assessment contexts must be considered, including factors like response style and situational stress.

Communication

Reports and testimony should clearly distinguish between observations, inferences, and conclusions. Practitioners must disclose all sources of information relied upon and present their findings in a fair, comprehensive manner, even if the data does not support their opinion

Artificial Intelligence

The sources highlight the need to address the ethical use of AI in forensic practice and the potential tensions and concerns surrounding its application in legal contexts

First-Degree Murder in Oklahoma

• Defined as unlawfully causing death with "malice aforethought," which is a deliberate intention to take a life.

• It also includes deaths resulting from the commission of certain felonies (e.g., robbery, kidnapping, drug trafficking), child abuse, murder for hire, or the intentional killing of law enforcement

Demographics and Weapons (2010 FBI Data):

- Most murder victims (77.4%) and known offenders (90.3%) were male.

-Firearms were used in 67.5% of homicides, with handguns being the primary weapon.

- 53% of victims were killed by someone they knew, and 41.8% of murders occurred during arguments

Impulsive vs. Premeditated Homicide

• This is reactive violence characterized by high autonomic arousal and strong emotions like anger or fear.

• These offenders often have close relationships with their victims and feel provoked.

Predatory/Instrumental Homicide

This is purposeful, proactive behavior with an identifiable goal, typically not accompanied by high arousal or strong emotion

Neurobiological Differences:

- Impulsive offenders often show hypoactivation in brain areas responsible for executive function and impulse control, such as the prefrontal cortex.

- Predatory offenders tend to have intact executive control but may display higher psychopathic traits.

Schizophrenia and Violence

Research indicates that violent individuals with schizophrenia perform worse on memory, executive functioning, and IQ tests compared to nonviolent individuals with the same diagnosis

Forensic vs. Correctional Settings

Forensic hospitals house individuals who are incompetent to stand trial or found "Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity" (NGRI), while Correctional settings (jails and prisons) hold those awaiting trial or serving sentences.

Competency (Dusky v. United States)

Competency refers to a defendant's "here and now" ability to rationally consult with their lawyer and understand court proceedings.

The M'Naghten Rule (Insanity Defense)

To be found NGRI, a defendant must prove they suffered from a "disease of the mind" that caused a "defect of reason," making them unable to understand the nature of their act or realize it was wrong

Oklahoma Policy (SB 1214)

Mentally ill offenders with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) cannot use the NGRI defense and are instead found "guilty with mental defect," requiring them to serve prison sentences with mandated treatment conditions

Deprivation Theory

Inmates act violently due to the harsh conditions and "pains" of incarceration

Importation Theory

Inmates bring their outside violent attitudes and behaviors into the prison system.

Prevalence of Mental Illness

Approximately 64% of jail inmates and 54% of state prisoners report mental health concerns, with ASPD being the most common disorder (estimated in 47% to 78% of the population).

Risk Factors

Age is the strongest predictor of violence, with inmates under 25 being the most likely to commit violent acts

Suicide and Self-Harm

Suicide is the leading cause of death in local jails. Non-suicidal self-injury is also prevalent, particularly among those with mental health disorders.

self-injury is also prevalent, particularly among those with mental health disorders.

Gangs and Subcultures

While gangs are often profit-driven enterprises that increase violence, prison subcultures can sometimes mitigate spontaneous conflict through informal conflict adjudication and initiation rituals.

Sexual Violence

Victimization is most common among young, first-time offenders, physically weak older inmates, and those with mental disabilities or LGBT identities.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (2003)

was passed to improve data collection and protection for these individuals