Forensic Assessment, Treatment & Consultation

Forensic Assessment, Treatment & Consultation Chapter 2

Forensic Assessment • Important Tasks in Forensic Assessment • Clarify and identify the legal question • Assess whether forensic psychology has something to assist the court

Core Concepts in Assessment: Reliability and Validity • Reliability • consistency of measurement • Validity • accuracy of measurement • Scope of Practice • area of expertise

Distinguishing Therapeutic from Forensic Assessment • Goals and Objectives • Relationship of the parties • Identity of client • Consequences • Examinees perspective

Interviewing • Unstructured • Semi-structured • PCL-R • Structured • SCID and SIRS • Advantages and Disadvantages

Psychological Testing • Personality Tests • Projective • Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) • Objective • MMPI-II, MCMI-III • Other Types of Psychological Tests • Intellectual • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) • Neuropsychological • Trail Making Tests A and B

Forensic Assessment Instruments (FAI) • Specialized forensic instruments • designed to assess for specific legal or clinical issues such as insanity and competency • Forensically relevant instruments • designed to focus on clinical issues such as risk of future violence and psychopathy

Archival and Third-Party Information • Greater reliance in forensic evaluations • Greater need for accuracy • High likelihood of secondary gain

Use of Written Reports in Forensic Assessments and Guidelines • Separate facts from inferences • Stay within the scope of the referral question • Avoid information Over/Underkill • Minimize clinical jargon

Treatment in Forensic Contexts • May share much in common with traditional psychological treatments but also tied to legal context at times • Correctional psychology • Application of clinical psychology to prison or correctional setting

Who are we Treating? • Mentally ill offenders • Female offenders • Substance abusers • Domestic violence perpetrators • Sex offenders • Violent offenders • General offenders

Mental Disorders in Offenders • Rates of mental illness • antisocial personality disorder • substance abuse • schizophrenia • bipolar disorder • major depression • < 5 to 50% are mentally ill • Reasons • Criminalization of mentally ill • prison experience • vulnerability of offenders

Types of Treatment • Management • crisis management • self-mutilation, general violence, trauma • Maintenance • Outpatient • Special Programs • sex offender, chemical dependency, and personality disorders

Success of Offender Programs • considerable enthusiasm for treatment programs in 1950s and 1960s • since the 1970s “the nothing works” view became dominant • in recent years reviews of the literature have clarified the success of treatment programs • “A growing body of research literature attests to the fact that SOME rehabilitation programs are successful with SOME offenders when applied by SOME staff.” Antonowicz and Ross (1994)

Successful Offender Programs • Sound Conceptual Model • Targeting Criminogenic Needs • Responsivity Principle

Consultation • Need to be more mindful of ethical issues • Assist attorneys • Referrals • Evaluate work of other psychologists • Work shaping policy

Forensic Assessment, Treatment & Consultation