Forensic psychology and Islamic jurisprudence

Islamic jurisprudence is the most widely used system of religious law in the world today. However, how forensic psychology may operate within this system has been largely unexplored. The current review sets out to explore the relationship between Islamic jurisprudence and forensic psychology by examining the Islamic legal concepts of evidence, competence, insanity, psychological disorder and intellectual disability and their implications for forensic practice. Also discussed are the potential barriers to forensic psychological practice in countries using a system of Islamic law.     

Testpsychologische Ansätze der Beschwerdenvalidierung

The presence of cognitive impairment has been documented for a large number of diseases, conditions and mental disorders. Due to their impact on functioning in professional life and in everyday activities, there appears to be an increasing demand of qualified neuropsychological examinations in civil forensic contexts. While neuropsychological testing is the method of choice for determining the presence and the profile of cognitive impairment, it is easy to underperform in such tests. The authenticity of test results has to be thoroughly checked using modern approaches of symptom validity assessment. Without adequate validity checks, forensic psychological examinations are incomplete.     

What Torture Survivors Teach Assessors About Being More Fully Human

This article illustrates the complex sociocultural components in the forensic psychological assessment of a young Ethiopian woman's claim for political asylum due to a well-founded fear of persecution and for relief under the Convention Against Torture. It draws attention to the subtle social and cultural influences in the practice of forensic psychological assessment with an emphasis of reflective practice, which is contextualized in the interpersonal theory of Sullivan. In the interpersonal approach, the essential work of the assessor is to pay careful attention to the microinteractions between the client and the assessor as reflections of the interpersonal (meaning social and cultural) processes, eschewing the illusion of objectivity.

In this case study, I illustrate the particular cultural dilemmas for client and assessor in conducting a forensic assessment of psychological trauma, including cross-cultural, gender, and legal difficulties in arriving at an informed, objective, and compassionate assessment of an individual seeking asylum after an especially brutal experience of torture. I argue that collaborative therapeutic assessment methods adapted for forensic practice offer an approach to assessment of psychological trauma that provides more accurate and compassionate assessment than so-called neutral standard forensic assessment practice.     

Standardizing the psychological autopsy: addressing the Daubert standard

The psychological autopsy, as a research, clinical, and forensic tool, has gained widespread usage in suicidology over the last half century. In forensic settings, the lack of standardization and problems determining the procedure's validity and reliability pose significant issues for the procedure's admissibility under the Daubert standard of evidence. The Daubert standard requires that evidence must be founded on scientific knowledge and established five guidelines for judicial decisions regarding the admissibility of expert testimony. In this paper we examine expert opinion regarding the psychological autopsy and recommend a standardized protocol or template regarding areas and lines of inquiry for a psychological autopsy used in legal cases.     

Presenting Evidence of Malingering to Courts: Insights from Decision Theory

The past decade has witnessed a significant increase in research on measures that help detect malingered performance on psychological tests conducted in forensic contexts. After reviewing the principles and procedures that have been used to design and evaluate these measures, we propose a new approach to the presentation of their results. We show how clinicians can use currently-available data and simple mathematical principles first discussed over two centuries ago (Bayes, 1763) to estimate the likelihood that an evaluee is feigning cognitive or emotional problems. Reanalyses of available data may permit professionals to present empirically-grounded probabilistic evidence about malingering in a host of commonly-encountered forensic situations.     

Forensic and correctional applications of the personality assessment inventory

The relative utility of psychological tests for addressing legal issues is an area of considerable debate in the field. Regardless of the merits of psychological testing, it is apparent that such instruments are used widely both to address specific psycholegal issues and to evaluate offender populations more generally. One instrument gaining prominence in terms of its use in both forensic and correctional settings is the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991), which was developed to assess various constructs relevant to clinical settings (e.g. psychopathology, response distortion, and personality traits). This paper reviews the psychometric properties of the PAI specifically in reference to its ability to assess factors relevant to forensic decision-making, as well as its utility to provide clinically relevant information about offender populations more generally.     

Möglichkeiten und Grenzen standardisierter Untersuchungsinstrumente

In general, psychological test procedures are standardized. This means that content and structure are fixed and even procedure, scoring and interpretation are subject to certain rules. Apart from classical methods, such as collecting the medical history directly from the patient or from third parties, or such as behavioral observation or file review, standardized methods have become more important within the fields of forensic psychiatric and forensic psychological expert evidence. The current contribution is meant to provide an overview of the use of standardized methods primarily dealing with the assessment of personality structure and paraphilia (more specifically pedophilia). As the authenticity of self-reports within the forensic domain is questionable, (semi)structured observer rating instruments are particularly relevant. These rating instruments comprise interview guides for personality disorder and file-based assessments of crime scene behavior with respect to pedophilia. In the current contribution statistical methods for single case assessment are highlighted that allow gauging whether diagnoses or prognoses are plausible and whether changes or differences in test scores are meaningful. If the indications for standardized measures are present, their use will typically be the method of choice, not merely an optional supplement.     

The practice of forensic psychology. A look toward the future in light of the past

In a 1987 American Psychologist article, Tom Grisso summarized the state of forensic psychological assessment, noted its limitations and potential, and offered suggestions for researchers and practitioners interested in contributing to its future. Since that time, there have been many important developments in the field of forensic psychology, as well as in clinical psychology more generally, some of which were anticipated and recommended by Grisso, and some of which were not. Forensic psychology is now at a crossroads, and the specialty must make an effort to respond to current challenges if it is to aid in the administration of justice by assisting legal decision makers. The need to distinguish between and identify levels of forensic knowledge and practice, establish guidelines for practice, educate legal consumers, and devote more attention to treatment issues in forensic contexts is highlighted.     

The problem behavior model: the development of a stalkers clinic and a threateners clinic

Traditionally, forensic mental health services have focused on the assessment and treatment of offenders with serious mental disorders. In recent years, there has been growing recognition that forensic clinicians have an important role to play for those offenders who engage in criminal acts driven by psychological or/and social problems, which may, or may not, occur in conjunction with a major mental disorder. This is especially true for specific offenses such as stalking and threatening. This article describes the innovation of the problem behavior model. This model uses a reductionist approach and the nexus between psychiatry and psychology to address the complex phenomena associated with specific problem behaviors that often culminate in offenses. The model is illustrated by describing the development of specialist clinics for the problem behaviors of stalking and threatening.     

Ethical Profiling

This essay will argue for ethical procedures governing criminal profiling. A model based upon psychological/behavioral data, witness data, and forensic profiling data is sketched out. This model fits the legitimate uses of criminal profiling as an investigation procedure. Racial profiling as a primary sorting factor does not fit the preferred model and has significant downsides and so is rejected as a primary sorting mechanism in criminal investigation procedure.     

Forensic sexual abuse evaluations of older children: Disclosures and symptomatology

This study examines the results of forensic evaluations of 399 children between the ages of 8 and 15 who were seen at an urban evaluation center regarding allegations of sexual abuse. Data collected included demographic, family environment, and abuse variables, outcome of a multidisciplinary forensic evaluation, and psychological distress as measured by the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC Briere, in press). Children were grouped according to the outcome of the evaluation: nonabused, abused-disclosing, and abused-nondisclosing (composed of children for whom there was external evidence of abuse but who denied being abused). A number of variables predicted group membership, including subject race, sex, cognitive delays, mother's belief or disbelief in the allegation, and psychological distress. Sexually abused children who disclosed abuse reported particularly high levels of distress, abused but nondisclosing children reported the lowest levels, and nonabused children reported intermediate symptom levels. The data are discussed in terms of the role of denial, maternal support, and symptomatology in forensic evaluations.     

Qualit?tssicherung in der forensischen Psychologie

Approximately 12 years ago the German Federation of Psychological Societies initiated a certified postgraduate training in psychology and law to qualify psychologists as forensic psychology experts. This qualification initiative was a consequence of a decade of evaluative research constantly yielding serious shortcomings in psychiatric and psychological expert reports. The present paper informs about the conception of the training and the experiences with it so far. Furthermore, it reports on current reform efforts regarding the training and informs about some further forensic psychological qualification options that have meanwhile been established in Germany.     

New application of psychology to law: Improving forensic evidence and expert witness contributions

Psychology has made a tremendous contribution to law by showing the malleability of eyewitness perception and memory, and developing best practices for obtaining eyewitness identifications. We suggest that even expert scientific witnesses, which the court heavily relies on as objective and impartial, are also susceptible to bias from various psychological influences. For example, forensic examiners’ interactions with detectives and exposure to information about the case can bias their judgments. We discuss the ten commentaries on these issues across a range of forensic science domains, and affirm what reforms are needed.     

A survey of psychological test use patterns among forensic psychologists

Clinical psychologists are frequently called on to testify in court regarding mental health issues in civil or criminal cases. One of the legal criteria by which admissibility of testimony is determined includes whether the testimony is based on methods that have gained "general acceptance" in their field. In this study, we sought to evaluate the psychological tests used in forensic assessments by members of the American Psychology-Law Society Division of the American Psychological Association, and by diplomates in the American Board of Forensic Psychology. We present test results from this survey, based on 152 respondents, for forensic evaluations conducted with adults using multiscale inventories, single-scale tests, unstructured personality tests, cognitive and/or intellectual tests, neuropsychological tests, risk assessment and psychopathy instruments, sex offender risk assessment instruments, competency or sanity-related instruments, and instruments used to evaluate malingering. In addition, we provide findings for psychological testing involving child-related forensic issues.     

Throwing Away the Key: Measuring Prison Reform Attitudes1

The American prison system is larger than ever and ranks among the largest in the world. Yet, prisons have received little research attention relative to other issues in forensic psychology. In an effort to study one facet of the prison system, a scale for measuring attitudes toward prison reform was developed. The 12‐item scale has a single factor measuring whether people feel prisons should be tougher or softer on inmates. Several studies with diverse samples found that the scale has a consistent factor structure, good reliability, and a coherent pattern of relationships to other psychological variables. The scale appears to be a promising tool for studying how people want to treat those who have been officially rejected by society.     

Post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans: Assessment in a forensic setting

The recognition and proper evaluation of Vietnam veterans' demonstrating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder syndromes is reviewed. The special problems of accurate diagnosis and assessment of former Vietnam combatants is emphasized. The forensic evaluation of Vietnam veterans' raising the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder syndrome in either civil or criminal proceedings is comprehensively discussed. The question “What are the clinical techniques necessary to accomplish a competent forensic evaluation of the Vietnam veterans?” is specifically addressed with special emphasis on legal dispositions and treatment implications. The relationship between the criminal acts of combat veterans and their exposure to the psychological trauma of war is explored.     

Should human figure drawings be admitted into court?

In recent years, there has been debate about the validity of figure drawings, although surveys of clinicians in both general and forensic practice still find them to be one of the most widely used tests of personality functioning. Using both Heilbrun's (1992) guidelines for the use of psychological tests in a forensic evaluation and the U.S. Supreme Court's Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993) criteria for the admission of scientific evidence, I examine the admissibility of human figure drawings in court. The results suggest that the most commonly used methods for interpreting human figure drawings fall short of meeting the standards for admissibility. The use of overall rating scales, although weak in validity, appear to minimally meet these standards.     

Damages and rewards: assessment of malingered disorders in compensation cases

The assessment of malingering poses unique challenges to forensic practitioners in compensation cases and disability determinations. Beyond malingering itself, false claims can be presented regarding both the source of genuine symptoms and their injurious effects on work and social functioning. The article examines how contextually based psychological factors can affect clients' presentation in compensation cases. Important distinctions between different types of response style (e.g. malingering, feigning, and secondary gain) are presented. In addition, empirically validated detection strategies provide a clinical framework for the assessment of feigned disorders. With an emphasis on compensation cases and clinically relevant disorders, the effectiveness of these detection strategies is considered for specific psychological measures.     

The forensic confirmation bias: Problems,perspectives, and proposed solutions

As illustrated by the mistaken, high-profile fingerprint identification of Brandon Mayfield in the Madrid Bomber case, and consistent with a recent critique by the National Academy of Sciences (2009), it is clear that the forensic sciences are subject to contextual bias and fraught with error. In this article, we describe classic psychological research on primacy, expectancy effects, and observer effects, all of which indicate that context can taint people's perceptions, judgments, and behaviors. Then we describe recent studies indicating that confessions and other types of information can set into motion forensic confirmation biases that corrupt lay witness perceptions and memories as well as the judgments of experts in various domains of forensic science. Finally, we propose best practices that would reduce bias in the forensic laboratory as well as its influence in the courts.