Showing papers in "Psychology, Public Policy and Law in 2006"

The validity and reliability of the Violence Risk Scale: A treatment-friendly violence risk assessment tool.

Abstract: The development of risk assessment tools that use dynamic variables to predict recidivism and to inform and facilitate violence reduction interventions is the next major challenge in the field of risk assessment and management. This study is the first in a 2-step process to validate the Violence Risk Scale (VRS), a risk assessment tool that integrates violence assessment, prediction, and treatment. Ratings of the 6 static and 20 dynamic VRS variables assess the client's level of risk. Ratings of the dynamic variables identify treatment targets linked to violence, and ratings of the stages of change of the treatment targets assess the client's treatment readiness and change. The VRS scores of 918 male offenders showed good interrater reliability and internal consistency and could predict violent and nonviolent recidivism over both short- and longer term (4.4-year) follow-up. The probability of violent and nonviolent recidivism varied linearly with VRS scores. Dynamic and static variables performed equally well. The results support the contention that the VRS can be used to assess violent risk and to guide violence reduction treatment.

The role and relevance of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised in court: A case law survey of U.S. courts (1991-2004).

Abstract: The Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL–R; R. D. Hare, 1991, 2003) is the most empirically validated instrument for measuring psychopathy in correctional and forensic psychiatric populations. The PCL–R’s predictive utility with criminal justice populations has led to its frequent use by clinicians conducting forensic assessments in criminal and sexually violent predator (SVP) cases. Despite its apparent wide acceptance in U.S. courts, little is known about how often the PCL–R is being introduced, the types of cases in which it is being used, and whether claims made in court regarding psychopathy are empirically defensible and/or relevant to the question at hand. This project documents some uses of the PCL–R in U.S. courts from 1991 through 2004 by year, jurisdiction, type of evaluation, and party. The results suggest that the PCL–R is being used by expert witnesses with increasing regularity across U.S. jurisdictions, primarily to assess risk of future violence. A review of 3 recent cases is also provided that illustrates concerns about the validity of the PCL–R for certain types of legal questions that may arise in criminal and SVP trials.

LOW BASE RATES LIMIT EXPERT CERTAINTY WHEN CURRENT ACTUARIALS ARE USED TO IDENTIFY SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATORS An Application of Bayes's Theorem

Abstract: The author applied Bayes’s theorem to agewise sexual recidivism rates and the accuracy of high actuarial scores for predicting sexual recidivism in civil commitment cases. Recidivism rates consistently declined with age, paralleling the ageinvariance pattern found for other offenders. Furthermore, actuarials were efficient for only the youngest group, were inaccurate for identifying recidivists, and misclassified many nonrecidivists as recidivists. Opinions about the accuracy of actuarials are therefore often wrong, and actuarials need to be reformulated. Finally, actuarials are useless for identifying likely sexual recidivists from populations with recidivism base rates below .25. Recommendations include seeking new trials in cases that overlooked age, focusing attention on young offenders, limiting commitment periods, and shifting resources from commitment centers to impact all offenders released to the community.

Thinking about tax

Abstract: This article reports the findings of several experiments about perceptions of various aspects of tax-law design. The authors find that people are vulnerable to a wide range of heuristics and biases in evaluating public finance systems, leading to inconsistent judgments and evaluations. These errors in judgment are specific instances of a more general isolation effect, whereby people respond quickly to a decision or choice set, focusing on salient aspects while ignoring or underusing logically relevant information that is not immediately before them. In tax and public finance, this tendency to make decisions as if with blinders on is problematic. As a result of it, skillful politicians can manipulate public opinion, and tax system design can be volatile on account of the possibility of eliciting preference reversals through purely formal rhetorical means. More troubling, the findings suggest a likely and persistent wedge between observed and optimal public finance.

Sequential vs. Simultaneous Lineups: A Review of Methods, Data, and Theory.

Abstract: A considerable amount of empirical research has been conducted on ways to improve the eyewitness identification process, with emphasis on the use of lineups. Public policy changes are currently underway with respect to lineup procedures: Sequential lineups are being recommended to police as the best practice. This may be premature because the conditions under which sequential lineups are superior to simultaneous lineups are not well understood given the current literature: Many studies are reported with insufficient detail needed to judge the adequacy of the research design, new data show that the sequential superiority effect may vary as a function of study methodology, theoretical assumptions have not been adequately tested, and important comparisons that may rule out the ostensible superiority of the sequential lineup have not been studied. This review summarizes the literature, presents new data, and identifies the need for further empirical work before appropriately grounded recommendations as to the superiority of sequential lineups can be made.

Tethering the elephant: Capital cases, IQ, and the Flynn effect.

Abstract: Capital offenders cannot be executed if they are mentally retarded. Therefore, the IQ scores of offenders are important, and the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the Flynn effect is relevant to interpreting their IQ scores. The Flynn effect (IQ gains over time) means that different IQ tests will give different scores purely as a result of when the tests were normed. Because execution must not be a random result of what test defendants take, a formula is provided to convert IQ scores to a common metric: the norms current at the time the test was taken. The formula also includes a correction based on evidence that the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Third Edition inflates IQs because of sampling error. Given the inevitability that opposing experts will offer conflicting diagnoses, IQ scores merit special attention in capital cases.

SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATORS IN THE COURTROOM Science on Trial

Abstract: In most realms of the law, science is supportive and elucidative but does not comprise the key elements of the case. In sexually violent predator (SVP) commitment laws, however, science is integral because the targets of these laws are people with some mental disorder or abnormality that gives rise to future risk of harmful behavior, justifying the deprivation of physical liberty and the imposition of treatment. The integral role of science in SVP statutes leads to unique dangers to both law and science. Our concern in this article is to address the most critical problems that occur at the intersection of law and science in the SVP context. We have twin concerns:

MIXED MOTIVES AND RACIAL BIAS The Impact of Legitimate and Illegitimate Criteria on Decision Making

Abstract: Recent high-profile court rulings addressing the influence of illegitimate information—such as race—on decision making have highlighted the difficulty of establishing whether and when discrimination has occurred. One factor complicating such efforts is that decision makers are often simultaneously influenced by racial and nonracial information. The authors examined the psychological processes underlying such mixed-motive decision making, demonstrating how legitimate information can be manipulated to justify preferences based on illegitimate factors such as race. Study 1 showed that Black candidates were favored over White candidates in hypothetical college admissions decisions, although participants justified their decisions using nonracial information, and further showed that participants’ levels of prejudice predicted both which candidate was chosen and how those choices were justified. Study 2 demonstrated that these justifications were not simply strategic and post hoc but also occurred as a natural part of the process of evaluating candidates. Discussion focuses on policy and legal implications for employment discrimination, affirmative action, and courtroom proceedings.

A policy evaluation of simultaneous and sequential lineups

Abstract: Many states and communities are rewriting their eyewitness identification policies. Some of these jurisdictions are excluding simultaneous lineups altogether, and others are allowing them if double-blind administration of sequential lineups is not possible. The Innocence Project advocates the latter and puts forward blind sequential-lineup administration as the best form of lineup identification. Although sequential lineups are claimed to be superior, no explicit policy analysis has been done. In the present study, the author uses a policy-analysis model based on decision theory to examine the utility of simultaneous and sequential lineups, as well as to examine a range of values placed on identification outcomes and their probabilities. Simultaneous lineups are shown to be superior to sequential lineups under most conditions examined in this analysis.

Defining a threshold for client competence to participate in divorce mediation

Abstract: The ultimate aim of court-ordered divorce mediation is to produce settlement agreements. Once ratified by the court, these agreements are legally binding and extremely difficult to modify. Courts assume that everyone is adequately equipped to mediate and, with increasing frequency, order litigants into mediation. Nonetheless, commentators have acknowledged that at least occasionally, a party may be unable to proceed. Currently, no standard exists for determining when a party lacks sufficient understanding and ability to participate in mediation, yet the legally binding outcomes of mediation are too important to leave a determination of competence up to chance. In this article, the authors propose a new legal standard, with a basis in current law and policy, for competence to participate in mediation.

Considerations for experts in assessing the credibility of recovered memories of child sexual abuse - The importance of maintaining a case-specific focus

Abstract: In this article, the authors argue that a variety of psychological factors stand in the way of providing expert advice to the courts in terms of assessing the credibility of a complainant’s account of sexual abuse when there is a significant delay in reporting. These include difficulties in assessing (a) the complainant’s account of how he or she claims to have remembered or forgotten the abuse, (b) whether (and how) the claim of abuse originated within a therapeutic setting, and (c) the difficulty of generalizing from empirical evidence. It is argued that all of these issues can be more easily avoided if experts maintain a case-specific focus. In this article, the authors review both the psychological and legal controversies surrounding the false‐recovered memory debate, discuss how courts approach the admissibility and use of recovered memory testimony, and conclude that expert witnesses should carefully consider the above points before drawing general conclusions from the literature and applying them to individual cases.