Week 12

Question 1

3 types of assessments in forensics

Answer 1

Forensic assessment instruments
Forensically relevant instruments
Clinical instruments

Question 2

Forensic psychologists are involved in

Answer 2

Judicial decision making
Diagnosis
Prediction of risk

Question 3

Law vs psychology

Answer 3

Law: zealous advocacy, seeks justice, adversarial system
Psychology: objective, seeks the truth, empiricism

Question 4

Forensic psychologists assist the court with

Answer 4

Fitness to stand trial
Not guilty due to mental impairment
Custody evaluations
Bail recommendations

Question 5

3 jurisdictions in Australia

Answer 5

Criminal: crimes against the public or the crown
Civil: conflicts between individuals or organisations
Family: conflicts within families or between partners

Question 6

Fitness to stand trial assessments

Answer 6

MacArthur competence assessment tool

Structured clinical interview

Question 7

Not guilty due to mental impairment assessments

Answer 7

Rogers criminal responsibility assessment scales (R-CRAS)

Question 8

Custody evaluation assessments

Answer 8

Interviews with all involved parties
Personality testing 
Cognitive testing 
Demographic assessment 
Risk assessment

Question 9

Risk assessment types

Answer 9

Structured clinical judgment

Actuarial

Question 10

Structured clinical judgement

Answer 10

Clinical interview
Flexible, dynamic, informative for treatment and prevention
Subjective, inaccurate
Employs decision making models to remove some subjectivity

Question 11

Actuarial

Answer 11

Uses formal rules, combine risk factors
Reliable, consistent, predictively valid
Transparent and accountable, important for expert testimony
Statistical method, finds most significant risk factor

Question 12

2 categories of risk factors

Answer 12

Static: unchangeable
Dynamic: amenable, opportunity for intervention

Question 13

Static 99 R

Answer 13

Male sex offenders

Static, 10 items

Question 14

Psychopathy checklist revised

Answer 14

Static and dynamic
Actuarial but also requires structured clinical interview techniques and collateral information
Gold standard in recidivism and violence prediction
Normed for adult male and female offenders, and adult male forensic patients

Question 15

Stalking risk profile

Answer 15

Assess and manage stalking risk

Question 16

Risk for sexual violence protocol

Answer 16

Identified potential risk factors, relevance, risk formulation and management

Question 17

HCR-20 violence risk assessment

Answer 17

Historical
Clinical
Risk management

Question 18

Structured interview of reported symptoms (SIRS)

Answer 18

172 items one hour long

Specifically designed to uncover malingering

Question 19

Limitations of forensic assessment

Answer 19

Self report, malingering
Reliability and validity issues
Actuarial formulae have not been developed for many assessment instruments to interpret and predict behaviour
Small sample sizes have been used to validate some forensic psych instruments