Northeastern University Spring 2014 Psychology and the Law PSYC 1208 Study Guide for Exam 3 4 24 14 General Exam information 1 Multiple Choice and True False format 2 Exams will not be cumulative Exam 3 will cover 3 24 14 through 4 17 14 course material 3 Assigned textbook chapters 2 and 3 and PowerPoints with class notes are REQUIRED study material FOR EXAM Psychopathy Sociopathy Structural Professional Judgment Study the following Definitions Civil Commitment Competency to Stand Trial Criminal Responsibility insanity Actuarial Decision making Malingering Antisocial Personality Disorder Dusky Test Correctional Psychology O Connor v Donaldson 1 2 Addington v Texas 3 Allen v Illinois 4 Zinneromon v Burch 5 Commonwealth v McHoul 6 7 123 MGL section 8B Roger s Order 8 Megan s Law 9 Adam Walsh Law 10 Kendra s Law General Knowledge areas Insanity Defense Reform Act Know the basic opinion of the following landmark cases legislative Acts 1 Forensic Psychologist tasks in civil commitment and criminal responsibility proceedings 2 Personal injury evaluations 3 Evaluations for civil commitment 4 Causal Nexus 5 Violence Risk Assessment 6 MacArthur Study 2003 7 Assessment tools TOMMS MacArthur CAT CA ECST R RCRAS Static 99 SIRS SORAG LS CMI 8 Psychopathy including neurochemistry brain functioning environmental and cognitive factors 9 Correctional Psychology 10 Risk Need Responsivity Model Civil Commitment o Involuntary treatment or hospitalization of individuals on the grounds that they pose a risk to themselves or others on account of mental disorder o Governments have a legal responsibility to protect citizens and this includes the responsibility to protect them from the harmful consequences of physical or mental illness o Civil commitment is about containing dangerous illnesses rather dangerous people Competency to Stand Trial Criminal Responsibility insanity Psychopathy o Most common competency issue o The evaluator conducts an interview with the defendant in an attempt to assess the defendant s CURRENT mental state o Evaluation of defendant s abilities to understand nature and object of the court proceedings as well as his or her ability to participate in the proceedings and assist in his or her defense including pleading guilty or entering into a plea bargain agreement o Also known as insanity o Criminal s mental state at time of offense o Mens rea mental capacity and intention to commit crime o Someone with a mental disease or defect that resulted in inability to know right from wrong may be considered not cranially responsible for their actions and found not guilty of rime they were charted for o A personality style that encompasses both behavioral and affective emotional components Individuals are glib grandiose callous remorseless reckless etc o Most likely to engage in general criminal behaviors and violent behaviors o Late 1800 s unclassified psychopathology o 1930 Partridge Subgroup showing difficulty or refusal to adapt to demands of society sociopathic personality o 1930 1980 Dangerous or persistent lawbreakers psychopaths or sociopaths o 1980 DSM III Antisocial Personality Disorder APD o 1994 DSM IV APD o 2013 DSM 5 APD Antisocial Personality Disorder APD Pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years as indicated by three or more of the following o Failure to conform to social norms o Deceitfulness o Impulsivity o Irritability and aggressiveness o Reckless disregard for safety of self or others o Consistent irresponsibility o Lack of remorse Psychopathy vs Sociopathy Individual is at least age 18 years Evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years Occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode o Psychopathy and sociopathy are both anti social personality disorders While both these disorders are the result of an interaction between genetic predispositions and environmental factors psychopathy leans towards the hereditary whereas sociopathy tends towards the environmental o Psychopaths are born with temperamental differences such as impulsivity cortical under arousal and fearlessness that lead them to risk seeking behavior and an inability to internalize social norms o On the other hand sociopaths have relatively normal temperaments their personality disorder being more an effect of negative sociological factors like parental neglect delinquent peers poverty and extremely low or extremely high intelligence o Psychopaths often live at the fringes of society They often tend to be extremely disorganized and are unable to maintain normal relationships with family friends or co workers o Unlike psychopaths sociopaths can be almost obsessively organized and are normal in their social relationships often forming symbiotic or parasitic relations A sociopath would likely live an outwardly normal life and appear to blend in well with society they may even be charming o Psychopaths often find it hard to maintain a steady job and home o Sociopaths often have successful careers and try to make others like and trust them This is because they understand human social emotions quite well but are unable to experience them This allows them to be master manipulators of human emotions o A psychopath s outbreaks of violence are erratic and unplanned After an erratic act psychopaths can often be easily identified as they generally leave behind a trail of clues and a history of violent outbursts o A sociopaths can plan acts of violence for years and may often be motivated by greed or revenge Violent crimes by sociopaths are often controlled and often go undetected until after a sociopath is caught o Similarities The symptoms in both cases begin to establish and surface at approximately fifteen years of age The initial symptom can be excessive cruelty to animals followed by lack of conscience remorse or guilt for hurtful actions to others at a later stage There may be an intellectual understanding of appropriate social behavior but no emotional response to the actions of others Structural Professional Judgment o Evidence based guidelines o Risk assessment tools that provide basic list of risk factors that should be considered but don t tell evaluators how they should be weighted or combined and can t be used to estimate probability of future harm Actuarial Decision making o Nomothetic research on large groups of people and quantitative statistical Clinician conducting a