How reliable are forensic evaluations of legal sanity?

Law and Human Behavior

Volumn 37, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 98-106

  Gowensmith, W Neil ^a   Murrie, Daniel C ^b   Boccaccini, Marcus T ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF DENVER   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA   (United States)

^c SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

criminal responsibility; forensic evaluation; insanity defense; reliability; sanity

Indexed keywords

ADDICTION; ADULT; ARTICLE; FEMALE; FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY; HUMAN; MALE; REPRODUCIBILITY; COMPLICATION;

ADULT; FEMALE; FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY; HUMANS; INSANITY DEFENSE; MALE; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SUBSTANCE-RELATED DISORDERS;

EID: 84876121629     PISSN: 01477307     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/lhb0000001     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Archer, R. P., Buffington-Vollum, J. K., Stredny, R. V., & Handel, R. W. (2006). A survey of psychological test use patterns among forensic psychologists. Journal of Personality Assessment, 87, 84-94. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa8701-07
2. Beckham, J. C., Annis, L. V., & Gustafson, D. J. (1989). Decision making and examiner bias in forensic expert recommendations for Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. Law and Human Behavior, 13, 79-87. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1393776
3. Boccaccini, M. T., Turner, D., & Murrie, D. C. (2008). Do some evaluators report consistently higher or lower psychopathy scores than others? Findings from a statewide sample of sexually violent predator evaluations. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 14, 262-283. doi:10.1037/a00114523
4. Brennan, R. L., & Prediger, D. J. (1981). Coefficient kappa: Some uses, misuses, and alternatives. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 41, 687-699. doi:10.1177/001316448104100307
5. Christy, A., Douglas, K. S., Otto, R. K., & Petrila, J. (2004). Juveniles evaluated incompetent to proceed: Characteristics and quality of mental health professionals' evaluations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35, 380-388. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.35.4.380
6. Cicchetti, D. V., & Sparrow, S. A. (1981). Developing criteria for establishing interrater reliability of specific items: Applications to assessment of adaptive behavior. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 86, 127-137.
7. Fukunaga, K. K., Pasewark, R. A., Hawkins, M., & Gudeman, H. (1981). Insanity plea: Interexaminer agreement and concordance of psychiatric opinion and court verdict. Law and Human Behavior, 5, 325-328. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1393671.pdf? acceptTC-true
8. Giorgi-Guarnieri, D., Janofsky, J., Keram, E., Lawsky, S., Merideth, D., Mossman, D., Zonana, H. (2002). AAPL practice guideline for the forensic psychiatric evaluation of defendants raising the insanity defense. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 30, S1-S40. Retrieved from http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/reprint/35/Supplement-4/S3
9. Gowensmith, W. N., Murrie, D. C., & Boccaccini, M. T. (2011, March). Evaluator agreement in assessing risk and need for hospitalization. In D. C. Murrie (Chair), Field reliability and field validity of forensic assessment techniques. Symposium presented at the meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Miami, FL.
10. Gowensmith, W. N., Murrie, D. C., & Boccaccini, M. T. (2012). Field reliability of competency to stand trial evaluations: How often do evaluators agree, and what do judges decide when evaluators disagree? Law and Human Behavior, 36, 130-139. doi:10.1037/h0093958
11. Hans, V. P. (1986). An analysis of public attitudes toward the insanity defense. Criminology, 24, 393-414. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.1986.tb01502.x
12. Hawaii Revised Statutes. (2008). § § 704-404-406.
13. Large, M., Nielssen, O., & Elliott, G. (2009). Reliability of psychiatric evidence in serious criminal matters: Fitness to stand trial and the defence of mental illness. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43, 446-452. doi:10.1080/00048670902817745
14. Melton, G. B., Petrila, J., Poythress, N., & Slobogin, C. (2007). Psychological evaluations for the courts: A handbook for mental health professionals and lawyers (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
15. Miller, A., Rufino, K., Boccaccini, M. T., Jackson, R., & Murrie, D. C. (2011). On individual differences in person perception: Raters' personality traits relate to their Psychopathy Checklist-Revised scoring tendencies. Assessment, 18, 253-260. doi:10.1177/1073191111402460
16. Murrie, D. C., Boccaccini, M. T., Johnson, J., & Janke, C. (2008). Does interrater (dis)agreement on Psychopathy Checklist scores in Sexually Violent Predator trials suggest partisan allegiance in forensic evaluation? Law and Human Behavior, 32, 352-362. doi10.1007/s10979-007-9097-5
17. Murrie, D. C., Boccaccini, M. T., Turner, D., Meeks, M., Woods, C., & Tussey, C. (2009). Rater (dis)agreement on risk assessment measures in sexually violent predator proceedings: Evidence of adversarial allegiance in forensic evaluation? Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 15, 19-53. doi:10.1037/a0014897
18. Murrie, D. C., Boccaccini, M. T., Zapf, P. A., Warren, J. I., & Henderson, C. E. (2008). Clinician variation in findings of competence to stand trial. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 14, 177-193. doi:10.1037/a0013578
19. Murrie, D. C., & Warren, J. I. (2005). Clinician variation in rates of legal sanity opinions: Implications for self-monitoring. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36, 519-524. doi: 10.1037/0735-7028 .36.5.519
20. Otto, R. K. (1989). Bias and expert testimony of mental health professionals in adversarial proceedings: A preliminary investigation. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 7, 267-273. doi:10.1002/bsl.2370070210
21. Packer, I. K. (2009). Evaluation of criminal responsibility. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
22. Phillips, M. R., Wolf, A. S., & Coons, D. J. (1988). Psychiatry and the criminal justice system: Testing the myths. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 605-610. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 3358465
23. Raifman, L. (1979, August). Interjudge reliability of psychiatrists' evaluations of criminal defendants' competency to stand trial and legal insanity. Proceedings of the 87th American Psychology-Law Society Convention, Baltimore, MD.
24. Randolph, J. J. (2008). Online kappa calculator [Online application]. Retrieved from http://justus.randolph.name/kappa
25. Rogers, R. (1984). Rogers criminal responsibility assessment scales (R-CRAS) and test manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
26. Silver, E., Cirincione, C., & Steadman, H. J. (1994). Demythologizing inaccurate perceptions of the insanity defense. Law and Human Behavior, 18, 63-70. doi:10.1007/BF01499144
27. Skeem, J. L., & Golding, S. L. (1998). Community examiners' evaluations of competence to stand trial: Common problems and suggestions for improvement. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 29, 357-367. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.29.4.357
28. Skeem, J. L., Golding, S. L., Cohn, N. B., & Berge, G. (1998). The logic and reliability of expert opinion on competence to stand trial. Law and Human Behavior, 22, 519-547. doi:10.2307/1394572
29. Stock, H., & Poythress, N. (1979, August). Psychologists' opinions in forensic examinations: How reliable?. Proceedings of the 87th American Psychological Association Convention, New York, NY.
30. Warren, J. I., Murrie, D. C., Chauhan, P., Dietz, P. E., & Morris, J. (2004). Opinion formation in evaluating sanity at the time of the offense: An examination of 5175 pre-trial evaluations. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 22, 171-186. doi:10.1002/bsl.559