Assessments in Forensic Practice

A Handbook

Kevin D. Browne, Anthony R. Beech, Leam A. Craig, Shihning Chou

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781118314555
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Forensic Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Assessments in Forensic Practice: A Handbook provides practical guidance in the assessment of the most frequently encountered offender subgroups found within the criminal justice system. Topics include:

• criminal justice assessments
• offenders with mental disorders
• family violence
• policy and practice

1
Introduction

KEVIN D. BROWNE, ANTHONY R. BEECH, LEAM A. CRAIG AND SHIHNING CHOU

Research and practice in forensic psychology involves a wide range of activities within secure and community settings. Secure settings include Her Majesty’s Prison Service, private prisons, Local Authority homes for young people and secure units for adult and young offenders with mental health issues and/or personality disorders run by the National Health Service (NHS) or private organizations. Furthermore, there are similar secure services offered to adults or young people with intellectual disabilities who are also deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. Community settings involve psychologists working with the police, social services, youth offending services, and community health services, especially in the areas of violence in the community, domestic violence, child abandonment, abuse, and neglect.

The aim of psychological interventions in forensic settings is to reduce the possibility of harmful behavior directed toward self or others or that threatens the rights and safety of adults and children. This involves the prevention of violent and antisocial behavior and helps with the detection and identification of those perpetrators who have already committed a violent or antisocial offense. These activities are usually carried out in community settings.

Forensic psychologists working in secure settings are usually working with people who have already committed an act of violence and/or antisocial behavior. The aim of their work is to assess the factors that led to their index offense and ameliorate or reduce the chances of the same behavior being repeated within the secure setting or after release. Risk factors associated with violent and antisocial acts include mental health problems, addiction and substance misuse, intellectual disabilities, personality disorders, and adverse experiences in childhood.

Hence, one of the most frequent activities of a forensic psychologist, in both community and secure settings, is to carry out “psychological assessments” in relation to the risk of violent and antisocial behavior (including acquisitive crime) and the formulation of criminogenic needs that direct interventions in terms of treatment and rehabilitation. The formulation balances the assessment of dynamic risk and background static risk factors, with protective factors that may help prevent people in conflict with the law from reoffending.

Furthermore, forensic psychologists advise law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system on behavioral assessment in the investigation of offenders, eyewitness testimony, psychological influences on jury decision‐making, and the preparation of vulnerable children and adults in court.

Similar to clinical psychologists, forensic psychologists must be proficient and competent in skills such as clinical/forensic assessment, interviewing and observation, written and verbal communication, and psychological report writing. Often, they are invited as expert witnesses into court and/or to make case presentations informing courts about an offender’s ability to stand trial, about Parole Board hearings, and about the multidisciplinary teams who are making decisions about the future placement of offenders.

With respect to victims of crime, forensic psychologists are involved in the assessment of re‐victimization and victim support, child custody evaluations, parenting assessments, counseling services to victims, and the assessment of post‐traumatic stress disorder and its relation to the victim to offender concept.

The criminal justice system and the professionals, policymakers, politicians, and the general public often see offenders and victims as a strict dichotomy, that is a person is either a victim or an offender. However, in reality, the distinction is blurred if current and life histories are taken into account. In fact, the majority of offenders have been previously victimized and a significant proportion of victims later develop behavior harmful to themselves or to others. This can be within their family environment only or it can be within the family and the community.

STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

This book contains four sections, covering the assessment of various client groups in different legal and professional contexts.

• Part One covers psychological and risk assessment in investigations and in the criminal justice system:
  • Risk assessment and formulation
  • Violent offenders and murderers
  • Sexual offenders
  • Firesetters
  • Parole assessments
  • Behavioral assessment in investigative psychology.
• Part Two focuses on the assessment of clients in mental health and specialist health services:
  • Assessing risk of violence in mentally disordered offenders
  • Assessing mental capacity in offenders with intellectual and developmental disabilities
  • Offenders with personality disorders
  • Offenders and substance abuse.
• Part Three covers the assessment of violence in the family and the community and its relevance to prevention:
  • Community approaches to the assessment and prevention of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment
  • Parental assessments in childcare proceedings
  • Perpetrators of domestic violence.
• Part Four engages readers in discussions on policies and practice issues in forensic assessment:
  • Assessment of hostage situations and their perpetrators
  • Assessing the sexually abused child as a witness
  • Working with young offenders
  • Ethics of risk assessment.

PART ONE
Criminal Justice Assessments

2
Case Formulation and Risk Assessment

PETER STURMEY AND WILLIAM R. LINDSAY

INTRODUCTION

Effective and appropriate assessment is the cornerstone of offender management and treatment. Thus, mental health professionals often assess risk of recidivism and conduct case formulations to identify the most effective intervention for a specific offender. Risk assessment and case formulation are interdependent clinical activities. Case formulations may result in interventions which produce both beneficial changes in offender behavior and may also subsequently impact risk assessment. For example, teaching an offender generalized problem solving and vocational and alcohol management skills that are based on the formulation of their case may well reduce the offender’s risk and may result in an increased likelihood of less restrictive placement. Alternatively, an inappropriate, ineffective, or iatrogenic treatment plan may result in increased offender risk and result in an increased likelihood of restrictive placement and continued costs of incarceration and of treatment. For example, an inappropriate cognitive treatment plan might inadvertently teach an offender to minimize his or her problems by teaching that person to describe his or her private verbal behavior in a manner consonant with treatment progress, even though his or her private verbal behavior has not truly changed. Thus, risk assessment and formulation for treatment planning are two central aspects of the assessment of offenders.

This chapter will provide an overview of risk assessment and case formulation within the context of offender services. The first section will describe risk assessment and illustrate the application of the risk assessment of offenders. The second section will describe case formulation generally and its application to offenders, and will specifically illustrate its application to persons with personality disorders. The final section will summarize outstanding issues in risk assessment and case formulation when working with offenders.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Risk assessment refers to the evaluation of a risk and the likely cost of such risk. Diverse fields such as economics and public health, and ensuring the safety of food, use risk analysis. Thus, in forensic psychology risk analysis involves the estimation of the costs of reoffending and violence to others, and the costs of such risks to individuals and society. Traditionally, forensic risk assessment involves assessment of static/historical risks and dynamic risks. Static/historical risk assessment contains unchangeable factors in the person’s history and, since one cannot change one’s history, the value of a static risk assessment for a particular individual will never reduce but will increase if they commit another offense. Dynamic risk assessment refers to the assessmen...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• About the Editors
• Contributors
• 1 Introduction
• PART ONE: Criminal Justice Assessments
• PART TWO: Offenders with Mental Disorders
• PART THREE: Family Violence
• PART FOUR: Policy and Practice
• Index
• End User License Agreement