PSYCH 3CC3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: South Dakota Highway 10, Dysthymia, Personality Disorder
4 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Psychological Assessment
Lecture 7
Categorizing of Assessment
• Past mental state – insanity/criminal responsibility. Whether the individual was
“sane/insane” (NCRMD in Canada) during the time of crime
o Insanity is not a psychiatric term – it is a legal term w/ a set of criteria to be met
• Present mental state – fitness to stand trial. Whether individual is mentally competent to
stand trial, given their current mental state
• Future mental state – risk of violence. Attempts to assess future state and behaviour of
convicted individuals to determine whether they should be released. Assesses risk of re-
offending
Fitness to Stand Trial
• Canadian Criminal Code
o “Is unable on account of mental disorder to conduct a defence at any stage of
the proceeding before a verdict is rendered or to instruct consul to do so, and in
particular, unable on account of mental disorder to a) understand the nature or
object of the proceedings, b) understand the possible consequences of the
proceedings, or c) communicate with counsel”
• U.S. Dusky (1960)
o “The test must be whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his
attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and a rational as well
as factual understanding of proceedings against him”
• Specific issues in fitness:
o Understand charges – individual must understand the charges against him and
what crime he’s being convicted for
o Give pertinent info to counsel – able to provide information about his crime to
effectively inform his counsel
o Understand range, nature of penalties – understand the consequences of being
convicted and the range of possible penalties that can be imposed
o Understand legal strategies & options – understand legal strategies recommended
by the counsel and the consequences of choosing a legal strategy
o Help choose legal strategies & options – able to help the attorney choose legal
strategies
o Understand adversarial nature of trial – understand their own role in the trial,
their attorney is on their side while the prosecution is not on their side, the judge
is a neutral facilitator of the process
o Show appropriate courtroom behaviour
o Follow trial events, challenge witnesses – able to recognize discrepancies b/w
their memory and the witness’ so counsel can challenge it
o Give relevant testimony – recall enough events to provide testimony
o Maintain relationship w/ counsel – some defendants will fire their layers or prefer
to represent themselves. They have to trust their attorney to be fit to stand trial
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Conducting Fitness Assessments
• Fitness to stand trial is assessed in Canada by any medical practitioner (even if they have
no training/experience in psychiatry/psychology); clinical psychologists are not allowed
to assess this
• Assessments are allowed to take 5 days; extension possible to 30 days but not to exceed
60 days
• Four types of fitness instruments:
o Tests for psychopathology – detects presence of mental disorder. MMPI (used
more for assess fitness to stand trial) & MCMI
o Neuropsychological batteries – detects physical damage to the brain using
reaction time, reflex action, etc.) Luria-Nebraska & Halstead-Reitan
o Intelligence tests – WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) & Stanford-Binet
IQ Test (most common)
o Fitness-specific tests – designed specifically to test fitness to stand trial.
MacCAT-CA & FIT-R
• Lally (2003) – asked 65 individuals who conducts these tests which one they believe are
acceptable for assessing fitness to stand trial. MacCAT-CA was the top choice →
WAIS-III
Fitness Interview Test – Revised (FIT-R)
• 16-item semi-structured clinical interview, specifically used to assess fitness to stand trial
o Semi-structured b/c questions are not always asked in the same order, same
wording, etc. Provides some structure for the interview
• Questions are divided into 3 sections:
o Understanding nature/object of proceedings
o Understanding possible consequences of proceedings
o Ability to communicate to counsel
• Zapf & Roesch (1997) – FIT-R scores correlate highly w/ assessments made by clinicians
(86% agreement b/w FIT-R and institutional assessments, no false negatives)
Assessment Process Diagram
• Begins w/ the decision for individual to be assessed for fitness to stand trial
o Fit → return to court to stand trial
o Unfit → judge determines what happens next
▪ Conditional discharge – they get released if they won’t be problematic
until they’re ready to stand trial
▪ Hospital custody – held in custody until they’re ready to stand trial
▪ Review board – sent to review board to determine whether fit or not
• Review board will either determine individual to be fit (return to
court), unconditional discharge, or hospital custody
Elements of a Crime
• Actus reus – the criminal act itself. Guilt depends on whether the individual actually
committed the crime
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Mens rea – intent to commit a criminal act (the guilty mind). Individual has to know they
were committing the crime and have guilty knowledge about the crime. Insanity stems
from the idea of the mens rea
• Both elements are thought to be needed in a crime
History of Insanity Verdict
• Hadfield case (1800) – planned assassination of the king
o He did not meet the criteria for insanity even though he had a psychological
condition
o He was delusional and far lost from reality → this should be insanity
o Parliament passes the Criminal Lunatics Act, mandating detention for the insane
• M’Naughten case (1843) – planned murder of the prime minister
o Not guilty by reason of insanity
o M’Naughten rule – the right/wrong test; whether the individual knew what he
was doing was right or wrong
o M’Naughten 3 aspects of insanity
▪ Defect of reason d/t disease of the mind – must be caused by a mental
disorder
▪ Ignorant of nature & quality of the act
▪ Unaware, or unable to determine that the act was wrong – didn’t know
what they were doing was wrong
• American Law Institute (1962) – “if at the time of his conduct as a result of mental
disease or detect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality
(wrongfulness) of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law”
o If individual is compulsive & can’t control their behaviours → qualifies as
insanity
• The M’Naughten standard and the American Law Institute standard are both very similar
except the ALI has the inability to control behaviour as a characteristic of insanity
Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD)
• This is the term used for “insanity” in Canadian law
• Often raised by the defence and argued by the Crown
• After a guilty verdict, it is raised by the Crown
• Standard for NCRMD: beyond a balance of the probabilities. If there is a 51% chance
defendant was NCRMD during the crime, have to vote not guilty
• Individuals who are NCRMD are often given an unconditional release unless they pose a
risk to the public
Assessment Methods for NCRMD
• Clinical interview – structured or unstructured. SADS (for schizophrenia) & SIRS
• Objective personality tests – MMPI-2 & MCMI
• Projective personality tests – Rorschach inkblot test
• Specific forensic instruments – R-CRAS
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Categorizing of assessment: past mental state insanity/criminal responsibility. Sane/insane (ncrmd in canada) during the time of crime: insanity is not a psychiatric term it is a legal term w/ a set of criteria to be met, present mental state fitness to stand trial. Whether individual is mentally competent to stand trial, given their current mental state: future mental state risk of violence. Attempts to assess future state and behaviour of convicted individuals to determine whether they should be released. They have to trust their attorney to be fit to stand trial. 60 days: four types of fitness instruments, tests for psychopathology detects presence of mental disorder. Mmpi (used more for assess fitness to stand trial) & mcmi: neuropsychological batteries detects physical damage to the brain using reaction time, reflex action, etc. ) Luria-nebraska & halstead-reitan: intelligence tests wais (wechsler adult intelligence scale) & stanford-binet. Iq test (most common: fitness-specific tests designed specifically to test fitness to stand trial.
