Empirically supported forensic assessment.

Abstract

The field of Forensic Psychology has greatly expanded over the past several decades, including the use of psychological assessment in addressing forensic issues. A number of surveys have been conducted regarding the tests used commonly by forensic psychologists. These surveys show that while tests specifically designed to address forensic issues have proliferated, traditional clinical assessment tests continue to play a crucial role in many forensic evaluations. The current article identifies some of the most salient characteristics of empirically supported forensic tests and provides examples of tests felt to meet each of these five criteria. These criteria include adequate standardization, acceptable reliability and validity, general acceptance within the community of forensic evaluators, availability of test data from cross-cultural and cross-ethnic samples, and comparison data relevant to specific forensic populations. Although the guidelines provided in this article provide a helpful framework for evaluating the usefulness of forensic tests, the establishment of a national review panel or workgroup to address this issue would be highly useful, particularly in the potential controversial task of identifying those tests that meet reasonable guidelines to be identified as empirically supported forensic assessment instruments.