Forensic Psychology Practice Research Articles

The Contribution of Forensic Psychology to Improve the Protection of Rape Victims in Trials

This study aims to identify the contribution of forensic psychology in the preparation of rape victims to testify in court and analyze the legal framework applicable to the protection of rape victims in the legal system in Indonesia. This research is normative juridical by using secondary data such as laws and regulations, literature studies, and expert interviews of Forensic Psychologists. The results of the first research analysis of forensic psychology contribute to the preparation and recovery of rape victims in the context of trials. By taking into account regulations such as Law Number 18 of 2014 concerning Mental Health and Regulation of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Number 45 of 2017, the practice of forensic psychology in Indonesia is directed to improve practice standards and protect the public from unethical practices. Second, legal protection for rape victims in Indonesia consists of two main aspects, namely preventive and curative protection. Preventive protection is established through regulations such as Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning rape in the Criminal Code and Law Number 12 of 2022 concerning Sexual Violence (TPKS Law), which guarantees fair and comprehensive treatment and holistic recovery for victims. Curative legal protection is regulated by Law Number 36 of 2009 Article 144, which emphasizes treatment and rehabilitation approaches for victims after the commission of crimes.

Cognitive-behavioral reciprocity: Testing the bidirectional relationship between antisocial cognition and delinquency.

Although reciprocity between variables is a topic of interest in the field of criminology, we cannot simply assume that all or even most criminological relationships are bidirectional without testing them empirically. The objective of the current investigation was to test whether delinquency and antisocial cognition are reciprocally or bidirectionally related. The hypotheses evaluated as part of the present study proposed that antisocial cognition would predict delinquency, delinquency would predict antisocial cognition, and bidirectional models would display significantly better fit than the unidirectional models on which they are based. Using data from the Pathways to Desistance study (1,354 serious justice-involved youths), I explored whether antisocial cognition predicts delinquency and a change in delinquency and whether delinquency predicts antisocial cognition and a change in antisocial cognition. I paired two forms of antisocial cognition-moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity-with delinquency to predict a single future outcome with a zero-order correlation and a lagged outcome or change with a partial correlation. Findings showed that 40 out of 40 prospective zero-order correlations and 36 out of 40 prospective partial correlations achieved significance, with moderate and small effect sizes, respectively. Structural equation modeling revealed that the bidirectional models linking moral neutralization to delinquency and cognitive impulsivity to delinquency using lagged outcome measures both achieved significantly better fit than the unidimensional models on which they were based. The results of this study are congruent with the conclusion that the relationship between antisocial cognition and delinquency is reciprocal and that antisocial cognition is as much a predictor of delinquency as delinquency is a predictor of antisocial cognition. Thus, both patterns need to be taken into account for the purposes of theory integration in criminology, clinical practice in forensic psychology, and policy implementation in criminal justice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The practice of clinical forensic psychology in Canada: Current landscape and future directions.

The practice of clinical forensic psychology in Canada: Current landscape and future directions.

Recommendations for establishing or expanding a successful forensic psychology practice.

Recommendations for establishing or expanding a successful forensic psychology practice.

Isn’t it time for forensic psychologists to stop using the term ‘gang’?

The concept of ‘gangs’ is poorly defined within legal and psychological literature. This article describes how methodological flaws in studies that apply the ‘gang’ label have perpetuated bias against Black and Asian males. Harms associated with the ‘gang’ label are discussed within the broader context of racism within the Criminal Justice System. Implications for forensic psychological practice in the areas of formulation, risk assessment and intervention planning with Black and Asian clients who have been labelled as ‘gang’ members are discussed. Feelings psychologists may experience upon acknowledging bias in their practice with those labelled as ‘gang’ affiliated are also explored. The article concludes by arguing why psychologists have a responsibility to stop using the term ‘gang’ and proposing alternative language and concepts to understand group related offending.

Racial justice in psycholegal research and forensic psychology practice: Current advances and a framework for future progress.

Police killings of Black civilians have brought unprecedented attention to racial and ethnic discrimination in the criminal justice and legal systems. However, these topics have been underexamined in the field of law-psychology, both in research and forensic-clinical practice. We discuss how a racial justice framework can provide guidance for advancing psycholegal research and forensic-clinical practice related to race, ethnicity, culture, and their intersections. A racial justice framework centers the goal of increasing fair and responsive treatment and just outcomes for the most vulnerable populations involved with the criminal justice, legal, and carceral systems and ending existing disparities. We argue that the framework should include the use of transparent nonobjectivity, in which racial justice is an explicit and acknowledged goal of research and practice that exists alongside a commitment to open and rigorous science and evidence-based practice. We then use the racial justice framework as a backdrop for discussing the articles and broader themes that appear in the special issue, which include racial biases in policing, public views of the police and use of force, expanding research on racial bias in lay judgments, understanding disparities in sentencing and corrections, and improving forensic practice. Finally, we look to the future, discussing practices and perspectives that can facilitate a racial justice approach in psycholegal research and forensic-clinical practice. Our recommendations include engaging in reflexivity and addressing positionality; expanding research questions and methods, especially qualitative and community-based participatory action research; centering and engaging with communities of color; greater emphasis on intersectionality; shifting toward structural and adaptive interventions; and greater integration of work from other fields. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology Excellence in Forensic Psychology Practice 2021 – Awarded to Dr Kerensa Hocken

The British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology Excellence in Forensic Psychology Practice 2021 – Awarded to Dr Kerensa Hocken

The British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology Excellence in Forensic Psychology Practice 2021 – Caitlin Brown: Early Career

The British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology Excellence in Forensic Psychology Practice 2021 – Caitlin Brown: Early Career

The British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology Excellence in Forensic Psychology Practice 2021 – Awarded to Siobhán Keating

The British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology Excellence in Forensic Psychology Practice 2021 – Awarded to Siobhán Keating

Are self-esteem and adult attachment affected by previous experiences of youth victimisation?

Introduction Some research show the impact of the traumatic experiences of emotional abuse during childhood in an insecure attachment style [1], leading to a negative attitude towards oneself and towards others [2]. Studies also show that child abuse is a significant predictor of low self-esteem in adulthood [3]. The objectives of the current study are to analyse the relationship between the youth victimisation and self-esteem in adulthood, the adult attachment and the youth victimisation, and the self-esteem in adults and the adult attachment. This study is important to show, in a Portuguese sample, how these variables are linked, providing knowledge about the implications of previous experiences of youth victimisation. Materials and methods The sample comprised 109 Portuguese participants, with ages between 18 and 68 years old (M = 33.96, SD = 13.97), and the majority was female (n = 82, 77.4%). Participants responded online to a sociodemographic questionnaire, a Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) [4], a Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) [5], and an Adult Attachment Scale-R (AAS-R) [6]. Portuguese versions of the questionnaires were used. Results The total score of the RSES revealed a significant statistical correlation with the CTQ subscales: Emotional Abuse (r=–0.233, p=.016), Emotional Neglect (r=–0.201, p=.039), and Physical Neglect (r=–0.235, p=.015). The total score of the CTQ showed significant statistical and correlations with the total score of the AAS-R and with its subscales: Anxiety (r = 0.198, p=.042), Close (r = 0.477, p<.001), and Depend (r = 0.445, p<.001). The factor Anxiety in the AAS-R showed a significant statistical correlation with the CTQ subscale Emotional Abuse (r = 0.349, p<.001). The subscale Close in the AAS-R showed significant statistical correlations with the CTQ subscales: Emotional Abuse (r=–0.266, p=.006), Emotional Neglect (r=–0.346, p<.001), Physical Neglect (r=–0.244, p=.012).The subscale Depend on the AAS-R revealed a significant statistical correlation with the CTQ subscales: Emotional Abuse (r=–0.249, p=.010). The RSES also showed a significant statistical correlation with the AAS-R subscales: Anxiety (r=–0.590, p<.001), Close (r = 0.511, p<.001), and Depend (r = 0.354, p<.001). Discussion and conclusions This study highlights the relationship between experiences of youth victimisation and the increase of attachment anxiety in adulthood, decreased self-esteem, comfort with proximity, and confidence in others concerning the attachment in adults. The current study corroborates previous findings [1,2]. This research contributes to the practice of clinical and forensic psychology in the prevention and intervention in childhood trauma, showing, in a Portuguese sample, the impact of the social implications of trauma on attachment style, and self-esteem, during adulthood. However, although this research achieved important results, further studies are recommended, developing a theoretical model with those variables, and with a larger sample.

Porodični odnosi i sklonost ka agresivnim oblicima ponašanja adolescenata

It is a well-known fact that practice in clinical, mental health, or forensic psychology, as well as in other applied psychological disciplines, is always a few steps ahead of the theoretical framework. It is the practical work, experience, and research that lead to acquiring new knowledge and contribute to the theoretical base. The modern world has been flooded by a wave of aggression and destruction in the recent decades, most prominently by younger population. Having this in mind, we have focused not only on studying a sample of children and adolescents who exhibit delinquent and asocial behaviour-who may or may not be characterized as delinquents and criminal offenders-but also on the underlying causes of such behaviour. Due to the volume restrictions, this paper will hone in on the correlation of family relationships, character traits, and tendency towards aggressive behaviour in adolescents with a view of generating guidelines for the practical work in clinical psychology, where special emphasis is placed on the correlation-as well as the predictive potential-of the family relationships to the models of aggressive hostility. The study aims at determining whether family relationships are statistical predictors of the degree of manifestation of aggression and hostility. The results indicate that the dimensions of family relationships present good predictors of different categories of aggressive and hostile behaviour in adolescents. The research sample consists of 212 high school students in the Kosovska Mitrovica school district. The main research instruments are: FACES IV, Big-Five inventory (BFI), and BDHI scale. In conclusion, the practical and theoretical contribution of this study, as a part of the ongoing series, is summarized as follows: 1) the study expands on the range of the instruments used in psychodiagnostics of children and adolescents owing to the methodological principles of the clinical approach such as group framework, openness of the batteries of psychodiagnostic tests, multidimensionality, favouring the wide-range techniques, and explorativity; 2) in terms of forensic psychology-which is linked to clinical psychology as an applied discipline, especially with psychodiagnostic and specifically with psychodiagnostic of children and adolescents-the research results indicate a more successful evaluation of the most probable truth for an individual in the given circumstances by introducing new psychodiagnostic instruments in the legal process; 3) the study highlighted several predictors of family relationship dimensions and the manifestation of aggressive and hostile behaviour in adolescents, which promotes preventive measures in ensuring and nourishing mental health of children and adolescents and their families in a wider social community; and 4) hopefully, the study contributed to the overall evaluation and prediction of the behavioural patterns of children and adolescents and the correlation of their family relationships and the tendency towards aggression.

Exploring the Practices, Trends, and Future Directions of Forensic Psychology in the Philippines

Forensic psychology is an emerging field in the Philippines. For this reason, an exploration in the practices, trends and future directions in the field is imperative. Hence, this study focused on identifying the common qualifications and credentials of professionals in the forensic psychology in the Philippines; the necessary skills in fulfilling a career in the field; the areas of professional practice in forensic psychology in the country; the ways of engagement of professionals in forensic settings; the various issues and challenges faced by the practitioners; the necessary improvements for forensic psychology in order to advance as a professional practice in the country. This descriptive study utilized a researcher-made questionnaire formatted in checklist-multiple response and forced choice ranking styles. Professionals who hold licenses in the field of social work, psychology, and guidance and counselling were visited in the offices and clinics for data collection. On the preference of some respondents, an alternative online survey form was also provided. Data collected were presented frequency counts, percentage distribution and ranking. This study involved 35 professionals engaged in the field of forensic psychology. Majority of them were master’s degree holders (42.86%) and are in the field of forensic for 1 to 5 years (51.43%). Twelve (12) of them are registered social worker; five (5) were registered guidance counselor; nine (9) were registered psychologist; and another nine (9) were registered psychometricians. Results revealed that psychological testing skills, clinical strengths, and ethical uprightness are the necessary skills for forensic psychology practitioners. Meanwhile, the major line of practice were in VAWC cases, child custody evaluations, competency assessment to stand in trial and annulment. They were engage in the practice through referrals from other professionals. The challenges and issues facing the field were concerns on confidentiality, neglect in the mental health of the clients, lack of graduate or post-graduate training, appropriate skills in assessment, professional fee concerns and conflict of interest among and between allied professionals and the referring party. Measures for professional advancement of the status of Philippine forensic psychology as suggested by the respondents include more relevant trainings and workshops, offering of graduate or post-graduate courses, conduct of local empirical researches and additional professional certification specifying forensic practitioners.

Ethics Challenges in Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology Practice

Ethics Challenges in Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology Practice

Forensic psychology and Islamic jurisprudence

ABSTRACTIslamic jurisprudence is the most widely used system of religious law in the world today. However, how forensic psychology may operate within this system has been largely unexplored. The current review sets out to explore the relationship between Islamic jurisprudence and forensic psychology by examining the Islamic legal concepts of evidence, competence, insanity, psychological disorder and intellectual disability and their implications for forensic practice. Also discussed are the potential barriers to forensic psychological practice in countries using a system of Islamic law.

Improving the effectiveness of the Henderson instruction safeguard against unreliable eyewitness identification

ABSTRACTEyewitness identifications made under poor witnessing or identification conditions have resulted in numerous wrongful convictions [National Registry of Exonerations. (2017). Retrieved January 28, 2017, from http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/ExonerationsContribFactorsByCrime.aspx]. These wrongful convictions have persuaded some courts to seek ways to improve admissibility standards concerning eyewitness identifications and jurors’ ability to discern the quality of identifications. New Jersey recently ruled that case-specific instructions must be presented to the jury to determine the reliability of an identification [New Jersey v. Henderson, 27 A.3d 872 (2011)]. Research suggests the original format of these instructions is ineffective [Dillon, M., Jones, A.M., Bergold, A.N., Hui, C., & Penrod, S. (2017). Examining the effectiveness of the Henderson eyewitness instructions. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice. doi:10.1080/15228932.2017.1235964; Jones, A.M., Bergold, A.S., Dillon, M., & Penrod, S. (2017). Sensitizing jurors to factors influencing the accuracy of eyewitness identification: Assessing the effectiveness of the Henderson instructions. Journal of Experimental Criminology. doi:10.1007/s11292-016-9279-6]. Other studies have found one form of eyewitness instructions sensitized jurors to problematic police procedures [Pawlenko, N. B., Safer, M. A., Wise, R. A., & Holfeld, B. (2013). A teaching aid for improving jurors’ assessment of eyewitness accuracy. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27, 190–197], but no studies have found sensitivity to poor witnessing conditions. Therefore, the current study sought to modify Henderson instructions to improve sensitivity to variations in estimator variables. Jury-eligible community members read a trial transcript and rendered a verdict. Results indicated modified Henderson instructions increased sensitivity to estimator variables above and beyond a no-eyewitness-instruction control condition, while original Henderson instructions did not affect jurors’ decision making. Mounting evidence suggests original Henderson instructions are ineffective and may serve to induce confusion among jurors. However, more research is needed before courts consider this revised instruction.

Using the MMPI-2-RF to Characterize Defendants Evaluated for Competency to Stand Trial and Criminal Responsibility

ABSTRACTThis study sought to provide more specific comparison groups for examiners using the MMPI-2-RF in criminal forensic evaluations, as well as to expand upon the existing literature by comparing defendants evaluated for Competency to Stand Trial (CST) and Criminal Responsibility (CR) on psychological functioning. In a large pre-trial criminal defendant sample (n = 486), significant differences were observed between defendants evaluated for CST and those evaluated for CR on scales reflecting emotional and externalizing dysfunction, but not thought dysfunction. Moreover, those opined competent to stand trial by forensic examiners scored lower than those opined incompetent on measures of psychoticism/paranoia, whereas those opined not criminally responsible were less likely to exhibit externalizing psychopathology relative to those opined to be criminally responsible. Implications for forensic psychology practice are discussed.

The Case of George Fitzsimmons &amp; the Practice of Forensic Psychology

The Case of George Fitzsimmons &amp; the Practice of Forensic Psychology

'Your Old Road is/Rapidly Agin': International Human Rights Standards and Their Impact on Forensic Psychologists, the Practice of Forensic Psychology, and the Conditions of Institutionalization of Persons with Mental Disabilities

An earlier version of this paper was presented as the Lynn Stuart Weiss lecture at the American Psychological Association yearly conference, sponsored by the American Psychology-Law Society and the American Psychology Foundation, August 2016, Denver, Colorado.For years, considerations of the relationship between international human rights standards and the work of forensic psychologists have focused on the role of organized psychology in prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghirab. That issue has been widely discussed and debated, and these discussions show no sign of abating. But there has been virtually no attention given to another issue of international human rights, one that grows in importance each year: how the treatment (especially, the institutional treatment) of persons with mental and intellectual disabilities violates international human rights law, and the silence of organized forensic psychology in the face of this mistreatment. This issue has become even more pointed in recent years, following the ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Organized forensic psychology has remained largely silent about the potential significance of this Convention and about how it demands that we rethink the way we institutionalize persons – often in brutal and barbaric conditions – around the world. In many parts of the world, circumstances are bleak: services are provided in segregated settings that cut people off from society, often for life; persons are arbitrarily detained from society and committed to institutions without any modicum of due process; individuals are denied the ability to make choices about their lives when they are put under plenary guardianship; there is a wide-spread denial of appropriate medical care or basic hygiene in psychiatric facilities, individuals are subject to powerful and often-dangerous psychotropic medications without adequate standards, and there is virtually no human rights oversight and enforcement mechanisms to protect against the broad range of institutional abuse. Although there is a robust literature developing – interestingly, mostly in Australia and New Zealand, but little in the US – about how such institutional conditions violate the international human rights of this population, virtually nothing has been written about how organized forensic psychology has been silent about these abuses.In this paper, I (1) discuss the relevant international human rights law that applies to these questions, (2) examine the current state of conditions in institutions worldwide, (3) argue why forensic psychology needs to become more aggressively involved in this area, and (4) offer some suggestions as to how this situation can be ameliorated.

Forensic psychologists should use the behavioral experiment to facilitate cognitive change in clients who have offended

A key technique associated with effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the behavioral experiment (BE). Within mainstream clinical psychology, the overall aim of the BE is to treat clients' problematic beliefs as a set of hypotheses to be tested. In this review, I examine the BE as a treatment technique and argue that widespread implementation of the BE could significantly improve CBT-based forensic psychological practice. I examine contemporary conceptualizations of cognition within forensic psychology as well as commonly used treatment techniques for instilling cognitive change. This analysis highlights that although some experiential techniques are used in forensic psychology to facilitate cognitive change (e.g., schema therapy), there is still a key focus on rational reasoning techniques such as Socratic questioning, psychoeducation, and thought monitoring. In this paper, I argue that current methods of instigating cognitive change within offending populations neglect key strategies necessary to generate convincing cognitive change. I offer the BE as a convincing and effective technique for facilitating change in problematic offender cognition at both the rational and experiential levels. I offer several recommendations for how to design and incorporate BEs into forensic practice and provide examples of BE use in forensic settings.

A systematic review on factors affecting the likelihood of change blindness

The phenomenon of change blindness (CB) has been invoked in a number of fields of psychology, particularly eyewitness misidentification, but also hazard perception in driving behaviour. An extensive review of the existing literature suggested that there has been no systematic review to date that has investigated what factors affect CB in real-world contexts. This article aims to systematically review factors affecting CB when measured using film or real-world paradigms. Six electronic databases were searched for relevant references, alongside four E-theses. Seven experts were contacted for current and unpublished studies. Each study was compared against inclusion criteria, prior to selection and data synthesis. The full search yielded 12,656 publications; 3,654 duplicates were removed and an additional 8,693 irrelevant publications were excluded. A further 295 publications were removed for not meeting the inclusion criteria. One conference abstract was excluded as contact with the authors produced no response. A total of 13 articles that met the criteria were reviewed. Increasing attention, the saliency of the changed object and spatial violations significantly reduce CB, specifically when measured using the real-world and film paradigms; these have implications for forensic psychology practice relevant to innocent bystanders and eyewitness misidentifications, and witnesses making positive identifications. However, a number of methodological limitations were identified which should be taken into account in designing future research.