NCJ Number
160688
Date Published
1995
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Evaluating insanity and other forms of criminal responsibility constitutes one of the greatest challenges in forensic evaluations, primarily because these evaluations are complicated by their retrospective nature and by the application of unwieldy psycholegal standards.
Abstract
Due to the extended time framework in which an alleged crime often occurs, months to years in the past, psychologists must develop a comprehensive, multimethod database. This database can be used to assess self and other reports of the defendant at the time of the offense, self and other retrospective accounts of the defendant at the time of the offense, and self and other reports of the defendant at the present time. The nature of insanity evaluations and research on insanity and pretrial criminal evaluations using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2) are reviewed. Guidelines for using and interpreting the MMPI-2 in insanity evaluations are presented, and research recommendations on clinical and forensic uses of the MMPI-2 are offered. 84 references, 8 notes, and 2 tables