Intersection of Psychology and Legal System Flashcards
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Read the first 7 Intersection of Psychology and Legal System flashcards as text
Which psychological syndrome, sometimes raised as a defense, describes a pattern of behavior in abuse victims who remain in or return to abusive situations?
Answer: Battered woman syndrome
Battered woman syndrome, developed by Lenore Walker, is used to explain why victims of domestic abuse may not leave and may respond with defensive violence.
Under the Tarasoff duty, a therapist is legally required to take action when:
Answer: A client makes a credible threat against an identifiable third party
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California established the duty to protect an identifiable potential victim when a client poses a serious and credible threat.
Which type of validity is most critical when a psychological test is used to make legal decisions about a person's future behavior?
Answer: Predictive validity
Predictive validity measures how well a test forecasts future outcomes, making it essential for legal uses such as risk assessment and competency evaluations.
Which US Supreme Court ruling held that juveniles cannot be sentenced to mandatory life without parole, citing brain development research?
Answer: Miller v. Alabama
Miller v. Alabama (2012) held that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
In the context of expert testimony, the Daubert standard requires judges to assess whether scientific evidence is:
Answer: Peer-reviewed, testable, and based on known error rates
Under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993), federal judges act as 'gatekeepers' and evaluate testability, peer review, error rates, and general acceptance.
When a psychologist evaluates whether a person's will was overborne at the time of signing a legal document, they are assessing:
Answer: Testamentary capacity
Testamentary capacity refers to the legal and psychological ability to understand and execute a will, including knowing one's assets and the nature of making a will.
Which phenomenon explains why jurors may give undue weight to confident eyewitness testimony even when it is known to be unreliable?
Answer: Confidence-accuracy relationship misconception
Research shows that witness confidence is a poor predictor of accuracy, yet jurors consistently rate confident witnesses as more credible.