LSP Forensic Psychology & Legal Issues 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Supreme Court case held that executing individuals who were intellectually disabled constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment?
- Roper v. Simmons
- Atkins v. Virginia (Correct answer)
- Ford v. Wainwright
- Hall v. Florida
Correct answer: Atkins v. Virginia
Atkins v. Virginia (2002) ruled that executing persons with intellectual disability violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Question 2: The Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology emphasize that forensic practitioners should approach their work with:
- Therapeutic neutrality
- Reasonable forensic certainty and impartiality (Correct answer)
- Unconditional positive regard
- Strict confidentiality with the evaluee
Correct answer: Reasonable forensic certainty and impartiality
The Specialty Guidelines stress that forensic psychologists must maintain impartiality and base opinions on the data, striving for reasonable forensic certainty.
Question 3: A psychologist evaluating a capital defendant for intellectual disability must consider which landmark Supreme Court case regarding the use of a strict IQ cutoff score?
- Atkins v. Virginia
- Hall v. Florida (Correct answer)
- Roper v. Simmons
- Godinez v. Moran
Correct answer: Hall v. Florida
Hall v. Florida (2014) ruled that rigid IQ cutoffs (e.g., exactly 70) ignore the standard error of measurement and are unconstitutional in capital cases.
Question 4: Which concept refers to the therapeutic use of legal processes and the law's potential to promote psychological well-being?
- Forensic jurisprudence
- Therapeutic jurisprudence (Correct answer)
- Restorative justice
- Procedural justice
Correct answer: Therapeutic jurisprudence
Therapeutic jurisprudence examines the extent to which legal rules and procedures produce therapeutic or anti-therapeutic consequences for those involved.
Question 5: A juvenile is charged with a serious felony. Which factor is LEAST relevant to a transfer/waiver evaluation for trying the juvenile as an adult?
- Sophistication and maturity of the juvenile
- The juvenile's amenability to treatment
- The nature and seriousness of the offense
- The juvenile's performance on state achievement tests (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The juvenile's performance on state achievement tests
Academic achievement test scores are not among the standard Kent criteria used to determine whether to transfer a juvenile to adult court.
Question 6: Psychologists who work in correctional settings face a primary ethical tension between:
- Client confidentiality and the duty to warn
- The welfare of the individual offender and the security needs of the institution (Correct answer)
- Billing practices and insurance requirements
- Cultural competence and standardized assessment
Correct answer: The welfare of the individual offender and the security needs of the institution
Correctional psychologists must balance their obligation to individual clients' well-being against institutional security demands, which often limit confidentiality and treatment autonomy.
Question 7: Which instrument was specifically developed to assess psychopathy and has become central to violence risk assessment and sentencing evaluations?
- MMPI-3
- Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (Correct answer)
- Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY)
- Static-99
Correct answer: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)
The PCL-R, developed by Robert Hare, is the gold standard measure of psychopathy and is widely used in forensic risk assessment contexts.
LSP Forensic Psychology & Legal Issues 4
Which Supreme Court case held that executing individuals who were intellectually disabled constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment?