RESUMEN
Traditionally, high levels of suggestibility have been widely assumed to be linked with diminished Miranda abilities, especially in relationship to the voluntariness of waivers. The current investigation examined suggestibility on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales in a multisite study of pretrial defendants. One important finding was the inapplicability of British norms to American jurisdictions. Moreover, suggestibility appeared unrelated to Miranda comprehension, reasoning, and detainees' perceptions of police coercion. In testing rival hypotheses, defendants with high compliance had significantly lower Miranda comprehension and ability to reason about exercising Miranda rights than their counterparts with low compliance. Implications of these findings to forensic practice are examined.
Asunto(s)
Coerción , Crimen/legislación & jurisprudencia , Prisioneros/psicología , Sugestión , Poblaciones Vulnerables/psicología , Humanos , Oklahoma , TexasRESUMEN
Accurately predicting inpatient aggression is an important endeavor. The current study investigated inpatient aggression over a six-month time period in a sample of 152 male forensic patients. We assessed constructs of psychopathy, anger, and active symptoms of mental illness and tested their ability to predict reactive and instrumental aggression. Across all levels of analyses, anger and active symptoms of mental illness predicted reactive aggression. Traits of psychopathy, which demonstrated no relationship to reactive aggression, were a robust predictor of instrumental aggression. This study (a) reestablishes psychopathy as a clinically useful construct in predicting inpatient instrumental aggression, (b) provides some validation for the reactive/instrumental aggression paradigm in forensic inpatients, and (c) makes recommendations for integrating risk assessment results into treatment interventions.
Asunto(s)
Agresión/clasificación , Pacientes Internos/psicología , Adolescente , Adulto , Anciano , Agresión/psicología , Trastorno de Personalidad Antisocial/diagnóstico , Predicción , Medicina Legal , Hospitales Provinciales , Humanos , Estudios Longitudinales , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estudios Prospectivos , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Encuestas y Cuestionarios/normas , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
Miranda vocabulary forms the essential foundation for Miranda comprehension and subsequent decisions to exercise or waive Miranda rights. The purpose of the current study is the development of the Miranda Vocabulary Scale (MVS), designed to evaluate key vocabulary words found in Miranda warnings and waivers across American jurisdictions. A preliminary list of MVS words was refined by expert ratings and by each word's discriminability between failed and good Miranda comprehension. Miranda and other measures were collected at multiple sites on 376 pretrial defendants. With further refinements, the MVS is composed of 36 words with excellent scale homogeneity and interrater reliability (r = .99). It also demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity for cognitive abilities and psychological impairment.
Asunto(s)
Derechos Civiles/legislación & jurisprudencia , Comprensión , Crimen/legislación & jurisprudencia , Culpa , Aplicación de la Ley/métodos , Prisioneros/legislación & jurisprudencia , Vocabulario , Adulto , Humanos , Defensa por Insania , Competencia Mental/legislación & jurisprudencia , Oklahoma , Prisioneros/psicología , Medidas de Seguridad/legislación & jurisprudencia , TexasRESUMEN
Traditional conceptualizations of psychopathy highlight the importance of affective features as they relate to social deviance; however, little empirical research has actually investigated specific roles of emotion and emotion processing with respect to antisocial conduct. Antisocial personality disorder (APD), prevalent in forensic populations, is commonly associated with psychopathy despite the notable omission of such core affective features in its diagnosis. In this paper, we review the empirical literature on the contribution of emotion to psychopathy and APD, highlighting in particular research on emotion processing and various facets of emotional expression, including empathy and alexithymia. Research findings are discussed on gender differences in emotional functioning and their likely effects on the assessment of psychopathy and APD. Given the known gender differences in the expressions of emotion, the article concludes with recommendations to bridge research for different offender groups, including psychopathy and APD.