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14 - Decision-Making by Forensic Mental Health Evaluators

from Part II - Pretrial Phase Decision-Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2024

By
Marcus T. Boccaccini  and
Daniel C. Murrie
Edited by
Monica K. Miller ,
Logan A. Yelderman ,
Matthew T. Huss  and
Jason A. Cantone
Monica K. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
Logan A. Yelderman
Affiliation:
Prairie View A & M University, Texas
Matthew T. Huss
Affiliation:
Creighton University, Omaha
Jason A. Cantone
Affiliation:
George Mason University, Virginia
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Summary

In any legal case, there is a pool of possible forensic evaluators whom a court might order, or an attorney might retain, to conduct a forensic mental health evaluation. There is a growing body of research showing that these evaluators are not interchangeable. They differ somewhat in their attitudes, personality traits, opinions about how to conduct evaluations, and thresholds for reaching conclusions. These differences, coupled with the subjectivity inherent to psycholegal questions and the pull of adversarial allegiance to retaining parties, can lead to biased decision-making. Although there is some support for specialized training as a mechanism for reducing these biases, even increased training will never eliminate the subjective clinical judgment necessary for some aspects of forensic assessment. The goal is to work toward reducing the impact of hidden biases on case outcomes, which should lead to better decisions by both evaluators and consumers of their work.

Keywords

forensic assessmentforensic evaluationevaluator biasevaluator differencesadversarial allegianceevaluator empathyevaluator decision-making
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Legal Decision-Making , pp. 211 - 224
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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