Forensic Psychology and the Law : Waco Criminal Law Blog

This is a guest post by Allison Gamble. She can be reached at alliegamble812@gmail.com

Forensic Psychology and the Criminal Justice System

?Dating back to the late 19th century, the field of forensic psychology adds another profound dimension to the criminal justice system. Forensic psychologists are combined criminal justice experts and psychologists. They can be trained in clinical, social, or any other branch of psychology. To be credible and useful as expert witnesses, they must also be familiar with the law and the workings of the judiciary system in order to interpret psychological findings and information for use in legal contexts.

?This interpretive role is forensic psychologists' primary legal function. They are often called upon to evaluate defendants' capability to stand trial, or determine their sanity at the time the crime was committed. They also provide psychological services within the legal context including assessing witness credibility, making treatment recommendations, conducting adult and juvenile pre-sentencing evaluations, and counseling offenders on probation.

?All these services provide a jury with insight into defendants' state of mind. Besides the value of such insight to court proceedings, the specialized psychological perspective enables authorities to appropriately handle and treat mentally ill defendants and rehabilitate offenders. Combining the science of psychology with the system of criminal justice results in a more effective judicial system able not only to punish offenders but facilitate the mental health help they may require.

?One example of a case in which forensic psychology has played a significant part is the case of 42-year-old David Tarloff. Tarloff was on trial for murdering a doctor who shared an office with Tarloff's intended victim, Dr. Kent Shinbach. Tarloff, who has a history of obsessive behavior, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and repeatedly committed over the course of his life, intended to rob Shinbach of $50,000. This money would help him to remove his mother from a nursing home and take her on a trip to Hawaii. To aid in the robbery, he brought a meat cleaver with him to Shinbach's office. Upon arrival he encountered Dr. Shinbach's office mate, Dr. Kathryn Faughey. Convinced she was about to take his life, he cut Faughey 15 times with the meat cleaver, killing her.

?After the murder, Tarloff fled but was later captured by police when his palm prints were matched to prints on a suitcase filled with women's clothing left at the scene. When brought to court, he filed a plea of not guilty by way of insanity. He claimed he was temporarily insane, and was therefore not responsible for his actions. As evidence of this, he produced 10,000 pages of psychological records attesting to his mental instability, as well as his record of multiple arrests for assault and threatening homicide.

?The judge dismissed Tarloff's claim of temporary insanity because of a surveillance tape which showed him scoping out an escape route from the office, indicating premeditation of the crime. He was instead deemed mentally incompetent, which meant that he was unable to stand trial because he couldn't comprehend what was happening in the court proceedings. After a year in a state psychiatric hospital, he was assessed as able to stand trial.

?However, once he was taken to the courthouse, he refused to leave his holding cell. The judge ordered him back to the hospital, where he proceeded to remove his clothing and run naked around the ward. Again the judge ruled Tarloff mentally incompetent. He underwent a second psychological assessment, during which he refused to say a word. Officials at the hospital refused to divulge information about Tarloff to avoid running afoul of confidentiality laws, and ultimately Tarloff was deemed mentally incompetent for a third time.

?Without the assistance of forensic psychologists in this case, a man who was clearly not fit to stand trial could have been convicted of murder, when what he really needed was serious psychiatric help. Forensic psychologists are absolutely essential in high-profile cases such as this, as well as more routine ones. While the image of forensic psychologists as ace investigators with uncanny insight into the minds of criminals may be played up by popular crime dramas, their pivotal role as facilitators of fair and conscientious legal proceedings can't be underestimated.

Source: http://www.wacocriminallawblog.com/2011/09/articles/forensics/forensic-psychology-and-the-law/

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