Case Study Analysis

Case Study: The Role of the Forensic Psychology Professional in Capital Punishment Sentencing

Mr. Fryer has a long history of psychiatric hospitalizations related to his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. His delusions revolve around the belief in uniformed spies who have been sent to execute him. He reports auditory and visual hallucinations when not on his medication. He was arrested for trespassing after he was found sleeping in the delivery shed of a warehouse.

During his stay in jail, he was put on antipsychotic medications, and he was released with time served after spending fifty-four days in the jail. Upon his release, he returned to live on the streets and stopped taking his medications. While sleeping on a park's bench, he was assaulted by several youths, who hit and kicked him. Although his assailants left him on the ground with no serious injuries, Mr. Fryer was convinced that the juveniles who assaulted him were spies who would return to assassinate him.

He found a seventeen-inch pipe to use as a defensive weapon, and, fearing for his life, he hid in the shadows the remainder of the evening. In the morning, he saw two uniformed youths approaching him. A twelve-year-old boy and his fourteen-year-old brother were on their way to a Boy Scout meeting. Mr. Fryer ran up behind the boys and started swinging the pipe wildly, screaming they would never take him alive.

He struck the twelve-year-old boy on the head, causing him severe brain trauma. The fourteen-year-old boy was able to flee but only after receiving a blow on the face. Mr. Fryer returned to the twelve-year-old boy and bludgeoned him to death.

He was still hitting the lifeless body when the police arrived. As soon as the police car pulled up, he dropped the pipe and sat in silence as he was subdued. He was determined by the court to be not competent to stand trial and was committed to a state hospital for restoration of competence. After eight months of pharmacological treatment, he was determined by the court to be competent to stand trial and was subsequently tried and convicted of capital murder.

The following are the mitigating circumstances in this case:

• At the time of the offense, Mr. Fryer was under extreme emotional and mental distress.

• At the time of the offense, Mr. Fryer was substantially unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his act or conform his actions to the requirements of the law.

The following are the aggravating circumstances in this case:

• The crime was committed in a wanton, atrocious, and cruel manner.

• Mr. Fryer is likely to commit criminal acts in the future.

Tasks:

Respond to the following points in a minimum of 250 words:

• You are hired by the defense to assist in the sentencing phase. Analyze the case study and address the following:

o How should you proceed? Provide reasons to support your answer.

o What roles do the mitigating and aggravating circumstances play in capital sentencing?

o What issues will you address as a forensic psychology professional?

o How will you support your opinion in front of the court? Provide examples and references.

o How would you prepare for direct examinations and cross-examinations?

With two paragraph responses

Legal Requirements

The insanity defense is as old as it is controversial. There are times when insanity truly applies and times when it is not easy to determine. In either case, the documentation of services provided to these clients is typically heavily scrutinized by attorneys since documentation is the primary means used by courts to measure insanity as it meets legal standards.

This assignment will allow you to examine the legal standards for insanity in your jurisdiction in addition to the requirements for the documentation of services provided to these individuals.

Tasks:

Search your state and regulatory boards, professional associations, state psychology boards, and state psychological associations. Use resources from professional literature to support your response. Professional literature may include relevant textbooks; peer-reviewed journal articles; and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, and .gov).

Write a 3- to 4-page paper, including the following:

• What are the legal requirements in your jurisdiction regarding the documentation of services provided by a forensic psychology professional? If not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity (NGRI) and guilty-but-mentally-ill (GBMI) evaluations are not recognized by your jurisdiction, review the legal requirements in a jurisdiction where they are the standard.

• What are the specific laws and rules regarding the documentation of psychological services?

• What are the differences between the requirements for clinical work and the requirements for forensic work, if any?

• What standards are used in your jurisdiction for an insanity plea?

• Do the insanity standards identify mental disease or defect with any exclusions, such as substance use? Explain.

• How do the standards in your jurisdiction contrast with the standards presented in your course textbooks?

• Do the insanity laws specify the presence of cognitive or volitional impairment as a threshold requirement to meet insanity? Provide brief examples.

Forensic Assessment Report Writing

Evaluation report writing is an essential component of a psychology professional's work with clients in the legal system. The results of evaluations have to be reported accurately to third parties and have to be written in a clear and plain language that reflects the information obtained from all relevant sources, including the evaluator's subjective opinion, the collateral information, and the objective test data.

Accurate reporting of information to courts is crucial since it will potentially have great influence on the outcomes of the relevant legal proceedings.

Tasks:

Using your textbook and the Argosy University online library resources, discuss how you would write (in about 350 words) and present a risk assessment to the parole board, considering the following:

• The influence of the Daubert Standard on the written report

• The concept of reasonable certainty in reporting objective and subjective data in the report

• The importance of basing results of the assessment on normative data

• The reporting of client's response styles during the assessment

• Your preparedness to conduct a peer review of the written risk assessment

Your response should rely upon at least two sources from additional professional literature; the sources must be cited in APA format.

The literature may include relevant textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, and .gov).

With two one paragraph responses

Custody Evaluation

Forensic professionals are often called upon to provide opinions about custody in cases of divorce, parental termination, and reestablishment of custody after a child has been removed from the custodial parent's home. Specific ethical and legal parameters govern when and how a professional should offer such an opinion in a legal setting. For this assignment, you will be asked to provide an analysis of factors relevant to custody evaluations or evaluations for termination of parental rights.

Tasks:

In a 3- to 4-page paper, address the following:

• The best interests of the child, with a specific focus on how this is defined in the APA guidelines

• The manner in which the best-interest decisions are influenced by the wishes of the child

• The difference between a fact and an expert witness in the cases of child custody

• The specific procedures, including parent interviews, child interviews, observations, and objective tests, used in custody evaluations

• The issues surrounding confidentiality, privilege, and privacy in custody evaluations

• The court testimony in custody evaluations, with emphasis on the collective use of data and opinion versus fact in reporting the results

Use three additional resources from professional literature to support your response. Professional literature may include relevant textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, and .gov).