Diagnosing Criminal Defendants
Diagnosing Criminal Defendants
Prior to beginning this journal, read the article, “Are Forensic Experts Biased by the Side that Retained Them?,” and examine the subjective nature of forensic psychology concerning the evaluation of criminal defendants. In a one- to two-page journal entry:
Evaluate the influences that can contribute to differential diagnoses depending upon which side hires the psychologist to evaluate a criminal defendant.
Determine how to minimize cognitive bias.
As you reflect on the article for your journal, analyze the ethical considerations of
Diagnosing a defendant.
Diagnosing the legal implications of a negative diagnosis.
Based on your assigned readings, including this article, do you believe that such assessments as the PCL-R Checklist can provide accurate predictions of an individual’s behavior? Cite examples from your readings that support your analysis.
CRJ308 Psychology of Criminal Behavior
Week 2 Assignment
Origins of Crime: Biological, Developmental, or Situational?
Prior to beginning the assignment, review Chapters 4 and 5 in your textbook, where risk factors for criminal behavior are covered from a biological, developmental, and situational perspective. Keeping your own “client” in mind (that you chose for your final paper), please read the chapters and in this assignment please cover the following:
Assess the role (briefly) that all three (biological, developmental, and situational) perspectives play in influencing criminal behavior.
Choose one of the three perspectives (biological, developmental, or situational).
Evaluate the relationship between your chosen perspective and criminal behavior.
Illustrate a link between your client’s crimes and your chosen perspective based on the client you chose for your Comprehensive Case Study Report Final Paper.
Be sure to use examples from the textbook and your client’s case to support your assertions.
The Origins of Crime: Biological, Developmental, or Situational? paper
Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper,
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
Must use at least one scholarly, peer-reviewed, credible source in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.
CRJ308 Psychology of Criminal Behavior
Week 3 Assignment
Final Comprehensive Case Report Topic and Outline
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review the article “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Criminality: How Long Must We Live Before We Possess Our Own Lives? (Links to an external site.)” and the additional sources now present in the “Killer Bio” application (below) that pertain to you’re the killer you chose from the Week 1 Discussion. For your Final Case Report, due in Week 5, you will explore, in depth, one well-known criminal case. Using the same client as before, consult your Killer Bio app along with sources provided throughout the course:
In your online classroom, select the link “Killer Bios download” for a list of these infamous murderers. In that link, you will find several Ashford University Library sources on each murderer. In addition, there are some starter links listed below under each name.
Here, as in earlier assignments, the individual whose case you chose will be your client for the purpose of your Comprehensive Case Study Report Final Paper. That is, you have been hired as a mitigation specialist by this individual’s defense attorney to investigate, analyze, and present the underlying biopsychosocial factors that you found were present in this individual’s background and that may explain why your client committed such heinous criminal acts. For the purpose of your Final Paper in Week 5, we will assume that your client is facing the death penalty, and your job is to use the results of your biopsychosocial investigation to provide credible evidence that your client should not be executed by the state. For this assignment, we will proceed as if your client has not yet been sentenced and thus is still alive, even though in all of these cases, your client was ultimately found guilty and in some cases, may have been executed (or may be deceased).
Using the Ashford University Library, examine the criminal behaviors involved in your case using a minimum of four scholarly and/or credible sources.
In your paper,
Analyze a minimum of two particular psychological factors that explains the client’s criminal behavior, such as specific environmental/situational, biological, or mental health issues that may explain this individual’s crimes.
Create an outline that examines a minimum of two particular psychological factors explaining your client’s criminal behaviors.
Note: For further information regarding the proper format for Outlining (Links to an external site.), visit the Ashford Writing Center.
Each topic or step of the outline should include two to three sentences regarding what will be discussed in that section, focusing on the particular psychological factors that explains the criminal behaviors
Cite specific examples from the sources that support your research and analysis. For example, if you find that your sources show early childhood trauma is a factor in criminal behavior and your client suffered early childhood trauma, or had a high ACES score, write about that connection between your source and your client’s case.
Note: You are encouraged to integrate any feedback from your instructor and upload the assignment to your ePortfolio (Links to an external site.).
The Final Comprehensive Case Report Topic and Outline paper
Must be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
Must use at least four scholarly, peer-reviewed, credible sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
CRJ308 Psychology of Criminal Behavior
Week 4 Assignment
My Son Was a Columbine Shooter
Prior to beginning this journal, please watch the video, My Son Was a Columbine Shooter. This Is My Story (Links to an external site.). In a one- to two-page journal entry:
Examine Mrs. Klebold’s observations about the link between mental health and violent criminal behavior. What have you learned in the course so far that supports what Mrs. Klebold asserts in her talk?
It is clear that Mrs. Klebold is grappling to understand how she missed signs that her son could be so violent, and that he was in fact suicidal. It seems, based on the diversion program paperwork you read, that the juvenile justice system missed it as well. Based on what you have learned in the course so far about the nature of mental illness, violent behavior, and crime, explain to Mrs. Klebold why she and the system were unable to prevent this horrible tragedy from occurring.
CRJ308 Psychology of Criminal Behavior
Week 5 Assignment
Comprehensive Case Study Report
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review the Week 3 Final Comprehensive Case Report Topic and Outline assignment and your discussions in Weeks 1, 3, and 4 that pertain to this Final Paper.
For the Final Paper, you will take on the role of a death penalty mitigation expert hired by the defense attorney to work as a sentencing advocate on behalf of the client/defendant. Based upon the chosen case from the attached list (that was selected in Week 1), you will create a comprehensive case study report arguing against the death penalty for your client (the perpetrator). This report will contain an analysis of the psychological factors that may have contributed to the commission of the crimes in the chosen case study and how these psychological factors should be considered a basis for a prison sentence less than the death penalty.
In your online classroom, select the link “Killer Bios download” for a list of these infamous murderers. In that link, you will find several Ashford University Library sources on each murderer. In addition, there are some starter links listed below under each name.
In your paper,
Summarize the chosen case.
Evaluate the biopsychosocial factors that led the client to commit his or her crimes.
Explain the psychological, situational/social, and biological factors that you believe led to the offender’s criminality.
Evaluate how these factors may have contributed to committing violent crimes.
Identify whether your client suffered from a mental illness.
Identify the diagnosis and how the diagnostic criteria was met.
Evaluate the ACEs score you calculated for your client in the Week 3 Adverse Childhood Experiences discussion, to the extent that you were able to answer the questions based on what you could out about your client’s history.
Explain the impact of childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect may have on criminal behavior.
Examine whether your client had any events in life that could be considered traumatic such that this could have influenced the criminal behavior.
Explain what the scientific research says about the impact of trauma on criminal/violent behavior.
Analyze any other mitigating factors that may provide a credible argument against a death sentence for your client.
(That is, was your client gainfully employed? Did your client lack a significant criminal history prior to the most recent offenses? Mitigating factors can be anything that humanizes your client and thus makes him/her seem like a candidate for a lesser sentence than death).
Evaluate the mitigating circumstances found in this report.
Propose a specific psychosocial intervention based on your evaluation of the client and case such as counseling, medication, restitution, and so forth. (This proposed intervention will serve as your argument that the death penalty is not appropriate for your client based on these mitigating factors.)
Summarize your analysis and restate your intervention in the conclusion.
The Comprehensive Case Study Report
Must be six to eight double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper and must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
Must use at least four scholarly, peer-reviewed, credible sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment. Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
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