130 5 Court and the Legal System-—Adult ForensicsThe Supreme Court has upheld rulings that a defendant can present "less reliable"
evidence banned by a State statute (Chambers v. Mississippi, 1973; Rock v, Arkansas,
1987). The Court explained that a defendant's Fourteenth Amendment right to
present evidence is paramount to the state's ability to ban such evidence. Heilbrun
(1992) recognizes the potential for "... a similar approach to the admissibility of
expert mental health testimony based on psychological testing, even if they were
inclined to exclude some tests on the grounds of limited psychometric rigor"
(p. 261).
Hoiub (1992) found that in two-thirds of the cases in which clinicians used tests,
the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), the Rorschach Psychodiagnostic Inkblots
(Rorschach), or the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt tests were used. In a study con-
ducted by Borum and Grisso (1995), 68% of forensic psychologists rated psycho-
logical testing as essential or recommended in evaluations for criminal responsibility,
with 32% rating it as optional. Of the 94% of forensic psychologists mentioning spe-
cific tests, 96% indicated that they used objective personality inventories (typically
the MMPI or MMPI-2). Intelligence tests were utilized by 80%) of the psycholo-
gists followed by neuropsychological instruments at 50% and finally projective tests
at 42%. In competence to stand trial evaluations, 51% of the forensic psycholo-
gists surveyed viewed psychological testing as essential or recommended and 49%
considered it optional.
For criminal responsibility evaluations, 46% of the forensic psychologists in this
sample reported they never used forensic assessment instruments (FAIs) and another
20% reported rarely using them. Of the remaining 34%), the break down was as
follows: 10%) sometime users, 12% frequent users, and 12% almost always users. In
competence to stand trial evaluations, 36% of forensic psychologists reported that
they almost always use FAIs and 36% reported that they never use them. Borum and
Grisso (1995) reported that The Competency to Stand Trial Assessment Instrument
and the Competency Screening Test were undoubtedly the most popular FAIs used.
According to Podboy and Kastl (1993), frequent misuse of standard psychological
tests include ignorance of the reliability and validity of a particular test, incomplete
administration, overreliance on a single test or scale, failure to correlate test results
with other available data, and failure to address malingering. Lanyon (1986) notes
that in many cases mental health professionals have the awkward task of trying to
assess mental state at the time of the alleged offense with instruments that assess
current mental functioning. These types of evaluations are done retrospectively and
require other sources of data including police reports, medical or mental health
records, psychosocial history from friends and family, and the like (Heilbrun, 1992;
Lanyon, 1986; Melton et al, 1997).
Melton ct al. (1997) suggest there are limitations regarding traditional clini-
cal methods in gaining accurate information from forensic populations. These re-
searchers note the potential for malingering, defensiveness, and even normal for-
getfulness. Lanyon (1986) maintains that this population is greatly invested in a