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Forensic
psychology is able to provide useful examinations and expert testimony
in a limited number of criminal cases. These areas include competency,
child sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, violent offending, eyewitness
misidentification, false confessions, and risk of re-offending at
sentencing.
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Allegations
of child sexual abuse are almost always a "he said, she
said" legal event. Because your client cannot prove
innocence, examinations usually focus on child witness
reliability. Expert witness opinions on child witness reliability
can include:
1)
the young age of the child where pre-school children have
difficulty knowing/remembering whether they experienced an event,
saw it on TV or were simply told about it;
2) child witness suggestibility/coaching
3) allegations during custody disputes
4) misleading or suggestive interviews
5) child witnesses who suffer from mental
disorders/delusions and,
6) child witness who suffer from conduct
disorders and have a history of lying, stealing, and violence.
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| Sentencing
is often the forgotten phase of the trial. Nearly 90% of criminal
jury trials result in a guilty verdict. Nearly 90% of all
indictments are pled out.
Whether
your client receives probation, a minimum, medium or maximum
sentence depends on 3 factors; how heinous was the crime, is your
client remorseful and, what is the risk of future danger to the
community.
A risk
assessment for future re-offending can let the Judge or jury know
that your client has a low, moderate or high risk of re-offending
over the next 5, 15, or 24 years. A risk assessment for ability to
meet the conditions of probation can let the Judge/jury know if
probation is going to be successful.
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| Eyewitness
misidentification is the single most frequent reason for false
imprisonment according to DNA exonerations. Eyewitness
misidentifications can result from at least 14 different risky
factors including unfair photo arrays, a focus on the weapon and
not the face, cross-racial poor identifications and the viewing of
mug shots that include your client.
Examination
of these misidentification factors can inform jurors that seeing
is not always believing. To test your skills at witness
identification, try this link: The
Art of Crime Detection
For
further reading on eyewitness misidentification please reference
the following:
Article
#1
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| False
confessions are the second most frequent (after eyewitness
misidentification) reason for false imprisonment. People
falsely confess to be able to leave the interrogation room,
because they are protecting others and, because they are
suggestible.
The
evaluation of suggestibility and the evaluation of coercion by
interrogators can lead to a motion to quash a tainted confession.
For
further reading on false confessions please reference the
following:
Article
#1
Article
#2
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Click
Here to submit your case for review or call (214) 202-7344 with your
case facts.
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