Forensic Competency Assessment with Digital Technologies.

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: We review the application of videoconferencing (VC) to pretrial forensic assessments of competence to stand trial (CST). We summarize the benefits, legal considerations, and reliability of VC evaluations. Based on our experience with VC in forensic settings, we provide illustrations of challenges and recommendations regarding this capability to meet increasing demands for services. RECENT FINDINGS: CST evaluations are the most frequent type of forensic mental health assessment within the American legal system. VC can be a reliable method for conducting interviews with most defendants, including those with psychotic symptoms. Videoconferencing can improve the overall efficiency of evaluations while also improving the safety of the professionals involved with the competency evaluation. VC provides an opportunity to meet the increasing demand for evaluations and improve their efficiency. Forensic clinicians should become familiar with the uses of VC in delivering services so that VC is implemented ethically and effectively.

The competence-related abilities of adolescent defendants in criminal court.

Increasing numbers of youths are being tried in criminal court because of statutory measures that have decreased the use of judicial review as the primary mechanism for transfer. The relative immaturity of adolescents suggests that transferred youths might have impaired competence-related abilities compared to adults. To test this hypothesis, we compared the competence-related abilities and developmental characteristics of a sample of direct-filed 16-17-year-olds charged in criminal court in the state of Florida (Direct File sample) to a sample of 18-24-year-old adults charged in criminal courts (Adult Offender sample) and to a separate sample of 16-17-year-olds charged in juvenile court (Juvenile Court sample). Results indicated that there were few differences between the Direct File youths and Adult Offenders. The differences that were observed suggested that the Direct Filed youths performed slightly better than the Adult Offender group and the Juvenile Court youths charged in juvenile court. These findings suggest that as a group, 16-17-year-old Direct File adolescents do not have significant deficits in competence-related abilities due to age or immaturity.

Use of video conferencing for psychiatric and forensic evaluations.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether the quality of results from video interviews is comparable with that of in-person interviews. METHODS: Interrater reliabilities for two video conference interview conditions were compared with those for in-person interviews with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-Anchored Version and the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication, given to 72 forensic inpatients. The video conditions included in-person and remote interviewers. In the first condition, an in-person interviewer administered the instruments, with remote observation and scoring. The second condition entailed remote administration and an in-person observer. The third condition used an in-person interviewer and observer. RESULTS: Good to excellent reliabilities resulted from all conditions with intraclass correlations of .69 to .82. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that providers can expect remote interviews to provide clinical information similar to that obtained by in-person interviews.

Validity and structure of a self-report measure of youth psychopathy.

An interest in early identification of youth who may be at risk of psychopathy has generated measures for age-appropriate screening and assessment. This study examines the structural, concurrent, and divergent validity of the Psychopathy Content Scale, a 20-item self-report instrument derived from the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI). Data for 481 youths who had taken the MACI, the Child Behavior Checklist Youth Self-Report (YSR), and the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument, Second Version (MAYSI-2), were analyzed. Results showed that the PCS is best described by a two-factor model and that analyses of the two factors offer limited support for convergent and divergent validity. High scores on both factors were associated with high YSR and MAYSI-2 scales, suggesting that the measure identified youth who were distressed on several measures of emotional, psychological, and behavioral disorder.