FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY

Case Vignette for Comprehensive Examination
Please read the vignette carefully. Based on information provided in the vignette, please compose a well-written and organized response to each of the questions that follow.
Kevin is a sixteen-year-old, African American male, from a northern urban area, awaiting trial for Sexual Assault, Burglary, and False Imprisonment. The State’s Attorney is asking that he be charged as an adult over defense objections. He is currently being held at a state juvenile detention facility that provides assessment and treatment of juvenile offenders.
Kevin reported that his father left his mother prior to his birth and that his mother raised him. While he stated that he has always had a close relationship with his mother and maintains contact with her, records indicate that when Kevin was six, his mother was investigated by Child Protective Services for child neglect. About this time, his mother married his stepfather, who ultimately died in a car accident when Kevin was twelve years old. Kevin reported experiencing a serious loss from this stepfather’s death and claimed it triggered his disruptive childhood behavior. Kevin reported that having his step-dad’s additional income helped stabilize things around the house. In addition, Kevin reported feeling emotionally connected to his step-dad, “Who was interested in the things I was doing, and pushed me to do my best.” Kevin stated, “Everything was fine until my step-dad died. I wanted to be in control, and was pissed off at authority, cause I lost the dominant force in my life.”
According to file information, Kevin began acting out at an early age. His first contact with the local police was at age eight for running away from home. By the age of thirteen, he was made a ward of the juvenile court for being beyond the control of his mother and running away from home. According to his mother’s report, Kevin would lie to her “about everything.” Kevin has an older brother and a younger sister. He claims that his stepfather would encourage his older brother and Kevin to fight and that he learned from a young age to be aggressive.
His previous juvenile adjudications include: driving without a license, burglary (two counts), and assault causing bodily harm. The two burglaries occurred during two separate time periods when he broke into houses. The first burglary occurred when he was thirteen and was caught in a neighbor’s house stealing a camera and a wallet. The second occurred when Kevin burglarized a house and was surprised to find the victim at home. He forced her into her bedroom at knifepoint and stole her purse. The assault, causing bodily harm, occurred when he was fourteen years old.Click Here To Get More On This Paper!!!!
The assault, causing bodily harm, occurred when he was fourteen years old. Upon the suggestion of his probation officer, Kevin had been matched with a Big Brother. According to the court documents, Kevin saw this Big Brother five times with no apparent conflict. On the sixth outing, the Big Brother had taken Kevin out to lunch and had brought Kevin to his office. While there, the Big Brother (victim) had “lectured” Kevin on the importance of staying in school and out of trouble. The office visit lasted approximately one and one half hours and then the victim drove Kevin home. At the front door, Kevin told the victim that he wanted to give him something. Kevin went into his house and got a hockey stick. He then hit the victim three times across the head with the stick. The victim managed to grab the hockey stick from Kevin and a neighbor came to help hold Kevin until the police arrived. The victim had one cut to the side of his head that needed six stitches to close. Kevin reported that the assault would not have happened if the victim had “kept his mouth shut.” To date, Kevin has spent a total of eighteen months in juvenile facilities as a result of his juvenile offending. When asked whether he had committed any undetected crimes, he stated that he had broken into “lots” of homes. He claimed he has learned to wait until the homeowners are at home and then to break into their house when they are sleeping. He refused to provide a more specific number for the times he had done this, but stated “I enjoy sneaking around the bedroom when people are sleeping.”
Academically Kevin has done quite poorly. School records indicate that he complained he was bored by classes and skipped out of school frequently. He was considered a discipline problem by his teachers. He was suspended several times for fighting in elementary school (starting in grade three), although he was never expelled. He was placed in a structured full-time educational program for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children when he was twelve. The teacher reports that he was able to complete his academic tasks in the morning, but that he had great difficulty staying on task in the afternoon. It is during the afternoon that his violent outbursts occurred. He has threatened the teacher and other students on several occasions. He failed grade six, but blamed his teacher for picking on him unfairly. He reported wanting to drop out of school since he could learn everything he needed to know on the street.
Kevin has a minimal employment history in the community. When he was fourteen, he worked part of the summer for his uncle’s plumbing business. Kevin was often late for work and occasionally did not show up at all. When his Uncle confronted him about this behavior, he always had an excuse. When asked about his future goals he said, “Maybe I could get some girls working for me.” When asked what he meant, he refused to elaborate. He then stated he believed he could easily get a job involving computers. He acknowledged that he might need to get his high school diploma but then stated that it is unlikely he would get one because he had “other plans.” When asked what these plans involved, he smirked and said, “That is not something you need to know.”
With respect to his sexual history, Kevin reports having first experienced sexual intercourse when he was twelve years old with an eighteen-year-old female. He described the incident as occurring at his friend’s house. According to Kevin’s report, his friend’s older sister came into the room where he was sleeping and “climbed on top of him.” He describes this as a “good introduction” and that “He has not had trouble finding girls ever since.” Later in the interview, Kevin reported he started dating when he was thirteen-years-old and reported that he “has had five girlfriends.” He describes most of these relationships as lasting a couple of weeks.
His longest relationship, “with a girlfriend has been four months.” He ended the relationship when she accused him of sleeping with other teenage young women. He acknowledged he had slapped her on one occasion for “lipping off” at him. He acknowledged that he had been having sex with other young women, but that she knew he had a reputation as being a “slut.”
In one report, Kevin denied a history of substance abuse except the social use of alcohol. He reported that he had only tried marijuana when he was fourteen years old but did not like it. During the current intake assessment, he stated that he had started sniffing PAM when he was eleven and has tried pot, hash, amphetamines, and cocaine, but that the only drug he uses and likes is pot. He admitted he first tried alcohol when he was 10 and that he was drinking regularly prior to his current offense. He denies ever being addicted to any drug.
In juvenile facilities, Kevin has received twenty rule violations over the course of his two juvenile terms. He violated rules by disobeying orders, possessing alcohol, and destroying state property. In addition, he has violated rules several times for being verbally abusive to female custody officers. Most recently he stated, “Kiss my ass, you fat CO bitch.” He has also been known to stare at female custody officers in an intimidating fashion. He is demanding and confrontational with staff and other young offenders. He is aware of his behavior and the effect it has on others, but seems to enjoy the attention it brings him.
Kevin has been on probation on two prior occasions. He has had a difficult time adjusting both times. He received probation for both his first two burglary convictions. During the first probation, he missed three appointments and regularly violated his curfew. He was on probation when he committed the assault on his Big Brother.Click Here To Get More On This Paper!!!!
Kevin admitted to one previous charge of sexual assault at an adjudication hearing. The victim was a twenty-year-old woman who returned to her home at 10:30 pm. She entered her residence and went into her bedroom. Kevin came out from behind the door and grabbed her, covering her mouth. He had a large knife in his other hand. He tied a scarf around her wrists. She started to scream and he threatened to kill her if she screamed again. He stuffed a pair of socks in her mouth, pushed her down on the bed and raped her, and told her he would come back if she called the police. He stole her purse and cell phone and cut the telephone line. A neighbor called the police reporting he heard someone screaming. Police arrived and Kevin was apprehended in the neighborhood. Kevin says he did not feel distressed or scared after the offense and felt that he had “not really harmed the victim.”
Kevin denies committing any other sexual crimes, including the most recent charge. That charge was similar in its execution to the previous sexual assault, but this time, he raped his victim. Kevin now describes his past sexual offense as impulsive and claims he did not burglarize the house with the intention of harming the occupant. He initially agreed to submit to a penile plethysmograph as part of his pre-treatment assessment, but when he arrived at the testing room he refused to participate. Kevin dropped out of the first treatment program after refusing to admit he had any deviant sexual problems. He was described by the therapist as having a reputation for “telling a lot of stories” and for portraying himself as “some type of VIP.” They felt that he was only superficially engaged in the treatment process and was continually challenging authority. More recently, he has completed three months of a five-month cognitive-behavioral treatment program. He is described as being a good participant, acknowledging the harm done to his victim, and developing a good relapse prevention plan. Reports indicated that he still insists that his offense was not planned, but an impulsive expression of anger. However, a progress report indicated that Kevin has good impulse control and concluded that he targeted his victim and broke in after ensuring his victim would be alone. He also continues to deny any sexual motivation for the rape.
During the interview Kevin was talkative, suspicious, and, at times, angry. There was no evidence of thought disorder. He denied having homicidal or suicidal thoughts. Kevin was somewhat controlling during the interview – he would interrupt and would begin to question the interviewer about her qualifications.
Task Identification
As mentioned earlier, Kevin is currently being held at a state juvenile detention facility that provides assessment and treatment of juvenile offenders. You are a case manager assigned to develop a comprehensive forensic and mental health service and referral plan.
Based on the vignette provided, please compose a well-written and organized response to each of the following questions. When writing your responses, please:Click Here To Get More On This Paper!!!!

• Use APA (6th edition) Style, with 1-inch margins, double-spaced, 12 font, with a reference list at the end.
• Write clearly and concisely.
• Cite appropriate, and especially current, literature (empirical and/or theoretical).
• Avoid all sexist idioms and allusions.
• Remember to demonstrate your multicultural competence where appropriate.

• Written Assignment Standards
• All written assignments submitted are expected to be of the highest caliber and consistent with quality professional standards and should demonstrate mastery of standard American English. The university-approved edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association must be followed. The manual provides explicit instructions on how to structure work, construct references, create headings, present ideas, generate tables, report numbers and statistics correctly, and more. The manual organizes all written work products and all students must strictly adhere to APA style, format, and organization.

• APA Resources
• The following reference materials on style and format are published by the American Psychology Association ( http://www.apastyle.org/):
• APA Publications Web Site
• http://www.apa.org/about/publicprod.html
• APA Manual & Related Resources
• http://www.apastyle.org/pubmanual.html
• APA Style Helper (Electronic)
• http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

• Reference on Ethics
• Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology
• http://www.apa.org/practice/guidelines/forensic-psychology.aspx

Psychological Theory and Practice

A. What assessment would you conduct to enhance your understanding of the client’s problems and how would they direct your diagnostic formation? In addition, what formal assessment procedures (conducted either by you or by someone you would refer to) would enhance your understanding of the problems and direct your treatment planning? Why?

B. Provide a possible multi-axial diagnosis (based on all five (5) axes of the DSM-IV-TR) for this individual. In narrative form, describe the differential diagnostic thought process that you used to reach your hypotheses. What additional information would you need for each of the possible diagnoses in order to confirm your diagnoses and rule out the others?Click Here To Get More On This Paper!!!!

Legal Theory and Application

A. Describe the background, current presentation, and behavior of the client from a perspective that takes into consideration theories of offender and/or victim psychology and personality/psychopathology theories to support your position. (Do not simply restate the client’s presentation from the vignette. Provide a theoretical-based discussion of the client that will later help guide your suggested treatment approach. For example, if you were going to recommend Gestalt treatment, you would provide a theoretical formulation from a Gestalt perspective in this section).

B. Describe the psycho-legal standards and/or definitions for each of the following: competence to stand trial, risk of dangerousness, and insanity. Identify and describe one or more landmark case(s) for each standard (at least three cases total). Describe the elements or issues that a mental health professional usually focuses on when assessing a person’s adjudicative competence, risk and insanity, and any additional items that might be especially important to focus on in the provided vignette.

Research and Evaluation

A. Describe tests or assessment procedures you would employ to address these forensic issues (competence to stand trial, risk of dangerousness, and insanity) (you may refer to these from the Psychological Theory and Assessment Section A. if you already covered them there), and discuss what your anticipated conclusions would be based upon information provided in the vignette.Click Here To Get More On This Paper!!!!

B. Develop one empirically supported therapeutic treatment plan for the client in the vignette. Please make sure you identify the name of the theory your treatment plan is based on and summarize the empirical evidence with appropriate citations to support your treatment choice in working with this client. Be sure to discuss the effectiveness and limitations in working with this particular client (including effectiveness/limitations in working with this particular client’s background using the above theories and treatment plans)

Interpersonal Effectiveness

A. What factors or cultural considerations would you take into account in rendering diagnoses, case conceptualization, and treatment planning? What other cultural factors may be salient for this client?
B. Your writing, use of citations, and proper APA Style will be evaluated as a measure of your interpersonal effectiveness. No response is required for B.

Leadership, Consultation, and Ethics

C. Describe how you would work within a professional team to consult, triage, and/or treat this case. Include a description of the various members of the professional team with which you would be likely to interact.
D. What are the ethical and legal dilemmas this vignette introduced? What would be your immediate steps and why? Please be specific and make sure that you describe your process of ethical decision making and the solutions/consequences this process might lead to.

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