Vitacco Michael J, Gottfried Emily D, Batastini Ashley B
Dr. Vitacco is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Augusta University, Augusta, GA. Dr. Gottfried is an Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Community and Public Safety Psychiatry Division, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC. Dr. Batastini is Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2018 Mar;46(1):71-77.
Criminal responsibility (or insanity) evaluations require forensic clinicians to reconstruct a defendant's decision-making abilities, behavioral control, and emotional state at the time of the criminal act. Forensic evaluators are ultimately tasked to evaluate whether an individual had the capacity to understand right from wrong, and in some jurisdictions, determine whether the defendant lacked substantial capacity to conform his behavior to the requirements of the law as a result of a threshold condition (e.g., mental illness). Insanity evaluations are inherently complex, because they require the clinician to determine someone's mental state at some point in the past (weeks, months, or even years). Recent research on insanity evaluations underscores significant problems with the reliability and validity of these evaluations. However, technological advances including social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), mandating that law enforcement videotape interrogations, and the use of body and dashboard cameras can aid clinicians in improving the precision and quality of insanity evaluations. This article discusses practical guidelines and ethics-related concerns regarding the use of technology to improve the objectivity of criminal responsibility evaluations.
刑事责任（或精神错乱）评估要求法医临床医生重构被告在犯罪行为发生时的决策能力、行为控制能力和情绪状态。法医评估人员的最终任务是评估一个人是否有辨别是非的能力，并且在某些司法管辖区，确定被告是否由于某种临界状况（如精神疾病）而缺乏使其行为符合法律要求的实质性能力。精神错乱评估本质上很复杂，因为它们要求临床医生确定某人在过去某个时间点（几周、几个月甚至几年前）的精神状态。最近关于精神错乱评估的研究强调了这些评估在可靠性和有效性方面存在的重大问题。然而，包括社交媒体（如脸书和推特）、要求执法部门对审讯进行录像以及使用身体摄像头和仪表盘摄像头在内的技术进步，可以帮助临床医生提高精神错乱评估的准确性和质量。本文讨论了关于使用技术提高刑事责任评估客观性的实用指南以及与伦理相关的问题。
