When testifying as experts in court proceedings, mental health professionals are usually retained by one of two parties in the dispute. It is presumed by the judiciary and many mental health professionals that the expert remains objective, despite private retention. This stance, however, has been the subject of much debate. / Using an analogue design, this study examined the degree to which expert testimony offered by mental health professionals may be affected by side-of-retention. Graduate students enrolled in an APA-approved doctoral program in Clinical Psychology were randomly placed in one of two experimental groups (Prosecution-retained or Defendant-retained) and reviewed background information and psychological test materials from two court cases involving psychological issues. Upon reviewing the materials the subjects were asked to offer expert opinions regarding the relevant psychological issues. Their conclusions were then compared to determine whether affiliation or side-of-retention affected the conclusions they reached. / Overall, the results indicated that mental health professionals' clinical impressions and conclusions may be affected by side-of-retention. The demonstrated bias was considered to be unconscious and unintentional, indicating that practicioners in the legal and mental health professions must remain sensitive to this issue. Recommendations for further research are offered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: B, page: 0905. / Major Professor: Edwin Inglee Megargee. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Adversarial context (State vs. defense) and description of a hypothetical death-row inmate's crime (heinous vs. heinous) were investigated utilizing a clinically ambiguous competency-for-execution case. The extent to which competency evaluators' attitudes toward the death penalty, their beliefs about the ethics of participation in competency-for-execution evaluations, and their forensic experience predicted their competency decision-making were also investigated. Subjects were 195 forensic psychologists and psychiatrists who voluntarily replied to a mailed questionnaire addressing issues of competency-for-execution and data relevant to their competency decisions. No significant differences were evidenced between examiners on adversarial context and crime description. A two-group discriminant analysis resulted in a significant association between actual and predicted classifications on two variables: examiners' beliefs about the ethics of participating in this type of evaluation and examiners' attitudes toward capital punishment. Examiners more favorable toward capital punishment and examiners less inclined to believe that participation in competency-for-execution evaluations is a violation of their professional ethics were more likely to evaluate a hypothetical death-row inmate in a clinically ambiguous case presentation as competent. Given the nature of the experimental stimuli provided to examiners, which was relatively weak, the moderate effect size obtained in this study may underestimate more striking effects in an actual competency-for-execution evaluation. This study suggests the potential for bias in the outcome of these evaluations. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: B, page: 6080. / Major Professor: Wallace A. Kennedy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The police officer selection process has undergone sweeping reform over the years. Much of this change targeted policies related to police officer qualifications. The 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement reported that many police departments do not have established selection criteria for hiring officers. One of the Commission's recommendations was that police departments utilize psychological testing as part of the pre-employment screening process. Studies find that many departments utilize psychological testing, and the most frequently used test is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Despite widespread usage of the MMPI, clinicians and researchers are unable to identify successful officers. Such misguided decision-making stems from two problems. / First, research examining the relationship between the MMPI and performance correlates the thirteen MMPI scales with performance measures. This strategy makes it impossible to identify MMPI configurations associated with successful performance. The second problem relates to objective and subjective measures of police performance. Not only do these measures contain several methodological problems but they fail to satisfy the judicial requirement of job relatedness. / Two research contributions in the areas of performance measurement and personality assessment make advances toward remedying these problems. First, the Megargee-Bohn MMPI-Based typology provides an efficient and economical taxonomic system for identifying distinctive MMPI types. A second contribution is the development of behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) as performance measures. Such an instrument corrects many of the measurement and legal problems inherent in conventional performance appraisal techniques. / The present study examines the relationship between the Megargee-Bohn typology and BARS measures of police performance at the Tallahassee, Florida municipal police department. This research generated three sets of findings. First, while ratee race is linked to performance, there are no signs of rater influences. Second, although the Megargee-Bohn typology is applicable to a nonoffender population, it is not related to any of the BARS measures. These findings and the future of the MMPI and psychological testing are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-06, Section: A, page: 1584. / Major Professor: William G. Doerner. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

In a study on the role of learning disorders in the development of juvenile delinquency, 123 students in a training school for severe, chronic delinquents were classified as average readers, low-average readers, or reading disordered. Measures from the Wechsler intelligence scales and the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-educational Test Battery were utilized to assign the students to one of the three reading groups. Phonological processing deficits were measured to discriminate between below average readers and reading disordered students. Legal and behavior data were collected and analyzed for group differences. The study's major finding revealed that there was no significant difference between the general population and the sample of delinquents in prevalence rate of reading disorders. In addition the three groups did not differ significantly across a variety of legal and behavioral data. The three reading groups did not differ significantly on variables measuring aggressive behavior, noncompliance, criminal severity, number of adjudications, and legal commitments. The results failed to support the hypothesis that learning disorders play an important role in the development of juvenile delinquent behavior. The results of the study support a shift in the study of delinquent behavior from individual differences to the nature and quality of adolescent interaction processes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-09, Section: B, page: 4983. / Major Professor: Wallace A. Kennedy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The major focus of this qualitative study is the issue of confidentiality and the perspectives of individuals within several of the bureaucracies surrounding children who have been abused: their teachers, principal, caseworkers, district foster care personnel, and judicial workers. The entry challenges and the process employed to gain access to the children are outlined for future researchers. / The growing awareness that maltreatment adversely influences child development has led to increased efforts to explore this phenomenon. At present, many children who have been maltreated meet the eligibility criteria for children with emotional disturbances, mental handicaps, and/or learning disabilities. / This research attempted to document the lives and experiences of students who have been maltreated and are currently placed in special education programs for students with emotional disabilities. The issue of confidentiality required a methodological shift in focus with the major thrust of this research becoming a focus on the confidentiality issue and three of the bureaucracies of child abuse: the Educational System; the Foster Care System; and the Judicial System. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: A, page: 2637. / Major Professor: Andrew Oseroff. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The origin and development of the Nigerian penal system have been studied from several theoretical and philosophical perspectives. / This study utilizes Rothman's (1971) Social Context approach which assumes history to be a consequence of multiple factors. Examination of the development and operation of the Nigerian Penal System since the pre-colonial era reveals many complex situations. It also reveals that pre-colonial Nigeria had a system to ensure law and order relative to the Social Context of that time. Among them are that Nigerian prisons were established by the British as essentially custodial facilities that were created to protect British nationals from dangerous offenders. The colonial penal method was designed to maintain law and order in addition to employing the traditional methods of punishment. The result also reveals that economics was an important factor in the penal history, just as politics and culture were in influencing punishment during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-02, Section: A, page: 0710. / Major Professor: Thomas G. Blomberg. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This study examined whether or not gender-bias was present in biological-crime related research using the lead-behavior research as a sample. A content analysis was conducted using secondary data from academic journal articles. The primary focus of this content analysis was to determine: (a) whether or not females were used as research subjects; (b) whether or not female/male brain differences were considered; and (c) whether or not the article presented a sexist/biological image of females. / The findings indicate gender-bias in terms of (a) the limited extent to which females were used as research subjects; (b) the lack of consideration of female/male brain differences; and (c) the use of a sexist/biological image of females in the research. The implications of these findings for criminological theory and criminal justice administration are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-06, Section: A, page: 2426. / Major Professor: Frederic Faust. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Intoxicated by music| A content analysis of the prevalence of alcohol, illicit substances, and tobacco in popular music from 2000 to 2011

The notion of adolescent antisocial behaviors being committed by qualitatively different adolescents, those who engage in antisocial behavior only during adolescence due to social influences and pressures and those who persist in antisocial behaviors throughout the lifespan due to pathological characteristics, is quite popular though not previously empirically tested. The present study tested Moffitt's (1993) dual taxonomy of antisocial behavior utilizing a full adoption design. The sample used in this study came from Cadoret's Iowa Adoption Studies, 1975-1982 (Cadoret, 1988). Parent reports of antisocial behaviors of adoptees in this sample (N = 387) were utilized to classify adoptees as either Adolescence Limited (AL) (N = 115) or Life-Course-Persistent (LCP) (N = 62). Central questions examined in this study were: (1) Are AL and LCP individuals independent of biological history of either psychopathology or antisocial personality? (2) Is there a differential genetic influence on AL and LCP individuals? and, (3) Does genetic influence differ by domain of antisocial behavior examined? Analyses indicated that AL and LCP classification was not independent of biological history of either psychopathology or antisocial personality disorder. Hierarchical regression analyses consistently indicated that AL and LCP classification predicted both parent reports of antisocial behavior and clinical assessments of adoptee antisocial personality. While AL/LCP Classification x Biological History interactions were not significant, logistic regression analyses consistently indicated that LCP individuals were significantly more likely to have a biological parent with a history of either psychopathology or antisocial personality than were AL individuals. Further support for the normative nature of AL antisocial behaviors was demonstrated by the finding that AL individuals were no more likely than those adolescents who did not engage in any antisocial behaviors to have a biological parent diagnosed with either psychopathology or antisocial personality. Analyses by domains of antisocial behavior revealed no significant differences between groups for aggressive behaviors but that LCP individuals were more likely to engage in substance use during adolescence than were AL individuals. Discussion focuses on the implications that the findings have for both subsequent research and intervention programs.

The harmful effects of substance abuse among adolescents and its close association with juvenile crime and recidivism have been well documented. While a legal referral to the juvenile court may prompt an assessment of substance abuse or dependence, juvenile court diversion personnel must often rely only on an informal interview to determine the presence or severity of a juvenile's substance abuse problem. This may result in a failure to detect underlying substance abuse problems and to initiate appropriate treatment. The present study explored whether or not a standardized instrument, the Adolescent Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-A2) might improve identification of substance abuse problems in juvenile offenders who had been referred to one of two early intervention classes (a Misdemeanor class or a Substance Abuse class). Fifty-four percent of the sample met the criteria for a high probability of either a Substance Abuse Disorder or a Substance Dependence Disorder as measured by the SASSI-A2. Nearly twenty-six percent (25.9%) of juveniles in the Misdemeanor class and 35.7% of the juveniles in the Substance Abuse class met the criteria for a substance abuse disorder. Nearly fifteen percent (14.7%) of juveniles in the Misdemeanor class and 33.3% in the Substance Abuse class met criteria for a Substance Dependence Disorder. These findings suggest that the use of the standardized test was significantly better at detecting substance abuse problems among juvenile offenders in diversion than a standard informal interview-only.