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This article reviews the role of suggestibility as a psychological vulnerability in people with FASD who are arrested and questioned by police. After a review of relevant literature on suggestibility and FASD, preliminary data are presented from a small pilot study on suggestibility involving defendants with FASD in the United States who were involved in either a pre-trial or post-conviction adjudication process. Results of that study suggest that persons with FASD may be highly suggestible in interrogative situations, which appears to stem from a combination of neurologically based tendencies to acquiesce to leading questions and change responses to questions as a function of negative feedback. Interrogative suggestibility found in the FASD population, which is likely due to central nervous system dysfunction, has broad forensic implications.

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A model protocol is proposed for multidisciplinary assessment of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in the forensic context. Used effectively on both sides of the courtroom in the United States in criminal and post-conviction matters in state and federal courts, the model relies on the FASD literature and best-practice standards of care in terms of clinical as well as forensic evaluation. It is suggested that FASD diagnostic criteria for older adolescents and adults in the criminal system may need different emphasis if facial features have diminished with age and confirmation of prenatal exposure is impossible.

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