Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and competency to stand trial (CST): Suggestions for a ‘best practices’ approach to forensic evaluation

Brown, Jerrod; Haun, Jeffrey; Zapf, Patricia A.; Brown, Natalie Novick

doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2017.04.002

Cited by 24 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 72 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, if prosecutors discover a person lied under oath, that person may be charged with perjury even though he or she had no intention to lie. Confabulation can also interfere with the defendant's ability to assist counsel in his or her defense, up to and including rendering the defendant incompetent to stand trial [16,25,26].…”

Section: Criminal Justice System Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exploration of how confabulation may have affected individuals in their personal and professional life is paramount [15,16,21,30,34]. Are individuals aware that their life has been affected by confabulation?…”

Section: Explorementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, the consequences of not effectively addressing this issue often result in inaccurate diagnoses, inappropriate treatment, and improper sentencing outcomes. In extreme circumstances, confabulation may be a factor in cases involving false arrest, wrongful prosecution, or conviction of an innocent person [14,16,30].…”

Section: Inaccurate Self-reportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, open-ended questions provide the affected individual with more freedom in their answers. Closed-ended questions place increasing pressure on the individual to give a certain answer from a short list of possibilities, which often results in an increased chance for confabulation in order to fit the narrative being presented and thereby please the interviewer [14,16].…”

Section: Interviews and Interrogationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas confabulation can arise in individuals with no identified cognitive or psychiatric conditions, it often associated with an extensive range of neurocognitive and psychiatric disorders. Disorders associated with confabulation include traumatic brain injury (TBI), schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS), fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), frontotemporal dementia, and Alzheimer's disease [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Confabulation has also been documented in individuals with no apparent brain impairment or disorder or cognitive limitation [18].…”

Section: Confabulation: An Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Confabulation: A Beginner’s Guide for legal professionals

Brown¹,

Charette²,

Huntley³

et al. 2017

Forensic Sci Criminol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Confabulation can be defined as the unintentional creation of a false or inaccurate memory to compensate for memory gaps or deficits. Although some similarities may exist, the phenomenon of confabulation is distinguishable from other issues like suggestibility, malingering, and delusions. The possibility of confabulation is particularly pernicious in criminal justice settings. Here, self-reported memories play an integral role in the confessions and testimony of suspects, defendants, victims, and eyewitnesses. To raise awareness of this possibility, and protect against its consequences, this article reviews warning signs and risk factors for confabulation, tips on how to communicate with and treat individuals who may be confabulating, and recent research in the area of confabulation. In short, this serves as an introduction to confabulation for legal professionals.

show abstract

Section: Criminal Justice System Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Explorementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inaccurate Self-reportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interviews and Interrogationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Confabulation: An Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Confabulation: A Beginner’s Guide for legal professionals

Brown¹,

Charette²,

Huntley³

et al. 2017

Forensic Sci Criminol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and confabulation in psycholegal settings: A beginner’s guide for criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal interviewers

Brown

Jonason

Asp

et al. 2021

Behavioral Sci & The Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are neurodevelopmental/neurobehavioral conditions caused by prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Impairments caused by PAE contribute to the over‐representation of individuals with FASD in the United States juvenile and adult criminal justice systems. These same impairments can equally impact on individuals with FASD who are witnesses to or victims of crime who also have to navigate the complexities of the criminal justice system. Difficulties include increased susceptibility to confabulation throughout the legal process that, in turn, can contribute to increased rates of poor outcomes including false confessions and wrongful convictions. Individuals with FASD are particularity at risk of confabulation when they are subjected to tactics, such as stressful and anxiety‐provoking situations, threats, and leading, suggestive, or coercive questioning. Many professionals in the forensic context are unfamiliar with FASD or related confabulation risk and may unintentionally utilize tactics that intensify impacts of pre‐existing impairment. This article serves as a beginner’s guide for professionals working in criminal justice settings by (a) providing research‐based overviews of FASD and confabulation, (b) describing how FASD may lead to confabulation, and (c) suggesting ways that professionals can modify protocols when interacting with individuals with FASD. Suggestions in this article hold the potential to decrease the risk of confabulation in the criminal justice system and decrease problematic outcomes, such as false confessions and wrongful convictions among individuals with FASD.

show abstract

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and Investigative interviewing: A systematic review highlighting clinical and legal implications and recommendations

Gilbert

Allely

Mukherjee

et al. 2021

Behavioral Sci & The Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Individuals with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are estimated to be 19 times more likely to encounter the criminal justice system (CJS) in comparison to individuals without FASD. During encounters with the CJS, investigative interviews are employed to obtain accurate information from suspects, victims or witnesses of crime. A systematic search using PRISMA guidelines was performed to identify empirical studies published that have explored the questioning of the FASD population within the CJS and the vulnerabilities of FASD-impacted individuals during investigative interviewing. A total of 383 studies were identified from the databases searched and 7 further studies were identified from Google Scholar. After deduplication, abstract and title screening, the full text of 23 studies were assessed for inclusion and 5 were included in the narrative synthesis of results. Two papers were empirical studies focussed on the performance of FASD-impacted individuals during investigative interviewing. Whilst the first study found the FASD population susceptible to suggestions, the second (a case study), identified the ploys employed during investigative interviewing to obtain a confession. Three papers studied the wider vulnerabilities of FASD-impacted individuals and found diminished psycho-legal abilities, increased risk of recidivism and biological, psychological and social factors that

show abstract

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and competency to stand trial (CST): Suggestions for a ‘best practices’ approach to forensic evaluation

Cited by 24 publications

References 72 publications

Confabulation: A Beginner’s Guide for legal professionals

Confabulation: A Beginner’s Guide for legal professionals

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and confabulation in psycholegal settings: A beginner’s guide for criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal interviewers

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and Investigative interviewing: A systematic review highlighting clinical and legal implications and recommendations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About