Skip to main content

Limited Expertise and Experts: Problems with the Continued Use of Future Dangerousness in Capital Sentencing

  • Chapter
Book cover Mental Disorder and Criminal Law

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • American Psychological Association, (2005). Brief of amicus curiae in United States v. Fields. Case No. 04–50393 (5th circuit).

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychological Association, (1983). Brief of amicus curiae in Barefoot v. Estelle. Case No. 82–6080 (Texas Court of Criminal Appeals).

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, D., & Bonta, J. (1995). LSI-R: The level of service inventory-revised. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Babcock, S. (2006). Death row conditions. Death Penalty Information Center. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo. org/article.php?&did = 1397. last visited 9/26/07.

  • Barefoot v. Estelle, No. 82–6080, 463 U.S.880 (S.Ct. 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  • Beecher-Monas, E. (2003). The epistemology of prediction: Future dangerousness testimony and intellectual due process. Washington and Lee Law Review, 60(2), 353–416.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, D., & Jackson, H. (2004). The Daubert trilogy in the states. Jurimetrics, 44, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blume, J., Garvey, S., & Johnson, S. (2001). Future dangerousness in capital cases: Always “At Issue”. Cornell Law Review, 86, 397–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, W. J. & Steiner, B. D. (1999). Death by default: An empirical demonstration of false and forced choices in capital sentencing. Texas Law Review, 43, 605–717.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costanzo, S., & Constanzo, M. (1994). Life or death decisions: An analysis of capital jury decision making under the special issues sentencing framework. Law and Human Behavior, 18, 151–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, M. D. (2006). Dangerousness and death: A nexus in search of science and reason. American Psychologist, 61, 828–839.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, M. D., & Reidy, T. J. (1998). Integrating base rate data in violence risk assessment at capital sentencing. Behavioral Science and the Law, 16, 71–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, M.D., Sorensen, J.R., & Reidy, T.J. (2005). An actuarial model for assessment of prison violence risk among maximum security inmates. Assessment, 12, 40–49.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (S.Ct.1993). Death Penalty Information Center (2007). Facts about the death penalty. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo. org. last visited 9/21/07.

  • Denes-Raj, V., & Epstein, S. (1994). Conflict between intuitive and rational processing: When people behave against their better judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 819–829.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeMatteo, D., & Edens, J.F. (2006). The role and relevance of the psychopathy checklist revised in court: A case law survey of U.S. courts (1991–2004). Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 12(2), 214–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan, S., & Epstein, S. (1997) The difficulty of the Linda conjunction problem can be attributed to its simultaneous concrete and unnatural representation, and not to conversational implicature. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33, 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dorland, M. (2004). Aggravating circumstances in Oklahoma: Executed offenders. Unpublished manuscript, Claremont, CA: Claremont McKenna College.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorland, M., & Krauss, D. (2005). The danger of dangerousness in capital sentencing: exacerbating the problem of arbitrary and capricious decision-making. Law and Psychology Review, 29, 63–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, K., Ogloff, J., Nicholls, T., & Grant, I. (1999). Assessing risk for violence among psychiatric patients: The HCR-20 violence risk assessment scheme and the Psychopathic Checklist: Screening Version. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 917–930.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, K., & Webster, C. (1999). The HCR-20 violence risk assessment scheme: Concurrent validity in a sample of incarcerated offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 26, 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edens, J., Buffington-Vollum, J., Keilin, A., Roskamp, P., & Anthony, C. (2005). Predictions of future dangerousness in capital murder trials: is it time to “disinvent the wheel?” Law and Human Behavior, 29, 55–87.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49, 709–724.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S., & Pacini, R. (1999). Some basic issues regarding dual-process theories from the perspective of cognitive-experiential self-theory. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.) Dual process theories in social psychology (pp. 462–483). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S., Pacini, R., Denes-Raj, V., & Heier, H. (1996). Individual differences in intuitiveexperiential and analytical-rational thinking styles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 390–405.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, W., Lidz, C., Mulvey, E., & Shaw, E. (1996). Clinical versus actuarial predictions of violence in patients with mental illness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 602–609.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • General Electric v. Joiner 522 U.S. 136 (S.Ct. 1996)

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, W., & Meehl, P. (1996). Comparative efficiency of informal (subjective, impressionistic) and formal (mechanical, algorithmic) prediction procedures: The clinical-statistical controversy. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 2, 293–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guy, L., & Edens, J. (2003). Juror decision-making in a mock sexually violent predator trial: Gender differences in the impact of divergent types of expert testimony. Behavioral Science and the Law, 21, 215–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, S.D., Michie, C., & Cook, D.J. (2007). Precision of actuarial risk assessment instruments: Evaluating the “margins of error” of group v. individual predictions of violence. British Journal of Psychiatry, 190, 60–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, G.T., & Rice, M.E. (2007). Characterizing the value of actuarial violence risk assessment. Criminal Justice and Behavior.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, G., Rice, M., & Cormier, C. (2002). Prospective replication of the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide in predicting violent recidivism among forensic patients. Law & Human Behavior, 26, 377–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262 (1976).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 S.Ct. 2072 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kansas v. Crane 534 U.S. 407 (S.Ct. 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, D. (2004). Adjusting risk of recidivism: Do judicial departures worsen or improve recidivism prediction under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines? Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 6, 731–750.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, D., Cassar, D., & Strother, A. (in press). The admissibility of expert testimony in the United States, the commonwealth and elsewhere. In D. Krauss, & J. Lieberman (Vol. Eds.), Expert testimony: Vol. II. A two volume edited work in the series: Psychology, Crime, & Law (D. caner series Ed.) Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, D., & Lee, D. (2003). Deliberating on dangerousness and death: Jurors’ ability to differentiate between expert actuarial and clinical predictions of dangerousness. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 26, 113–137.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, D., & Lieberman, J. (2007). Expert testimony on risk and future dangerousness. In M. Costanzo, D. Krauss & K. Pezdek, (Eds.), Expert testimony for the courts (pp. 227–250). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, D. A., Lieberman J. D., & Olson, J. (2004). The effects of rational and experiential information processing of expert testimony in death penalty cases. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 22, 801–822.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, D., & Sales, B. (2001). The effects of clinical and scientific expert testimony on juror decision-making in capital sentencing. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 7, 267–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumho Tire v. Carmichael 526 U.S. 137 (S.Ct.1999).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, J., Krauss, D., Kyger, M., & Lehoux, M. (2007). Determining dangerousness in Sexually Violent Predator evaluations: Cognitive-experiential self-theory and juror judgments of expert testimony. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 25, 507–526.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marquart, J., Ekland-Olson, S., & Sorensen J. (1989). Gazing into the crystal ball: Can jurors actually predict dangerousness in capital cases? Law & Society Review, 23, 449–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKee, S. A., Harris, G. T., & Rice, M. E. (2007). Improving forensic tribunal decisions: The role of the clinician. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 25, 485–506.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McNeil, D., Sanders, D., & Binder, R. (1998). The relationship between confidence and accuracy in clinical predictions of psychiatric patients’ potential for violence. Law and Human Behavior, 25, 655–671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monahan, J. (1981). The clinical prediction of violent behavior. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monahan, J. (2003). Violence risk assessment. In I. B. Weiner (Series Ed.) & A. Goldstein (Vol. Ed.), The handbook of psychology: Vol. 11. forensic psychology (pp. 527–542). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monahan, J., Steadman, H., Silver, E., Appelbaum, P., Robbins, P., Mulvey, E., Roth, L., Grisso, T., & Banks, S. (2001). Rethinking risk assessment: The MacArthur study of mental disorders and violence. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mossman, D. (1994). Assessing predictions of violence: Being accurate about accuracy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical, 62, 783–792.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nenno v. State, 970 SW.2d 544 (Tx Crim. App. 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563 (S.Ct. 1975).

    Google Scholar 

  • Panetti v. Quarterman, U.S. LEXIS 8667 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  • Reidy, T. J., Cunningham, M. D., & Sorenson, J. (2001). From death to life: Prison behavior of former death row inmates in Indiana. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 28, 62–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice, M., & Harris, G. (1995). Violent recidivism: Assessing predictive validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 737–748.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sales, B., & Shuman, D. (2007). Science, experts, and law: Reflections on the past and future. In M. Costanzo, Krauss, D., & K. Pezdek (Eds.) Expert testimony for the courts (pp. 9–31). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slobogin, C. (2007). Proving the unprovable. American Psychology-Law Society Society Series. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorenson, J. R., & Marquart, J. W. (1991). Prosecutorial and jury decision-making in post-Furman Texas capital cases. New York University Review of Law and Social Change, 18, 743–776.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorensen, J.R., Pilgrim, R.L. (2001). An actuarial risk assessment of violence posed by capital murder defendants. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 90, 1251–1270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Texas Criminal Code, Article 37.071, 2(b)(1) (2004).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1982). Judgments of and by representativeness. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic & A. Tversky (Eds.), Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 84–100). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States v. Fields No 04-50393 483 F.3d 313 (5th Circuit).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidmar, N., Lempert, R., Diamond, S., Hans, V., Landsman, S., MacCoun, R. et al. (2000). Amicus Brief: Kumho Tire v. Carmichael. Law and Human Behavior, 24, 387–400.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Webster, C., Douglas, K., Eaves, D., & Hart, S. (1997). HCR-20: Assessing risk for violence. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada: Simon Fraser University, Mental Health, Law, and Policy Institute.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Krauss, D.A., McCabe, J.G., McFadden, S. (2009). Limited Expertise and Experts: Problems with the Continued Use of Future Dangerousness in Capital Sentencing. In: Schopp, R.F., Wiener, R.L., Bornstein, B.H., Willborn, S.L. (eds) Mental Disorder and Criminal Law. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-84845-7_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics