Trends and Characteristics of Criminal Responsibility Evaluations in Missouri

ABSTRACT

Data collected by the State of Missouri Department of Mental Health were used to analyze trends and characteristics of criminal responsibility evaluations by Certified Forensic Evaluators in Missouri. Using data from Fiscal Year 2003 to Fiscal Year 2018, analyses focused on the following: (a) the relationship between diagnosis and criminal responsibility opinion, (b) the rates of criminal responsibility opinions over time (e.g., responsible vs. not responsible), and (c) the use of psychological testing instruments in these evaluations over time. Results indicated that outcomes of criminal responsibility evaluations in Missouri were broadly consistent with published literature. Diagnoses of psychotic disorders were the most highly associated with criminal responsibility opinions, the proportion of defendants being opined not criminally responsible was congruent with similar published samples and consistent over time, and the use of psychological testing appeared to decrease over time. In contrast with other published datasets, our sample had a disproportionately high number of evaluations deferring or providing no opinion to the question of criminal responsibility, and whether or not these entries were included in the analysis notably influenced our reported rate of finding defendants not criminally responsible. Reasons for this discrepancy, such as the preponderance of joint evaluations with competency to stand trial evaluations, as well as reasons for the decreasing trend in psychological test use, are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Criminal responsibility
• insanity
• forensic psychology
• forensic assessment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ The FIS uses the terms “race” and “sex,” as opposed to “ethnicity” or “gender,” therefore we will use those terms when discussing our analyses.

² The Missouri Department of Mental Health defines a fiscal year as the period between July 1 and June 30 of the following year.