American College of Forensic Psychology’s 37th Annual Forensic Psychology Symposium takes place April 28-30, 2022. The event is co-hosted by the American College of Forensic Psychology and Fielding Graduate University.
All times listed are Pacific Daylight Time.
Although no changes are anticipated, it is possible that changes will be necessary to the program.
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The Symposium will begin at 7:50 am (Pacific) with a welcome message from the symposium director. After which the first block of sessions will commence with “Hot Topics in Forensic Psychology.”
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Lorna Veraldi, J.D., and Donna M. Veraldi, Ph.D.
The U. S. Constitution offers extraordinary protection to forms of speech that, under many other legal systems, would be punished as crimes. Racial and ethnic slurs and virulent verbal attacks on elected officials all are tolerated and, in some respects, encouraged by the First Amendment’s prohibition of government interference with free speech. With few exceptions, even lies are protected from government regulation, in the belief that more speech, not censorship, is the appropriate remedy and that truth ultimately will prevail over falsehood in a free marketplace of ideas. That theory is being tested by the persistence of misinformation on social media, where some users are believed to simmer in a toxic stew cooked up by algorithms that shelter them from fact, reality, and opposing views. This presentation explains how First Amendment precedent protects falsehoods and explores the impact of social media business models, personality, and cognitive function on the spread of misinformation.
Lorna Veraldi, J.D., is an associate professor at the School of Communication and Journalism at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Donna M. Veraldi, Ph.D., is a psychologist with a private clinical and forensic practice in Billings, Montana.
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Mark Burdick, Ph.D.
The mere thought of COVID-19 attacking kids sounds alarms for most parents. This presentation analyzes a case which focuses on an elementary school age student from a high-profile family caught in the center of a parental battle of education rights. Mom’s attorney argues for online instruction and dad’s attorney for brick and mortar (live) classroom instruction in the state of Florida. What happens next in the decision to protect this child by a Florida court room judge comes as a surprise to this forensic educational psychologist.
Mark A. Burdick, Ph.D., AFBsS is an international expert in education and psychological matters before courts in the U.S. and U.K. He provides consult and litigation support in both private and public school matters.
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Please take this opportunity to check out the Symposium’s Virtual Posters.
Registered and Logged-in users can post comments on posters.
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Inés Monguió, Ph.D.
Over the past year it has become clear that the long-term effects of severe infection with COVID-19 are not limited to pulmonary or cardiac problems. There is plenty of evidence that some patients’ neurological systems are affected, both peripheral and central. Cognitive and emotional symptoms are now recognized as part of the clinical picture of patients that recovered from the viral infection. In this presentation the areas of functioning to be assessed by the clinician will be explored.
Inés Monguió, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private practice in Ventura, California. Her clinical and medical-legal practice focuses on neuropsychology and behavioral medicine. Her forensic practice focuses on neuropsychology, NGRI, mitigation factors, and competence.
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Michael Ditsky, Ph.D.
In recent years there has been increasing attention in the media about white supremacy. This presentation explores the unique dimensions of white supremacy and the emergence of domestic terrorism. The psychological causes of terrorism are both individual and collective. At the individual level, the cause is romanticized to younger men especially through social media. Additionally, studies have found that unhappy childhood experiences can drive people to join white supremacist groups. At the collective level, social camaraderie and a sense of identity are vital for extremist recruitment. The psychology of terrorism (Borum, 2004) provides a template for studying the emergence of extremist groups in the United States. The presentation concludes with a case study of an individual treated by the presenter.
Michael Ditsky, Ph.D., is a Texas licensed psychologist and fellow of the American College of Forensic Psychology. Dr. Ditsky has testified in federal and state civil and criminal courts for both the prosecution and the defense.
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Thomas Haworth, Ph.D.
In the past decade or so, with the advancement of virtual communication online, the sexual exploitation of minors has evolved in scope and frequency. In cyber sexploitation, older adolescents or adults, often portraying themselves as someone else (different gender/age/location/etc.) engage a suitable victim online and groom the victim in the effort to ultimately obtain illicit self-images from the minor victim. The perpetrator then threatens the victim with distribution of the illicit images unless the victim complies with the perpetrator’s demands for performing specified sexual behaviors, performed live, virtually, “on cam,” which also can then be recorded and used as further means to continue the cyber-sextortion. This presentation will discuss the current literature on this phenomenon, including offender characteristics, victim characteristics, the nature of the demands, methodologies for gaining and maintaining access, incidence, and prevalence. Additionally, the presentation will offer case studies as examples of the problem and describe and discuss a common profile of such offenders.
Thomas Haworth, Ph.D., is a PA and NJ licensed psychologist and expert witness specializing in forensic and clinical psychology. He has expertise in issues related to sexual misconduct and has provided consultation in a wide range of criminal and civil matters. Dr. Haworth is faculty at Rutgers University.
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Please take this opportunity to check out the Symposium’s Virtual Posters session.
Registered and Logged-in users can post comments on posters.
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Amir Ramezani, Ph.D.
The presentation describes the neuropsychological assessment of brain injury and somatization when individuals are confronted with a personal injury matter. The presentation outlines the role of forensic psychologists and neuropsychologists in helping to answer basic questions about neurocognitive impairment as a result of a brain injury, about severity of brain injury, about the degree of chronic pain and somatic preoccupation impacting cognition and functional outcome. The use of records, neuroimaging / brain imaging, and psychometric tests in determining answers to the questions will be discussed.
Amir Ramezani, Ph.D., works as teaching faculty at the University of California – Davis, psychologist at the VA, Associate Professor at AIU, and neuropsychologist in forensic private practice. He provides assessments and interventions for individuals living with psychological and neurological injuries, traumas, and chronic conditions, and serves as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases.
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Robert Meyer, Ph.D., Victoria M. Limón, M.A., M.S., M.P.H., Carrie Frost, B.A., Remington Longstreth, M.A., and Allyson Schubert, M.A.
The presentation discusses the concept of Battered Women Syndrome (BWS), its clinical manifestation, and its history as a legal defense. In addition, we review a recent murder case in Lake County, IL in which a seven-month pregnant woman killed the father of her unborn child in self-defense. Finally, we review the procedures used in conducting the forensic evaluation, its conclusions, and its implications.
Robert Meyer, Ph.D., licensed psychologist, is the principal supervisor at Mathers Clinic in Woodstock, IL. He has testified well over 100 times in court for state and federal trials. He is also a fellow of the American College of Forensic Psychology. Victoria M. Limón, M.A., M.S., M.P.H., is a clinical psychology doctoral student at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL. Carrie Frost, B.A., Remington Longstreth, M.A., and Allyson Schubert, M.A., are clinical psychology doctoral students at Adler University in Chicago, IL.
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Elliot Atkins, Ed.D.
The presenter was asked to conduct a forensic psychological evaluation of a teenage boy who claimed that one of his alternate personalities committed a sexual crime against his girlfriend. Naturally, the police, the prosecutor, and even his own attorney, were skeptical of this claim. Among other objectives was the need to determine whether the client met criteria for Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The presentation describes the protracted process by which the presenter ultimately concluded that the examinee, in fact, does suffer from DID. Questions addressed in the presentation include: What sources of information contributed most to arriving at this conclusion? What historical factors needed to be considered? In what manner would this discovery be utilized by counsel in his preparation of a defense for his client? Given the DID diagnosis, could it be shown that the boy did not have agency over the alter that committed the offense?
Elliot Atkins, Ed.D., is a clinical and forensic psychologist who has spent the past 35 years treating both victims and perpetrators of sexual offenses. For the past 29 years, he has been qualified as an expert in both state and federal courts regarding the evaluation of both sexual abuse victims and perpetrators.
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Michael Perrotti, Ph.D., and Madeline Hemphill, B.A.
Forensic psychologists are often presented with cases involving altered states of consciousness which may initially present as acute medical emergencies. This presentation focuses on altered states of consciousness and micro disruptions of consciousness, which have significant impacts on behavior and executive function. In some cases, the impact of these events is fatal. This presentation examines the nature of these events & forensic assessment of the events. The relationship between disruption of consciousness and brain function, memory structures, and executive function is discussed. The presentation is practical as it will provide information on methodology, procedures, and assessment of syncope as well as transient global amnesia and other altered memory states and states of consciousness.
Michael J. Perrotti, Ph.D., is a clinical and forensic neuropsychologist. He is a researcher and field supervisor for UCLA interns. Dr. Perrotti has conducted numerous expert forensic assessments in areas involving transient loss of consciousness. Madeline Hemphill, B.A., is a research assistant for Dr. Perrotti.
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Lisa Faille, Ph.D.
Psychological reports should always be written with objective and unbiased language. Given that bias is considered rampant in forensic psychological assessment (Gowensmith & McCallum, 2019), it is imperative to address it. For example, offenders who are Biracial, Indigenous, or People of Color often receive higher scores by forensic evaluators on dynamic risk factors on common risk assessment measures (Chenane et al., 2015; Smallbone & Rallings, 2013; Varela et al., 2013). Further, Asian defendants in Hawaii were identified as not competent to stand trial much more often than members of other groups (McCallum et al., 2015). Also, female perpetrators were more likely to be perceived as legally insane than male perpetrators (Yourstone et al., 2008). Bias reflecting a patriarchal, Eurocentric, heteronormative, and Christian preference can influence a judge’s interpretation of a report and reinforce differential treatment of various groups within the legal system. This presentation provides strategies for objective and unbiased forensic psychological report writing as well as specific case examples demonstrating how to revise potentially biased language in more neutral, objective terms.
Lisa Faille, Ph.D., M.P.H., ABPP is a board certified, licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in forensic psychology. In her clinical work she has provided therapy and conducted assessments on violent and sexual offenders. Her research and presentation focus has been on gender and racial bias.
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After attending the following 4 presentations in this session, the participant will be able to: 1) discuss negative impact and psychological harm to patient who has been involved in a sexual relationship with a therapist and the legal and ethical aspect of violation of sexual boundaries between therapist and patient; 2) recognize common logical fallacies and apply ethical decision making in response to logical fallacies in forensic cases; 3) discuss ways for attorneys and psychologists to address the actual observed rate of sexual recidivism during direct and cross examination; 4) ) describe how to approach ethical and practice issues in practice and in court.
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Brian Cutler, Ph.D.
This presentation provides an overview of the application of psychology to contested confessions. Presentation topics include the phenomenon of false confessions and its relation to wrongful convictions, the psychological risk factors for false confession, the nature of modern police interrogation and its psychological effects, and the inadvertent contamination of confessions. Attention will be given to the roles that psychologists play in the adjudication of contested confession cases. These roles include the assessment of Miranda comprehension and personal risk factors for false confession, the assessment of the coerciveness of an interrogation, and expert witness. Attention will also be given to the types of criminal and civil cases that may involve contested confessions.
Brian L. Cutler, Ph.D., is Media Psychology Program Director and Professor in the School of Psychology at Fielding Graduate University. Dr. Cutler regularly authors books, chapters, and articles on forensic psychology topics such as false confessions and eyewitness identification and serves as a consultant and expert witness in false confession and eyewitness identification cases.
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Craig Wetterer, Ph.D.
Suicide risk assessment in forensic psychiatric and correctional settings is an often perilous task with serious consequences if the classification decision is wrong. The risk variables in correctional settings differ greatly from those seen in community settings, and there are few instruments that have been developed and normed on forensic populations. In one of the largest correctional systems in the United States (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation), clinicians utilize the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (CSSR-S; Posner et al., 2010) to inform their decision-making. However, the CSSR-S was not developed or normed using forensic samples, and there are no items that assess feigned suicidality. This presents numerous challenges, as the mere endorsement of suicidal cognitions by an inmate is insufficient to conclude that the risk of suicide is high, or that hospitalization is clinically indicated. This presentation compares the salient features of a genuine versus feigned presentation of suicidality in psychiatric and correctional settings and discusses strategies to improve clinical decision-making. Lastly, a proposed new scale for the assessment of suicide risk in forensic settings is introduced.
Craig Wetterer, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in Nevada and California. Dr. Wetterer has worked in a number of forensic settings and has extensive experience conducting suicide risk evaluations in forensic settings. Dr. Wetterer is currently an associate professor at California Northstate University.
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Please take this opportunity to check out the Symposium’s Virtual Posters session.
Registered and Logged-in users can post comments on posters.
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Kristine M. Jacquin, Ph.D.
Since the Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia (2002) that defendants with intellectual disability cannot be executed, over 7% of death row inmates have filed habeas petitions claiming to have an intellectual disability (Blume et al., 2009). Countless other defendants have been evaluated pre-trial to determine the appropriateness of an Atkins exclusion of the death penalty. Regardless of the timing of an Atkins evaluation, several common challenges arise in these cases that do not typically occur in the assessment of intellectual disability in non-forensic settings. These challenges can be addressed with guidance from the psychology ethics code and forensic psychology specialty guidelines. This presentation describes common psycholegal challenges in Atkins evaluations and discusses how forensic psychologists can successfully address these challenges from an ethics perspective.
Kristine Jacquin, Ph.D., is a Professor and Dean at Fielding Graduate University. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist with a consulting practice focusing on forensic and neuropsychological evaluations.
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Elliot Atkins, Ed.D., John White, Ph.D., Thomas Haworth, Ph.D., Elizabeth Kelley, J.D., and Valerie McClain, Psy.D.
This forensic skills forum focuses on issues in civil and criminal law that interface with psychology and expert testimony by psychologists. This is an interactive session involving moderator, panelists and audience on advanced ethical and practice issues confronting the forensic psychologist. Vignettes submitted to the panel by practicing forensic psychologists will be read aloud and discussed. The vignettes describe problems and experiences that forensic psychologists often confront in their practices and in court. Attendees will be exposed to a wide variety of forensic cases and problems in civil and criminal areas.
Elliot Atkins, Ed.D., is in private practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. John H. White, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Stockton University in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Thomas Haworth, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in PA and NJ who has practiced clinically and forensically for the past 15 years. Elizabeth Kelley, J.D., is a criminal defense attorney who specializes in representing individuals with mental illness, as well as individuals with intellectual disabilities. Valerie R. McClain, Psy.D., is in private practice in Tampa, Florida, specializing in forensic psychology and neuropsychology.
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Jerry Brittain, Ph.D.
This presentation focuses on school gun violence. Data from a study of past gun shootings and deaths will be presented. Terms such as rampage shooter, spree shooter, targeted shooting, and mass shootings will be defined. The talk will include a discussion of why research into school gun violence is rarely done. An analysis of 30 years of school gun violence will include the number of school shooting deaths, characteristics of school shooters and their victims, and whether school shooters are mentally ill. It will also discuss whether there is a profile of school shooters. Discussion will include touchstone past mass shootings and legal issues in identifying and treating threatening students. The role of school officials, School Resource officers, parents, and law enforcement will be presented. Laws that have impeded intervention will be noted. In addition, the role of mental health professionals will be presented, and what they can, cannot, and should and should not do, will be outlined. Lastly, the role of primary, secondary, and tertiary intervention for school gun violence will be presented for discussion.
Jerry Brittain, Ph.D., retired from the US Navy in 1998, with 23 years of honorable service. Subsequently, he worked at the CIA for almost ten years before relocating to North Carolina where he currently works as a Clinical Psychologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Psychiatry Department, Winston Salem.
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Jerry Brittain, Ph.D.
The Virginia Tech shooting tragedy in 2007 was the worst school shooting in US history. This presentation examines the history of the shooter, including the perspectives of multiple teachers, his parents, dormmates, and faculty who saw him as mentally ill, but because of a federal law, could not insist he receive treatment. The presentation will discuss the many interactions he had with many mental health professionals, and his failed inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.
Jerry Brittain, Ph.D., retired from the US Navy in 1998, with 23 years of honorable service. Subsequently, he worked at the CIA for almost ten years before relocating to North Carolina where he currently works as a Clinical Psychologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Psychiatry Department, Winston Salem.
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Henk Swanepoel, Ph.D., Mark Paramlall, M.D., and Rachel Ohman, BSc
Psychologists and psychiatrists are often requested to make decisions regarding the capacity of a patient with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) to handle financial matters (Robinson, 1999; Sousa et al., 2014). Some theoretical and empirical attention has been given to the psychogeriatric population in this regard, but very little on the ABI population (Black, 2007). Brain injury patients are often vulnerable for financial exploitation or not able to manage their financial affairs independently, therefore capacity assessments are frequently required. However, few studies address financial competence, especially pertaining to ABI patients. Studies evaluating clinicians’ ability to determine the financial competence of patients identified the need for clinicians to become more aware of the issues surrounding financial competence of ABI patients (Malloy et al., 1996; Toffoli & Herrmann, 1993). Few assessment instruments or procedures are designed to assist with the assessment of financial competence in ABI, therefore, this study investigated the psychometric properties of the Financial Assessment and Capacity Test (FACT) with specific reference to ABI patients in the UK.
Henk Swanepoel, Ph.D., has been working in the neuropsychological, clinical, and forensic field for over 20 years. He has extensive experience in the assessment and treatment of brain injuries as well as mental health disorders. Mark Paramlall, M.D., is a consultant neuropsychiatrist working in a tertiary level unit specializing in brain injury.
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Jeffrey Siegel, Ph.D.
The “high-conflict divorce” case has been the subject of mental health and legal research and opinion for many years. These cases repeatedly come before the family courts and are often the most contentious, conflictual, and hard to manage. The research has shown that the primary issues in high-conflict cases are the parents and their personalities. This presentation suggests a shift in the approach to high-conflict custody cases by focusing on the assessment of parents’ psychological functioning, understanding and describing these dynamics as essential to understanding their high conflict interactions. Custody evaluators should formulate assessment results into clinical impressions and compare those with the literature on parenting impacts on children. Recommendations can center on court-ordered management of parent interactions, as well as therapeutic suggestions. In sum, the evaluation focuses on each parent’s personality, the parenting research, and the ongoing conflict to address “what is the problem here, and how do we address it?”
Jeffrey C. Siegel, Ph.D., ABPP is a forensic and clinical psychologist in private practice in Dallas, Texas. He has conducted hundreds of evaluations in high-conflict child custody cases and he frequently consults with family law attorneys across the country on the dynamics of parents in these challenging cases.
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Jamel Burroughs, Ph.D.
The pre-employment psychological evaluation process for police officers has been criticized for lacking a standardized methodology (Corey & Ben-Porath, 2018; Corey & Zelig, 2020; Weiss, 2010). Across the U.S., police departments and mental health practitioners utilize different psychological testing batteries and methods to assess the emotional and psychological suitability of police candidates. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of a recommended process for pre-employment psychological assessment of police officer candidates, with a focus on the essential components to include: administering psychological instruments; gathering relevant biographical data such as education, employment, military, legal, medical, and psychological histories; obtaining collateral data; and integrating and conceptualizing the data for qualification and disqualification decision-making.
Jamel Burroughs, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a psychotherapy and psychological assessment practice in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Burroughs also conducts pre-employment psychological evaluations and assesses fitness for duty of New York City police officers.
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John Philipsborn, J.D., M.A.S.
The assessment of competence to stand trial is arguably a heavily written about endeavor in forensic mental health practice. Significant strides have been made in the development of assessment protocols, aided by the development of second-generation assessment tools. But information that the United States Supreme Court has explained is relevant to the assessment of competence, and that is mentioned in much of the authoritative literature – namely information from defense counsel – is often either not inquired into at all by an assessing professional or is the subject of a formless and unstructured inquiry. In part, because the effective assistance of counsel is dependent on client-attorney communication, experienced mental health professionals and experienced lawyers will be aware of the information that is available to lawyers that is not readily available to assessing experts. This presentation examines relevant subject areas.
John Philipsborn J.D., M.A.S., has been a criminal defense lawyer for more than 40 years, and has defended cases that involve mental health issues in many different jurisdictions throughout the U.S. He has published more than 100 chapters and articles, many focused on forensic mental health issues.
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James Schutte, Ph.D., and Christopher W. Schutte, A.B.
Abbreviated intelligence testing has a long research history, and includes both shortened versions of traditional IQ measures, such as the WAIS-x, and freestanding abbreviated instruments, such as the WASI-II and KBIT-2. Other short IQ instruments such as the RIAS-2 and WRIT purport to provide a comprehensive intelligence measure in much less time than traditional measures. Nonverbal intelligence tests, such as the CTONI-2 or TONI-4, may also be considered abbreviated measures, and are often used in non-English-dominant populations. Issues of convenience appear to have been the main driving force behind the creation of these instruments, but the question remains as to whether such testing is appropriate in forensic psychological evaluations, under what conditions, and with which populations. Issues regarding the use of abbreviated and short intelligence testing in forensic settings are considered, including psychometric matters, recommendations from test publishers, and suggestions for successfully using, presenting, and defending the use of such tests.
James W. Schutte, Ph.D. is a bilingual psychologist in private practice in El Paso, Texas. His practice primarily involves the assessment of persons involved in Social Security disability claims and child protection matters, as well as criminal and civil litigation. Christopher W. Schutte, A.B. is a postgraduate associate in the Anticevic Lab at Yale University, working on research in computational psychiatry.
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John White, Ph.D., and Laura Brand, B.A.
The personality of serial murderers and their cognitive patterns are complicated and not well understood. The presenters analyzed surveys from 22 incarcerated serial killers. Subjects were male and each had killed two or more people for a combined total of 171 victims. Responses were coded and analyzed using the Five-Factor Model of Personality (FFM). The five factors include neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. One goal of this study was to determine if serial killers with certain strong personality traits are more amenable to being caught sooner than those with weaker traits. We will describe personality characteristics based on responses of the serial killers compared to their crime scene behaviors. Psychologist Adrian Raine believes many serial killers have features of Schizotypal Personality Disorder while Arturo Silva believes that some killers have high functioning autism spectrum disorder. How these disorders fit within the FFM and a possible neurological basis to some character traits will be addressed. We will also address how understanding these traits may enhance understanding of forensic examinees in general.
John H. White, Ph.D., is a former Dallas Police investigator sergeant. He is presently a professor of psychology at Stockton University in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He also has a private practice where he evaluates and treats sex offenders. Laura Brand, B.A., is a private investigator in Boston and is a recognized authority on the Toolbox Killers.
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Jamshid Marvasti, M.D.
As clinical literature indicates, patients with paraphilic disorders are often misunderstood and underserved populations. Paraphilias are considered more as a crime and individuals are labeled as “deviant” and “perverted,” rather than a patient with a medical diagnosis in need of treatment. This presentation explores the paraphilic disorders in DSM-5 and the risk of sexual offending associated with each one. The presentation also examines the newest research on paraphilia and treatment of it. Focus is on psychotherapy and pharmacologic treatment of paraphilia. Psychiatric co-morbidity can have negative consequences for paraphiliacs, including hindering their treatment or even contributing to the continuance of paraphilic behavior. This will be discussed as will the side effects of medication and its effectiveness.
Jamshid A. Marvasti, M.D. is a child and adult psychiatrist practicing at Prospect Manchester Hospital, in Manchester, Connecticut. He is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.
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Hollida Wakefield, M.A.
Many people assume child pornography offenders are undetected child molesters. Child pornography offenders are seen as high risk and sexually dangerous. This belief, however, has not been confirmed. Because of its importance in the effort to combat child sexual abuse, several studies have examined characteristics of online sex offenders. In this presentation, I review this research and discuss the characteristics of child sexual offenders whose only offenses involve child pornography, child sexual offenders who only commit contact offenses, and offenders with both child pornography and contact sexual offenses. Research indicates that there is a distinct group of offenders who restrict their offending behavior to online child pornography. These offenders are different from those who also have contact offenses. This is important in evaluating the likelihood that men who commit child pornography online offenses will later commit contact sexual offenses. In addition, correctional and forensic mental health systems should not combine pornography only offenders with contact child sexual abuse offenders and should carefully consider how each type of offender is managed.
Hollida Wakefield, M.A., is a forensic psychologist in private practice in Northfield, Minnesota who has been involved in legal cases involving sexual abuse allegations since the 1980s. She has published articles and books and given presentations on many topics including sexual abuse allegations.
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William Marek, Ph.D.
Yochelson & Samenow (1976) wrote the definitive treatise [The Criminal Personality: A Profile for Change] on criminals. They explain how and why criminals think and behave the way they do, debunking the hoary rationalizations still used today by society’s well-meaning (but inaccurate) psychological and societal apologists. The first half of this presentation reviews how their “concrete thinking” criminal personality element underpins the cognitive and behavioral characteristics of a criminal…and many of the personality disorders, as well. The latter half reviews symbolic thinking, generalization, transfer of learning, external validity, portability, and behavioral analysis.
William Marek, Ph.D., is a psychologist with 30 years of experience in federal and state prisons.
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