Forensic Psychology Case Study
I will provide students with a brief description of a case. A good practice is to begin thinking about these cases and writing down your thoughts. This will help you understand various clinical cases in psychology that you will study in graduate school, assuming you choose the clinical or forensic route-applying psychology to the law. I will simplify the cases, but I want students to write one or two pages of their thoughts and critique (one paragraph) of the actions taken in the case snippet. Of course, this is not an assignment that anyone should submit back to the site. Give the case a try.
Case Study: An elderly 65 year old man, let's call him Peter, found out that his wife, let's call her Linda, had given up on him. Peter had dementia and required some help with usual activities like cooking, cleaning, grooming, driving, etc. Linda eventually grew weary of caring for Peter, so she joined a support group. Upon joining the group, Linda met another man at the support group for caregivers of relatives with dementia. The man was not interested in Linda; instead, he wanted to get valuables from her. Linda gave the con-man her heirloom jewelry. When Peter found out that Linda gave the jewelry away that he bought for her, he lost it and hit her several times, which killed her. After the police realized that Peter had committed the crime, the District Attorney wanted to put Peter in prison. The other option is to find Peter legally insane and send him to an outside facility with nursing care for cognitive disorders. Of course, upon a psychological evaluation, a psychologist determined that Peter understood what was going on at the time, but has random times when he is unaware of his actions and surroundings. This fact complicates the case on whether to prosecute Peter or allow him to seek other treatment options for his condition.
Questions to help you formulate an opinion: What are your opinions of the DA's decision to send Peter to prison? Do you think Peter knew what he was doing when he committed the crime? How does dementia impact a person's decision making and state of consciousness? What are the stages of dementia?
Task 1: The case study assignment for students is to think about this story, write your thoughts, and answer the above questions. Your answers do not have to be exact, but give your best response. If you are unaware of facts about persons living with dementia, look up information about this issue on the Alzheimer's Association website.
Task 2: Put your ideas into writing. Write a one to two paged paper on your thoughts. It is recommended that you cite facts from the Alzheimer's site or look up publications about dementia. Here are a few sources. Some of them are lengthy, so reading several pages should suffice.
Links:
www.alz.org
(Alzheimer's Association)
http://www.cmhc.ca/odpub/pdf/60967.pdf?fr=1421178129190
(Housing Options for People Living with Dementia)
http://www.bupaagedcare.com.au/staticfiles/BupaCare/PDFs/Caring_for_someone_with_dementia.pdf
(Caring for Someone with Dementia)
https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/document.ashx?id=2103
(Simple Ways to Help Someone Live with Dementia)
Task 3: Review your thoughts on the case. What did you like about investigating the facts on dementia? What information did you learn? Think about the role the psychologist played in this case. Do you think the psychologist could have done more to determine if Peter was aware of his actions?
Task 4: In one paragraph, write down these final thoughts on the case. Think of this task as critiquing your thoughts and the role of the investigators in the case.
Task 5: Discuss the case with someone you know. Ask them their opinions and compare them to your conclusions about the case. Finally, ask yourself how you would feel about evaluating the competency of a defendant in a court setting (Forensic Psychologist).
If you are interested in learning more about Forensic Psychology, then visit the following website:
http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2013/09/forensic-psychology.aspx
http://www.apa.org/research/action/law.aspx
http://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/index.aspx
Case Study: An elderly 65 year old man, let's call him Peter, found out that his wife, let's call her Linda, had given up on him. Peter had dementia and required some help with usual activities like cooking, cleaning, grooming, driving, etc. Linda eventually grew weary of caring for Peter, so she joined a support group. Upon joining the group, Linda met another man at the support group for caregivers of relatives with dementia. The man was not interested in Linda; instead, he wanted to get valuables from her. Linda gave the con-man her heirloom jewelry. When Peter found out that Linda gave the jewelry away that he bought for her, he lost it and hit her several times, which killed her. After the police realized that Peter had committed the crime, the District Attorney wanted to put Peter in prison. The other option is to find Peter legally insane and send him to an outside facility with nursing care for cognitive disorders. Of course, upon a psychological evaluation, a psychologist determined that Peter understood what was going on at the time, but has random times when he is unaware of his actions and surroundings. This fact complicates the case on whether to prosecute Peter or allow him to seek other treatment options for his condition.
Questions to help you formulate an opinion: What are your opinions of the DA's decision to send Peter to prison? Do you think Peter knew what he was doing when he committed the crime? How does dementia impact a person's decision making and state of consciousness? What are the stages of dementia?
Task 1: The case study assignment for students is to think about this story, write your thoughts, and answer the above questions. Your answers do not have to be exact, but give your best response. If you are unaware of facts about persons living with dementia, look up information about this issue on the Alzheimer's Association website.
Task 2: Put your ideas into writing. Write a one to two paged paper on your thoughts. It is recommended that you cite facts from the Alzheimer's site or look up publications about dementia. Here are a few sources. Some of them are lengthy, so reading several pages should suffice.
Links:
www.alz.org
(Alzheimer's Association)
http://www.cmhc.ca/odpub/pdf/60967.pdf?fr=1421178129190
(Housing Options for People Living with Dementia)
http://www.bupaagedcare.com.au/staticfiles/BupaCare/PDFs/Caring_for_someone_with_dementia.pdf
(Caring for Someone with Dementia)
https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/document.ashx?id=2103
(Simple Ways to Help Someone Live with Dementia)
Task 3: Review your thoughts on the case. What did you like about investigating the facts on dementia? What information did you learn? Think about the role the psychologist played in this case. Do you think the psychologist could have done more to determine if Peter was aware of his actions?
Task 4: In one paragraph, write down these final thoughts on the case. Think of this task as critiquing your thoughts and the role of the investigators in the case.
Task 5: Discuss the case with someone you know. Ask them their opinions and compare them to your conclusions about the case. Finally, ask yourself how you would feel about evaluating the competency of a defendant in a court setting (Forensic Psychologist).
If you are interested in learning more about Forensic Psychology, then visit the following website:
http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2013/09/forensic-psychology.aspx
http://www.apa.org/research/action/law.aspx
http://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/index.aspx
