The psychology and law laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Patricia Zapf, currently has the following research projects in progress.

Please note that Dr. Zapf has relocated to John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City from the University of Alabama. If you have any questions about her research projects, please contact her at pzapf@jjay.cuny.edu.

1) An Investigation of Competence-related Abilities in an Undergraduate Sample

This project involves an examination of the relationship(s) between competence-related abilities, such as understanding, appreciation, and reasoning, and cognitive abilities such as executive functioning, attention, concentration, and information processing speed.

• This project is complete.
• Results were presented at the American Psychology-Law Society Conference in Austin, TX (2002).

2) An Examination of the Accuracy of Treatability Predictions

This project involves an investigtion of the treatability predictions rendered by clinicians who have evaluated individuals remanded for competency to stand trial and have indicated, in their report to court, that the person is not competent.

• This project is complete.
• The results of this project have been published in Law and Human Behavior (Hubbard, Zapf, & Ronan, 2003).

3) An Examination of Incongruent Competency Decisions

This project involves investigating those small number of cases where the opinion of the evaluator and the decision of the court have been incongruent to determine which variables are being weighed most heavily by the courts (and which variables are being weighed most heavily by evaluators) when making decisions about competency to stand trial.

 

• This project is complete.
• The results of this project have been published in the Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice (Zapf, Hubbard, Cooper, Wheeles, & Ronan, 2004).

4) An Investigation of the Factors that Determine Competency and Incompetency

This project involves the examination of a number of variables (demographic, criminological, clinical) to determine their relationship to competency and incompetency. In addition, this project involves an investiagtion of the role that examiner variables play in decisions about competency. Finally, an attempt is being made to replicate logistical regression equations, developed by other investigators, with this sample.

 

• This project is complete.
• The results of this research have been published in Law and Human Behavior (Cooper & Zapf, 2003).

5) Development of Professional Guidelines and a Checklist for Competency for Execution Evaluations

This project involves interviewing those professionals who have had experience conducting competency for execution evaluations to determine current practices with respect to this type of evaluation. Professional guidelines and a checklist for evaluations of competency for execution will be developed taking into consideration the experience of professionals in this area.

 

• This project is complete.
• The results of this research have been published in Behavioral Sciences and the Law (Zapf, Boccaccini, & Brodsky, 2003).

6) An Investigation of Competence-related Abilities in a Sample of Forensic Patients Deemed Incompetent

This project is similar in nature to project #1 (above) with the exception that a sample of forensic patients who have been deemed incompetent by the courts will be examined. It involves an examination of the relationship(s) between competence-related abilities, such as understanding, appreciation, and reasoning, and cognitive abilities such as executive functioning, attention, concentration, and information processing speed.

 

• Data collection for this project is currently underway.

7) A Comparison of Canadian and American Standards of Incompetence

This project involves a comparison of Canadian and American standards of incompetence using the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool - Criminal Adjudication and the Fitness Interview Test.

 

• Data collection for this project is currently underway.

8) A Validation of the Suicide Assessment Manual for Inmates

This project involves the administration/scoring of the Suicide Assessment Manual for Inmates (SAMI) in a sample of inmates admitted to the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada to determine the validity of the SAMI for prediction of risk for suicide.

• Data collection for this project is currently underway.

9) A Survey of Police Procedures for Dealing with the Mentally Ill

This project involves the administration of a survey regarding practices in dealing with mentally ill individuals to a number of police departments to determine relative strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the mentally ill.

• This project is complete.
• The results of this research have been published in Police Quarterly. (Cooper, McLearen, & Zapf, 2004)

10) Psychological Test Use in Evaluations of Competency to Stand Trial in Juveniles

This project involves a survey of mental health professionals who are actively involved in conducting evaluations of competency to stand trial with juveniles to determine practices with respect to psychological test use. In addition, information about what construct/abilities make up immaturity in juveniles is being surveyed.

• This project is complete.
• The results of this research have been published in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (Ryba, Cooper, & Zapf, 2003) and the Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice (Ryba, Cooper, & Zapf, 2003).

11) Survey of Juvenile Court Judges with Respect to Waiver Criteria

This project involves a survey of US Juvenile Court judges to determine which criteria are weighted most heavily in decisions about waiver to adult criminal court. This project is being done in collaboration with Randy Salekin, PhD.

• Preliminary data from this project were presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco in August 2001. A second wave of surveys was mailed out and the results are currently under review for publication.

12) The Measurement of Competency to Stand Trial in a Sample of Individuals with Mental Retardation

This project involves administering the CAST*MR and the MacCAT-CA to a sample of individuals with mental retardation to determine where these individuals fall short in terms of competence-related abilities. Other competence assessment instruments are also being administered and a comparison of instruments will be conducted.

• This project is being headed by Allyson Bennett (graduate student).
• Data Collection for this project is complete and results are being written up for publication.
• Contact either Dr. Zapf or Allyson Bennett for information on results.

13) An Evaluation of Officer Attitudes with respect to Individuals with Mental Retardation

This project involves administering a survey of attitudes about individuals with mental retardation to police officers.

This project is being coordinated by Allyson Bennett and Alix McLearen (graduate students). Data collection for this project is complete and results were presented at the Biennial Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society in Austin in March 2002.

14) An evaluation of the abilities of mentally ill individuals to malinger mental illness

This project involves administering a battery of tests designed to assess malingering to a sample of chronically mentally ill outpatients with half the sample instructed to respond honestly and the other half instructed to attempt to malinger.

• Data collection for this project is currently underway.

15) Readability of Miranda warnings

The data for this project have been collected by Virginia Cooper at the University of Alabama. Rachel Kahn at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NYC is the graduate student coordinator for this project.

• This project is complete and the results were presented at the Biennial Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society in Scottsdale in March 2004.
• Results are currently in press in Law and Psychology Review.

16) Malingering Survey of Practitioners

The survey for this project has been completed by Karen Hubbard at the University of Alabama. Mailing lists of practitioners are currently being obtained. Caysyn Creevy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NYC is the graduate student coordinator for this project.

This project is complete and the results were presented at the Biennial Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society in Scottsdale in March 2004. Results are also currently being written up for publication.

 Last updated 07/13/05

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