Matthew T. Huss

The Clinical Utility of Batterer Typologies

Domestic violence research has increasingly focused on the identification of batterer subgroups. Although typologies have been proposed using the utility of both empirical and theoretical methodologies, studies comparing empirically derived and theoretically based typology solutions have not been conducted. To what degree mental health practitioners can successfully classify batterers into subgroups is also not known. To address these questions, data were gathered from 49 male batterers who were treated for domestic violence in an outpatient mental health facility. A preliminary comparison of an empirically derived and a theoretically based typology solution revealed that many batterers were classified differently by the two strategies, although the overall grouping strategies were similar in content. Further, mental health professionals had substantial difficulty choosing which of the cluster analytically created subgroups into which to sort individual batterers MMPI profile. Finally, different treatment efficacy indicators differentiated among the men in the two subtyping systems, suggesting that each system offers unique clinical information.

Do Batterer Subtypes Actually Matter? Treatment Completion, Treatment Response, and Recidivism Across a Batterer Typology

It has been proposed that domestic violence offenders can be classified into distinct subgroups based on psychopathology and generality and severity of violence. This study examined a clinical sample of batterers to identify whether there were differences across batterer subtypes in regard to treatment completion, immediate treatment response, and recidivism. Indices of pathology, partner violence, and generalized violence were used to cluster analyze a sample of 175 batterers. The resulting three-cluster solution produced three different groups of batterers identified as generally violent/antisocial, borderline/ dysphoric, and family-only batterers. Results suggest that there are differences in treatment-related variables across batterer subtypes but that these differences also depend on the specific outcome variables and are not always consistent.

THE EFFECTS OF DAUBERT ON THE ADMISSIBILITY OF EXPERT TESTIMONY IN STATE AND FEDERAL CRIMINAL CASES

Appellate opinions were evaluated on variables related to expert admissibility to assess the effects of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in criminal cases. Analysis reveals changes in appellate courts’ consideration of Frye v. United States, the 4 Daubert criteria, and several Federal Rules of Evidence. The importance of Frye and the general acceptance criterion decreased over time, and the importance of the Daubert criteria increased over time. However, these changes were not consistent for all types of testimony. Overall, there is greater reliance on Daubert when determining the admissibility of a scientific expert. However, only criteria related to the Federal Rules of Evidence are reliably related to admissibility decisions. Details of appellate court application of the 4 Daubert criteria, the Federal Rules of Evidence, and other related factors are discussed.

An Active-Learning Approach to Teaching the Undergraduate Psychology and Law Course

This article describes an active-learning approach to teaching an undergraduate psychology and law course specifically designed to improve critical-thinking skills. After reviewing the concepts of active learning and critical thinking, we describe the course and present data and observations regarding its success. Finally, we discuss strategies for handling problems that may arise when teaching a psychology and law course using this approach.

Attributions About Perpetrators and Victims of Interpersonal Abuse Results From an Analogue Study

This analogue study (written vignettes and videotapes) examines the influence of victim-perpetrator relationship (spouse or acquaintance), sex of perceiver, and type of abuse (psychological vs. physical) on attributions about victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse. College student participants (73 men, 108 women) were randomly assigned to condition. As expected, type of relationship influenced observer perceptions. Specifically, participants rated the victim of marital violence as more psychologically damaged and disturbed by the abuse than the victim of acquaintance violence. Furthermore, interaction effects showed that men, more than women, rated the actions of the married perpetrator as more of a victim’s rights violation than the actions of the acquaintance perpetrator. Second, type of abuse was shown to influence perceptions of the perpetrator but not the victim. Sex-of-perceiver effects were also obtained. Women held the perpetrator more responsible and assigned less blame to the victim than did men. Legal and clinical implications are then discussed.

Prediction of recidivism using the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised and the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles within a forensic sample

The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) has been well established as a predictor of recidivism in the literature. However, the research generally points to Factor 2 (antisocial behavior) as a stronger predictor of recidivism than Factor 1 (interpersonal/affective). Because recent research has examined the importance of cognition in offending, it was hypothesized that inclusion of a measure of criminal cognition would augment the PCL-R in predicting recidivism. The various factors, scales, total scores, and interaction terms were entered into a series of regression analyses to examine if recidivism prediction improved. Results provide preliminary support for the utilization of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) in conjunction with the PCL-R, as the proactive factor and the Superoptimism scale of the PICTS combined with Factor 2 of the PCL-R produced significant results.

Sexual fantasies and sensation seeking among psychopathic sexual offenders

Abstract This study investigated the relationship between psychopathy, sensation seeking behavior and sexual fantasies in a sample of 199 participants from a maximum security forensic hospital. Psychopathy, measured by the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R), and several sensation seeking and sexual fantasy measures were utilized. Results indicated that, in agreement with previous research, sexually deviant psychopaths are more likely to offend against adults than children. Likewise, psychopaths showed some tendency to score significantly higher on sexual sensation seeking measures than nonpsychopathic sexual offenders. Furthermore, a relationship between psychopathy and overall sexual fantasies existed but there were not specific patterns among psychopaths and nonpsychopaths with regard to specific categories of sexual fantasies.

Criminal Thinking Patterns: Are Child Molesters Unique?

This study examined the ability of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) to reliably differentiate between men with and without histories of child molestation crimes at a maximum-security state hospital forensic mental health unit. Results showed that as hypothesized, molesters (n = 28) were less likely than non-sex offenders (n = 35) to exhibit thinking errors captured by the Cutoff, Entitlement, and to a lesser extent, the Cognitive Indolence, Discontinuity, and Power Orientation scales of the PICTS. The findings support its use in targeting general criminal thinking errors for treatment in mixed-offender populations, as well as its use in sex offender populations to augment other sex offense cognitive distortion measures when designing treatment.

The assessment of cyberstalking: an expanded examination including social networking, attachment, jealousy, and anger in relation to violence and abuse.

Because the first antistalking statute was enacted in California in 1990, stalking research has been expanded immensely, yet been largely confined to exploring traditional pursuit tactics. This study instead examined the prevalence and correlates of cyberstalking behaviors while examining the phenomenon in a more inclusive manner than previous studies focusing on cyberstalking by including social networking avenues. In addition to a measure assessing cyberstalking-related behaviors, questionnaires assessing pathological aspects of personality, including attachment style, interpersonal jealousy, interpersonal violence, and anger were also provided to participants. Results indicate that, given preliminary evidence, cyberstalking-related behaviors are related to past measures of traditional stalking and cyberstalking, although prior attachment, jealousy, and violence issues within relationships are significant predictors of cyberstalking-related behaviors. In addition, unexpected gender differences emerged. For example, women admitted greater frequencies of cyberstalking perpetration than males, signaling that further research on frequency and motivation for cyberstalking among the sexes is necessary.

Clinical Decision-Making about Psychopathy and Violence Risk Assessment in Public Sector Mental Health Settings

Although there has been extensive research on psychopathy, it is unknown how, or whether, clinicians in public sector mental health settings consider the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) for assessing violence risk. Mental health clinicians (N = 135) from 4 facilities were interviewed by using multiple methods for collecting data on decision making. Participants considered clinical information most often when assessing violence risk, indicating that these data were most readily available. Clinicians perceived formal testing results (e.g., PCL) to be least available and considered testing least often, especially if clinicians had less clinical experience. Participants did not explicitly report using the PCL but did implicitly rely on psychopathy factors when assessing violence risk. Clinicians in crisis settings reported less availability of historical data typically needed for the PCL. The data point to specifi c ways to improve the clinical practice of violence risk assessment in public mental health settings.