Forensic Measures for Assessing Offenders

This entry reviews instruments that mental health clinicians commonly use to assess psychological symptoms, personality traits, behavioral problems, and psycholegal issues relevant to the assessment and management of criminal offenders. The instruments reviewed encompass a variety of formats, including self-report inventories, clinician rating scales, and structured clinical interviews that assess the presence of mental disorders, risk of violence and sexual offending, and response style.

Assessment of Psychiatric Symptoms and Mental Disorders

The high frequency of mental disorders among inmates in the United States is well established. Assessing the presence and nature of psychiatric symptoms often impacts offender management while incarcerated.

Self-Report Inventories

Multiscale self-report inventories have multiple advantages, including group administration, computerized scoring and interpretation, and broad coverage of symptoms and mental disorders. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), ...

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