NCJ Number
114661
Date Published
1988
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This checklist is intended to guide the forensic professional in assessing different levels of self-control in accused persons before, during, and after the alleged criminal behavior.
Abstract
The checklist focuses on the accused's characteristics, the crime context, and victim factors. Questions pertaining to the accused's characteristics encompass demographic and background factors, current legal and treatment status, medical problems, and features of previous violence committed by the accused. Data solicited for the day of the alleged offense cover such issues as the ingestion of intoxicants before the instant offense, first sighting of the victim, time of the alleged offense, time when the accused left the scene, the procurement of weapons, and verbal interaction with the victim. A review of self-control during the instant-offense sequence focuses on the accused's physical and mental activities, goal formulation, planning and preparation, effective performance, recovery-period behaviors, the post-violence depression phase, and routine mental/psychological behaviors. The self-control model provided at the conclusion of the checklist represents the evaluator's post-hoc decision path in coming to conclusions relevant to defendant's competencies at the time of the instant offense. 14 references.