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Floyd Weber

Jun 22, 02 - 7:46 AM

Psychometric Evaluation of the Mentally Retarded Offender.

Hi Dr. Rich,

With the Supreme Court restricting the execution of offenders with mental retardation, it seems that many folks on death row will be claiming retardation as an exculpatory cause.

Do you think that MR can be faked successfully by an offender? It would seem that good tests and better testers would be able to "trap" those would try to malinger on the tests.

For instance, the simple question of asking "are you retarded" would not be answered 'yes' by anyone on the outside. Those folks with MR would either not understand the question or be too embarrassed to admit to it.

Likewise simple skills like telling time or reading a bus schedule would betray themselves by the client making to a testing session on time and making several transfers. (Certainly this would not disprove MR, but it would give the tester a good sense at the level of functioning..)

Anyway, what is your experience with testing for MR in both forensic and nonforensic situations and what kind of advice would you give for detecting malingering on tests?

Thanks

Floyd

PS What years were you at SDSU? Did you know Georg Matt?

Jonathan Rich, Ph.D.

Jun 22nd, 2002 - 10:52 AM

Re: Psychometric Evaluation of the Mentally Retarded Offender.

Great questions, thanks!

When I worked in the Huntsville, TX prison, my task with one inmate was to get him sane enough to be executed -- I and the inmate were both faced with lots of dilemmas.

Like any diagnostic decision, you have to consider history, testing, and presentation. As you point out, adaptive behavior would have to be consistent with mental retardation. If someone has been successfully employed full-time at a competitive job, they probably aren't mentally retarded. Someone trying to fake often goes overboard -- they score at an 18 month old level on testing, but are able to speak in full sentences. Someone mentally retarded would have an academic history consistent with this, usually including special education since Kindergarten.

In answer to your 2nd question, I was at SDSU from 1978-1981 & don't know Georg Matt.

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Replying to:

Hi Dr. Rich,

With the Supreme Court restricting the execution of offenders with mental retardation, it seems that many folks on death row will be claiming retardation as an exculpatory cause.

Do you think that MR can be faked successfully by an offender? It would seem that good tests and better testers would be able to "trap" those would try to malinger on the tests.

For instance, the simple question of asking "are you retarded" would not be answered 'yes' by anyone on the outside. Those folks with MR would either not understand the question or be too embarrassed to admit to it.

Likewise simple skills like telling time or reading a bus schedule would betray themselves by the client making to a testing session on time and making several transfers. (Certainly this would not disprove MR, but it would give the tester a good sense at the level of functioning..)

Anyway, what is your experience with testing for MR in both forensic and nonforensic situations and what kind of advice would you give for detecting malingering on tests?

Thanks

Floyd

PS What years were you at SDSU? Did you know Georg Matt?

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