Abstract
In civil and criminal cases, a central concern in the examination and determination of intellectual disability (ID) is the validity of results (i.e., whether test results accurately reflect an examinee’s actual capabilities). In some circumstances, the truthfulness of an examinee’s claims is a matter of economics, such as in social security cases, while in capital cases, such a question may be a matter of life and death. It is through the scope of validity that Michael Chafetz analyzes a number of tools and situations in Intellectual Disability: Civil and Criminal Forensic Issues, with the ultimate goal of providing guidance and direction when trying to determine the validity of an examinee’s claims of ID.
The book is organized into six highly detailed chapters. Chafetz starts with two introductory chapters, beginning in Chapter 1 with the legal history of ID in American courts from the early 20th century to the current period, followed by an overview of the importance of validity in ID claims in Chapter 2. Here, Chafetz demonstrates the importance of determining whether an examinee is malingering; that is, whether they are “trying to make the examiner … believe that one’s abilities are lower than they are, or that one has a debilitating psychosis with serious symptoms” (p. 36). The validity of claims is difficult to determine in these cases, according to Chafetz, and the remainder of the book is dedicated to different types of cases and corresponding assessment tools, with guidance on how to best judge validity. Chapters 3–5 introduce specialized topics in assessing ID in Social Security disability cases, capital cases, and Miranda rights waiver cases, respectively. Chafetz concludes with a chapter focused on more general assessments of competencies and capacities (i.e., testamentary capacity or competency to stand trial).
Throughout the book, Chafetz draws on his knowledge and experience as a practicing forensic and clinical neuropsychologist, providing meticulous examination of each topic. He summarizes recent scholarship and example cases regarding ID assessment, largely amounting to convenient literature reviews including support and criticism that are easily accessible and useful for readers. While Chafetz is not analyzing original data for the book, he does present data previously collected by himself and other researchers. For example, a section on “SSA [Social Security Administration] Pressure on the Examiner” (pp. 71–76) analyzes policy issues of SSA testing, tracing the development of the issue through relevant research along with a table that outlines the SSA core policy issues, and their refutations. In some instances, Chafetz also analyzes factual cases through the eyes of the examiner. The section “Competency to Stand Trial (CST)” (pp. 173–176) includes a number of real criminal cases and their outcomes, along with two useful tables that present important considerations in determining CST. The book provides numerous tables and figures like these, which effectively summarize important information such as case findings, testing guidelines, or example test results. Each chapter also ends with a helpful summary for quick review.
Although Chafetz clearly demonstrates his vast knowledge throughout the book, at times this can amount to too much information. While Chafetz begins the book with a basic introduction to the issues, the later chapters require more of a familiarity with the subject. The tables and figures are helpful summaries in this sense, however, certain sections that provide in-depth examples of instruments, such as hypothetical cases consistent and not consistent with ID (pp. 103–106), can be difficult to follow. Chafetz tries to interject his personality into a clinical subject, but at times it distracts from the actual topics of the book, such as using a fictitious movie example to demonstrate human behavior, when more practical or real-world examples are certainly available (p. 39). The largest shortcoming of the book, however, may be its vast scope. It is clear that Chafetz has a long-standing familiarity with ID assessment in both the civil and the criminal cases. To combine the topics of the book (from Social Security cases to capital cases) is perhaps too ambitious, with some information getting muddled. In this sense, the book is certainly most appropriate for an audience of practitioners who are already familiar with many of these assessments, especially considering the amount of dense information included on specific tools. The drawback of focusing on this audience is that Chafetz does not include much specific information on how to administer these tools or test for validity, instead focusing on the importance of determining validity of an examinee’s claim. The difficulty here is that Chafetz could undoubtedly fill multiple books on each topic and putting these sometimes disparate topics into one piece results in some incompatibility and missing information.
Generally, although there are some flaws, Intellectual Disability: Civil and Criminal Forensic Issues is a helpful and informative resource for those concerned specifically with the validity of ID assessments. Chafetz delivers a very informational book, especially in terms of recent advances in the field of ID assessment. There are chapters that particularly shine, including the Capital Case chapter and the concluding chapter introducing other competencies and capabilities, both providing concise and interesting assessments of the topics. Others, however, are disjointed and hard to follow, such as the Social Security chapter, which aims to cover a vast amount of history and topics in too narrow a frame. The book does provide beneficial information for practitioners and those who have some background in ID assessment, while the casual reader or student may not appreciate the contribution of Chafetz’s writing. The book, then, is best suited for a specific audience, especially those neuropsychologists and psychologists who are interested in current issues of the validity of assessments of ID in civil and criminal cases. Chafetz clearly demonstrates his vast knowledge and experience in the field, which is invaluable for practitioners going forward.