Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Neuropsychology, Neuroscience, Volitional Impairment and Sexually ViolentPredators: A Review of the Literature and the Law and their Application to CivilCommitment ProceedingsJohn Matthew Fabian, Consulting Psychologist, Columbus, USA(john@johnmatthewfabian.com)The U.S. Supreme Court held in Kansas v. Crane, that a person’s mental abnormality orpersonality disorder must cause the individual to have "serious difficulty in controlling his sexualbehavior," rather than "total or complete lack of control." While most state civil commitmentstatutes do not mandate this volitional impairment language relevant to loss of control, theyinstead incorporate the requirement of findings of "likely" or "likelihood" to reoffend. Yet insome of these state Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) hearings, the forensic mental health expertwitnesses testify as to the offender’s ability to control his sex offending behaviors. Occasionally,some of these experts are neuropsychologists and neurologists who testify about a sex offender’sneurological and cognitive impairment resulting in sexually deviant behavior, volitionalimpairment, and likelihood of reoffending. This paper’s focus is to assess deviant sexualoffending behaviors and volitional impairment through a neuropsychological and neurologicallens. The author will provide an analysis of the literature as to the structural and functionalneurocognitive processes of sex offending pertaining to neuropathology, neuropsychology, andneuroimaging data. The author will attempt to apply these findings to the legal requirementsoutlined in Crane necessitating commitment of sex offenders who experience some volitionalimpairment in their behaviors that lead them to be likely to sexually reoffend. The author willreview state case law addressing neuroscience in SVP proceedings.Polygraph and Sex Offender Assessment: The Polygraph is not a RiskAssessment Tool, so How Can It Help?Kenneth Blackstone, Consulting Psychologist, Atlanta, USA (kenblackstone@gmail.com)Polygraph examination is a catch-all term used to describe the use of the polygraph instrument ina variety of applications associated with the risk assessment and treatment of sex offenders. Thispresentation will focus on the use and misuse of the polygraph during the assessment ofconvicted and/or civilly committed sex offenders. This presentation will include a history of theused of polygraphs in conviction sex offender proceedings, descriptions of the types ofexaminations that can be administered and how each might play a role in risk assessments forcivil commitment proceedings, suggestions on how mental health professionals can effectivelyincorporate polygraph examinations results into evaluations and recommendations, and adiscussion of the limitations of the polygraph examination and how it might be misused incommitment courts.293