DETERMINATION OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY - APPLICATION OF THE 2-ALTERNATIVE FORCED-CHOICE STRATAGEM

The two-alternative forced-choice principle, which has been used to detect malingering and ''hysterical'' symptoms, was applied to the assessment of criminal responsibility in an analog study. Prison inmates and university students completed forced-choice tests of general knowledge and moral reasoning on which below-chance scores indicate dishonest performance. Subjects were assigned randomly to one of three groups: control, naive faking, and coached faking. Significantly greater proportions of subjects in the naive and coached faking groups than in the control group scored significantly below chance on each test. Cutoff scores to maximize accuracy of classification were established for both tests. Implications of the findings for detecting individuals who fake a lack of criminal responsibility are considered, as well as directions for future research with other populations.