The forensic assessments of criminal responsibility are necessary to focus on a defendant's actions and mental condition that may have occurred few days, months, or even years ago. In a normal case, a person after a certain age is responsible for his criminal actions of he is not affected by psychological illness. Therefore, the forensic panel of psychiatrist conduct test under specific standardized conditions.
It should be noted that the Victorian legislation is one of those which allows the assessment of mental impairment to be done by psychologists. However, some courts are not considering it as an authentic solution or courts have been trepidations to set a criminal free who attempted a serious crime. In Western society, some prohibited behaviors and actions are typically included in the criminal law. Those who violate the laws must have to bear the consequences, and these are said to be criminally responsible. Therefore, criminals usually try to save them by proving them as mentally unfit. In such situation criminally responsible assessment is necessary. Therefore, psychologists usually use different and strong areas of assessment to find out the appropriate results. For that, quantification of pertinent psychological variables is the preferred method for psychologists.
Moreover, there are different scales and standards to find out the results on the basis of behaviors, actions, and history of the criminals (Packer, 2009 ). Herein, it should be noted that there are some cultural factors that affect and influence the behavior of a criminal defendant. Therefore, the diagnostic assessment is necessary to deal with the cultural factors. Thus, The Forensic Psychological and Psychiatric focuses on the assessment of the criminal responsibility (Eric Y. Drogin, 2011).
References
Eric Y. Drogin, F. M. (2011). Handbook of Forensic Assessment: Psychological and Psychiatric Perspectives. New york: John Wiley & Sons.
Packer, I. K. (2009 ). Evaluation of Criminal Responsibility. London: Oxford University Press.
