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Research
Program
Marc
Boccaccini, Ph.D. |
 My
research program focuses broadly on the intersection
of clinical psychology and the legal system. In general,
I am interested in conducting research that provides
useful information for practitioners, attorneys, and
consultants. If you would like to know more about
the full range of topics on which I conduct research,
please review my C.V.
Below are brief descriptions of interests in the areas
of mental retardation and witness testimony.
Mental
retardation in death penalty cases:
My
work in the area of mental retardation focuses on
how psychologists go about conducting evaluations
of capital defendants and death row inmates. I'm
especially interested in how psychologists assess
and make decisions about adaptive behavior (day-to-day
living skills) in capital cases. Current tests for
assessing adaptive behavior were not developed with
capital case issues in mind and the validity of
these tests for capital case evaluations is not
known. I'm interested in how psychologists use these
existing tests and in conducting research within
criminal populations to provide an empirical foundation
for making conclusions about the appropriate use
of these tests.
I'm
also interested in laypersons' perceptions of the
types of impairment in adaptive behavior that are
associated with mental retardation. Thus far, my
students' work in this area suggests that laypersons
expect persons with mental retardation to demonstrate
excessively severe levels of impairment, which has
important implications for how attorneys and experts
communicate information about adaptive functioning
to judges and jurors. Several of my graduate students
are conducting a systematic review of trial transcripts
from death penalty cases to determine a) how well
attorneys question experts about adaptive behavior,
and b) how well experts communicate information
about adaptive behavior in response to attorney
questions.
Witness
testimony:
My
witness testimony research focuses on preparing
witnesses to testify in court. My early research
in this area suggested that commonly used witness
preparation training techniques led to both positive
and negative changes in testimony quality. Prepared
witnesses appeared more composed and less nervous,
but they also appeared stiff and rigid. I'm currently
working with several graduate students to a) identify
the specific components of the witness preparation
training program that produce these negative effects,
and b) develop a modified training program that
does not produce these effects.
Please
e-mail me if you would like to know more about my
research program.
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