Psychopathy checklist (PCL-R)....anyone familiar?

Question

I am writing a psych paper on a hypothetical case:

A man is on trial for murdering dozens of people, he pleads not guilty by reason of insanity. Psych examiners will then administer the PCL-R. The clients attorney comes to me (a psychologist) and wants to know the validity reaserch done on this test.

What I need help on is to come up with relevant problems or issues in reguard to his question.

So far I have:

Who is administering the test and what training do they have? What state is this case in, (because Texas will apply the death penalty to anyone who scores higher than a 28)?

I apreciate any help

Answer 1

That's a very good question and you'd probably get better answers posting this in the psychology forum.  I'm only a little bit familiar with the PCL-R.  I believe that it's an addition to the DSM-IV TR, and therefore probably anyone who can administer the DSM-IV can administer the PCL-R, but I'm not 100% certain.  (That would mean any licensed mental health professional.)  You could call a local clinical psychologist and ask?  But if it's true that someone with just a bachelor's degree could give this evaluation, it would call into question the validity of the results.  I would hope that this form could only be used by those who have at least a master's degree in clinical psychology. But who knows...great question!

*good luck!*

Answer 2

Check out http://www.campsych.com/pcl_revised.htm and see if that helps.