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Thomas A. Barefoot burned down a bar and shot and killed a police officer who was investigating the arson. Barefoot was convicted by the jury of capital murder of a police officer. During the death penalty phase of the case, the state used psychiatric testimony to demonstrate that Barefoot posed a threat to society in the future. Specifically, the state had Drs. John Holbrook and James Grigson review a hypothetical fact situation based on evidence from the case and asked each of the doctors if the convicted individual would commit violent acts in the future or would pose a threat to society. Both doctors testified that the criminal would be a continued threat to society. In fact, Dr. Grigson concluded that there was a “one hundred percent and absolute” probability that Barefoot would commit violent acts in the future and thus pose a continued threat to society. The judge sentenced Thomas A. Barefoot to death. Barefoot...
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References and Readings
Denney, R. L. (2005). Criminal responsibility and other criminal forensic issues. In G. Larrabee (Ed.), Forensic neuropsychology: A scientific approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Melton, G. B., Petrila, J., Poythress, N. G., & Slobogin, C. (1997). Psychological evaluations for the courts: A handbook for mental health professionals and lawyers. New York: Guilford.
Monahan, J. (1992). Mental disorder and violent behavior: Perceptions and evidence. American Psychologist, 47, 511–521.
Monahan, J., & Steadman, H. J. (1994). Toward a rejuvenation of risk assessment research. In J. Monahan & H. J. Steadman (Eds.), Violence and mental disorder: Developments in risk assessment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mossman, D. (1994). Assessing predictors of violence: Being accurate about accuracy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 783–792.
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Heilbronner, R.L. (2017). Barefoot v. Estelle (1983). In: Kreutzer, J., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_947-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_947-2
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