Forensic Evidence - Syndrome

Class,

Concerning evidence presented by forensic psychologists in court, please note the difference between a "syndrome" and a "psychological disorder." A syndrome is a group or pattern of symptoms that appear together that are clinically meaningful (Dahir et al., 2005). Syndromes link sets of characteristics to antecedent events or traumas (e.g., battered woman syndrome or rape trauma syndrome). A syndrome has no specific temporal course or explicit pathological nature. Instead, a syndrome helps to identify underlying undesirable conditions.

In contrast, a psychological disease has a cluster of signs and symptoms and known pathological qualities and temporal courses (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc.).

Of course, similar to all expert evidence presented in court, psychological evidence and testimony must meet the guidelines set forth by the Daubert standard set by the United States Supreme Court (DeMatteo et al., 2019).

References

Dahir, V. B., Richardson, J. T., Ginsburg, G. P., Gatowski, S. I., Dobbin, S. A., & Merlino, M. L. (2005). Judicial application of Daubert to psychological syndrome and profile evidence. Psychological, Public Policy & Law, 11(1), 62-82. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8971.11.1.62

DeMatteo, D., Fishel, S., & Tansey, A. (2019). Expert evidence: The (unfulfilled) promise of Daubert.Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 20(3), 129-134.https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100619894336

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