Assignment 2: LASA: Assault in the City: Trial, Sentencing, and Appeal

Tasks:

On the basis of the vignette you read, write a paper supported by appropriate, peer-reviewed sources and case law that responds to the following:

• Define risk of dangerousness and discuss the relevant landmark court cases relevant to this psycholegal issue.
• Discuss the relevance of the defendant’s age to a risk of dangerousness assessment.
• Describe the elements or issues that a mental health professional usually focuses on when assessing a person’s risk of dangerousness.
• On the basis of the information you have from the vignette, provide an opinion on the defendant's risk of dangerousness.
• Define insanity and discuss the relevant landmark court cases relevant to this psycholegal issue.
• Discuss the relevance, if any, of the defendant’s age to a determination of mental status at the time of the offense.
• Describe the elements or issues that a mental health professional usually focuses on when assessing a person’s mental status at the time of the offense.
• Discuss the potential ethical concerns that may be encountered by a forensic professional in the evaluation and assessment of each of these psycholegal issues.
• Discuss the potential impact of an individual’s culture in the evaluation and assessment of each of these psycholegal issues.
• On the basis of the information you have from the vignette, provide an opinion on the defendant's likelihood of using an insanity defense.

Use resources from professional literature to support your analysis. The professional literature may include the Argosy University online library resources; relevant textbooks; peer-reviewed journal articles; and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, and .gov).

All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.

Submission Details:

• By Monday, June 6, 2016, save your paper as M5_A2_Lastname_Firstname.doc and submit it to the M5 Assignment 2 LASA Dropbox.