title: Psychiatric expert testimony on aggressive offenders in juvenile court proceedings.
abstract: The empirical study presented concerns juvenile court cases (aggressive offences) in West Berlin during which the offenders (N = 94) were subject to psychiatric expert testimony (1975-1982). The conditional factors determining forensic-psychiatric testimony are examined and the investigation shows, with the aid of discriminant analysis, that differences in the form of the expertise given are best explained by the variable 'convention-orientation'. Ratings on the quality of psychiatric letters (N = 49) were based on the semantic differential technique. Employing factor analysis, three independent aspects determining the quality of expert opinion are revealed, namely the factors 'cogency of message', role-conception', and 'recipient-orientation'.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication; D001604:Berlin; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005104:Expert Testimony; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors; D014754:Violence