Should Human Figure Drawings Be Admitted Into Court?

Abstract

In recent years, there has been debate about the validity of figure drawings, although surveys of clinicians in both general and forensic practice still find them to be one of the most widely used tests of personality functioning. Using both Heilbrun's (1992) guidelines for the use of psychological tests in a forensic evaluation and the U.S. Supreme Court's Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993) criteria for the admission of scientific evidence, I examine the admissibility of human figure drawings in court. The results suggest that the most commonly used methods for interpreting human figure drawings fall short of meeting the standards for admissibility. The use of overall rating scales, although weak in validity, appear to minimally meet these standards.

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