Forensic and correctional applications of the personality assessment inventory

The relative utility of psychological tests for addressing legal issues is an area of considerable debate in the field. Regardless of the merits of ps ychological testing, it is apparent that such instruments are used widely b oth to address specific psycholegal issues and to evaluate offender populat ions more generally. One instrument gaining prominence in terms of its use in both forensic and correctional settings is the Personality Assessment In ventory (PAI; Morey, 1991), which was developed to assess various construct s relevant to clinical settings (e.g. psychopathology, response distortion, and personality traits). This paper reviews the psychometric properties of the PAI specifically in reference to its ability to assess factors relevan t to forensic decision-making, as well as its utility to provide clinically relevant information about offender populations more generally. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.