We are excited to announce that Dr. Katelyn Mullally is the winner of the 2024 Dr. Sterling Clarren FASD Research Award! Katelyn’s research focuses on plea understanding and decision-making in youth and young adults with and without FASD.
CanFASD present this award annually to a student or early career researcher who has made a significant contribution to our field. We named the award in honor of Dr. Sterling Clarren, CanFASD’s founding CEO and Scientific Director. The award celebrates his pioneering contributions to FASD research. It recognizes research that integrates policy, practice, and evidence together to improve the lives of individuals with FASD, their families, and their communities.
Meet Katelyn
Dr. Katelyn Mullally is a just graduated, previous Ph.D. student from the Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology program at the University of Guelph. Katelyn is now a Psychologist in Supervised Practice at the Reach Out Centre for Kids. Katelyn’s research interests include psycholegal abilities and legal decision-making. She also focuses on risk factors for adverse outcomes among youth in the criminal legal system, including those with FASD.
She is also interested in examining current approaches, safeguards, and gaps for supporting youth involved in the criminal legal system. In addition, Katelyn is passionate about working clinically with children, youth, and families with complex mental health concerns. This includes individuals who are involved in the criminal legal system.
Katelyn Mullally, 2024 Dr. Sterling Clarren FASD Research Award winner.
Exploring plea understanding and decision-making in youth and young adults
Almost every defendant in the criminal legal system faces the decision of whether to plead guilty or not guilty. This decision has important legal consequences. Some defendants may have difficulty understanding the consequences of this choice and making well-informed plea decisions. This can potentially result in false guilty pleas. In particular, individuals with FASD may have difficulty understanding legal information and making decisions that are in their best interest. Katelyn’s research project explores how much youth and young adults understand about guilty pleas and how they make plea decisions, compared to individuals without FASD. The first study reviewed previously published studies on guilty pleas in youth more generally. However, of the 55 studies examined, none involved individuals with FASD.
Studies 2 and 3 examined how much youth and young adults with FASD understand about guilty pleas, what kinds of plea decisions they make in a pretend scenario, and what factors they consider when making these decisions, compared to individuals without FASD. Many youth and young adults with FASD had substantial difficulties understanding plea information. In addition, some individuals with FASD had difficulty completing the study and making plea decisions altogether, and others seemed less likely to consider critical factors, such as risks, benefits, and long-term consequences. While researchers need to conduct more studies, these findings highlight the necessity for additional supports to help both youth and young adults with FASD understand plea information and make informed decisions.
Impact of the project
To Katelyn’s knowledge, this study is the first to examine plea understanding and decision-making in individuals with FASD. It adds to a very small subset of studies exploring psycholegal abilities more generally within this population. It is anticipated that this project will advance the field and inspire future studies by highlighting the critical importance of research on this topic. This need is underscored by the overrepresentation of individuals with FASD in the criminal legal system, the frequency with which individuals with FASD may be asked to make plea decisions (and associated legal consequences), as well as the neurodevelopmental difficulties and potential for impaired psycholegal abilities among some individuals with FASD. This project also highlights a clear gap in the literature with respect to guilty pleas among individuals with FASD.
Each of the three studies within this project emphasizes the imperative need for future research examining this important topic and provides specific recommendations and possible directions for further study. Findings from this study may impact the lives of individuals with FASD within the criminal legal system, both by inspiring additional research and highlighting the potential need for specialized supports for this population. This may include improved screening and identification and modified plea processes. In particular, this study adds to mounting calls for additional resources to better identify and support individuals with FASD who are involved in the criminal legal system in order to improve outcomes among this population.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Katelyn for her outstanding contributions to this project. For a more in-depth exploration of her work, we invite you to view her presentation on the CanFASD Youtube channel.
Related Content
Found this blogpost interesting? We’d recommend checking out the following webpages:
- Become a member of CanFASD – be the first to know about the latest FASD research.
- Justice – learn more about FASD and justice.
- FASD for Judicial and Legal Professionals Level II – advanced training course for professionals in the Justice system.