Safeguarding The Quality Of Forensic Assessment In Sentencing

This edited collection provides an interdisciplinary and cross-national perspective on safeguarding the quality of forensic assessment in sentencing offenders. Taking an in-depth look at seven different Western countries, each chapter provides an overview of the role of assessment in sentencing offenders, as well as a focus on formal ways in which the respective country’s legal system and disciplinary associations protect the quality of forensic assessment. Each chapter explores how to assure better decision making in individual cases based on assessments of psycholegal concepts such as mental disorder/insanity, criminal responsibility and dangerousness. Combining the perspectives of lawyers, legal scholars, and clinicians working in the field, this book is essential for those working in and with forensic assessment. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

This book describes targeted therapeutic interventions, programmatic approaches, and system-wide transformations of forensic mental health services. Interventions include creative applications of a variety of multidimensional and theoretically grounded approaches. These include variations of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), psychodynamic, psychosocial, Risk-Needs-Recovery (RNR) and Good Lives Models, and other approaches. Contributors from several countries address key topics such as aggression, sexual violence, substance use, trauma-informed care, competency restoration, and other specialized treatment areas. Clinical examples are included throughout, which include current data and research and suggestions for further research for use by clinicians working in a range of settings with a variety of treatment population subsets. This book is essential for administrators and clinicians seeking effective and state-of-the-art approaches.

This book explores diasporic identities and lived experiences that emerge in global patterns of oppression and considers the consequences of treatment and cure when patients experience mental illness due to war, displacement and surveillance. Going beyond psychiatric institutions and conventional psychiatric knowledge by focusing on informal networks, socially contingent value systems, and cultural sites of healing, this book considers how communities utilize trauma productively for healing. The chapters in this volume consider the detection of mental illness and its treatment through claims to citizenship and belonging as well as denials of social identity and psychic experiences by institutions of the state. A multidisciplinary team of contributors and international range of case studies explore topics such as colonial trauma, feminized trauma, reproductive violence, military mental health and more. This book is an essential resource for psychologists, psychiatrists, political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists, as well as scholars and those involved in policymaking and practice.

This book aims to understand how Asian jurisdictions conceptualise rehabilitation within both the correctional and forensic mental health sectors. Little has been written about rehabilitation practices for people in criminal justice and forensic mental health services in Asia. Although there is some recognition of the need to develop and/or adjust rehabilitation practices for non-white/non-western peoples in Western jurisdictions, the extent to which Western-derived practices have been considered, adjusted, or adopted in Asian countries is not well known. This book includes contributions from an international team who explore the ways in which history, culture, religion, and resources impact how rehabilitation is conceptualised and offered in multiple Asian countries. It aims to provide an understanding of the relative merits of contemporary Western practices across different Asian countries and consider how these practices have been adopted and adapted within correctional and forensic mental health sectors. This book is essential for administrators who are developing rehabilitation strategies and for practitioners working with people who have a history of offending behaviour.

Forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) continues to develop and expand as a specialization. Since the publication of the First Edition of Forensic Mental Health Assessment: A Casebook over a decade ago, there have been a number of significant changes in the applicable law, ethics, science, and practice that have shaped the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of FMHA. The Second Edition of Forensic Mental Health Assessment is thoroughly updated in light of the developments and changes in the field, while still keeping the unique structure of presenting cases, detailed reports, and specific teaching points on a wide range of topics. Unlike anything else in the literature, it provides genuine (although disguised) case material, so trainees as well as legal and mental health professionals can review how high-quality forensic evaluation reports are written; it features contributions from leading experts in forensic psychology and psychiatry, providing samples of work in their particular areas of specialization; and it discusses case material in the larger context of broad foundational principles and specific teaching points, making it a valuable resource for teaching, training, and continuing education. Now featuring 50 real-world cases, this new edition covers topics including criminal responsibility, sexual offending risk evaluation, federal sentencing, capital sentencing, capacity to consent to treatment, personal injury, harassment and discrimination, guardianship, juvenile commitment, transfer and decertification, response style, expert testimony, evaluations in a military context, and many more. It will be invaluable for anyone involved in assessments for the courts, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and attorneys, as well as for FMHA courses.

Written by two of the leading scholars in the field, Forensic Psychology, Second Canadian Edition, introduces students and the public at large to the practice of forensic psychology by showing how psychologists aid the legal system by serving as expert witnesses, criminal profilers, and trial consultants for jury selection and child custody hearings. It presents the roles and responsibilities of forensic psychologists, addresses both the opportunities and temptations inherent in those roles, and explores the ethical issues facing practicing forensic psychologists. The authors provide students with an accurate and candid picture of the field in Canada and internationally today. Along with an increased amount of Canadian criminal case material and new Canadian Researcher Profile boxes, the second Canadian edition has been extensively revised to expand on recent changes in the Canadian judicial system, and to include a much broader coverage of eyewitness testimony, investigative/police psychology, and the psychology, risk assessment, and treatment of sexual offenders and psychopaths.

Major developments in the field since the publication of Learning Forensic Assessment are integrated in this revised edition, including revised editions of the DSM-5, HCR-20 scale, and child custody guidelines. This textbook is designed for graduate students learning forensic assessment and psychologists coming to forensic practice later in their careers. It is organized around five broad areas: Professional and Practice Issues, Adult Forensic Assessment, Juvenile Forensic Assessment, Civil Forensic Assessment, and Communicating Your Findings. Each chapter begins with a strong teaching and learning foundation. The latter part of each chapter is assessment specific, covering available assessment measures and approaches to assessment. The authors go well beyond simple descriptions of assessment measures and provide a conceptual discussion of the evaluation process that helps the reader understand how assessment measures fit into the overall evaluation process. The evaluation component is geared toward assessing the important aspects of the construct as laid out in the early part of each chapter. Each chapter then concludes with a case example to illustrate the measures and techniques described.

The Handbook of Violence Risk Assessment, Second Edition, builds on the first edition’s comprehensive discussion of violence risk assessment instruments with an update of research on established tools and the addition of new chapters devoted to recently developed risk assessment tools. Featuring chapters written by the instrument developers themselves, this handbook reviews the most frequently used violence risk assessment instruments—both actuarial and structured professional judgment—that professionals use to inform and structure their judgments about violence risk. Also included are broader chapters that address matters such as the consideration of psychopathy and how the law shapes violence risk assessment. Already the primary reference for practitioners, researchers, and legal professionals in this area, this second edition’s easy-to-access, comprehensive, and current information will make it an indispensable reference for those in the field.