Forensic Mental Health Assessment: A Casebook

Forensic mental health assessments are evaluations conducted by individuals from different disciplines on a variety of questions in civil, criminal, and family law. A growing number of mental health professionals, including psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, are being called upon to assess everything from an individual's competence to stand trial to the risk or threat of future violence, and asked to weigh in on cases ranging from murder and assault to malpractice and child custody. General principles have emerged to guide professionals conducting forensic mental health assessment. Forensic Mental Health Assessment: A Casebook illustrates those principles using relevant, real-world case material. Built around actual case reports from expert forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, the volume probes a broad range of legal questions through the detailed examination of more than 40 cases. Topics include Miranda rights waiver, competence to act as one's own attorney, competence to stand trial, juvenile commitment, sanity at the time of the offense, child custody, termination of parental rights, guardianship, and malpractice. This is the first casebook focusing specifically on forensic assessment. It contains cases from a broad range of civil, criminal, and family legal questions, described in case reports contributed by expert forensic psychologists and psychiatrists. It will be useful for anyone involved in assessments for the courts and attorneys, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and attorneys.