The Psychologist as Expert Witness


Book Description

The leading resource on forensic practice The Psychologist as Expert Witness, Second Edition introduces practitioners to the law and the role of psychologists in the courtroom, covering all facets of forensic practice-one of the most rapidly growing areas of professional specialization. This comprehensive primer prepares the psychologist to function credibly as an expert witness, identifying the current and emerging areas of application of psychology to the law. Revealing psychology's enormous potential to promote human welfare through the American system of jurisprudence, former American Psychological Association president Theodore Blau: * Outlines the ways psychology has come into contact with the court via the areas of neuropsychology, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, mental disability, psychological profiles, various marital and family issues, and others * Offers a wide range of situations in which psychologists have appeared as expert witnesses * Includes step-by-step instructions on examining competency to stand trial and making custody recommendations * Examines cases where psychologists have done well-and not so well-in court * Discusses malingering, deceit, and exaggeration * Presents guidelines for testifying in marital, civil, and criminal disputes * Emphasizes standards for practice and practical training in providing testimony to the courts




The Psychologist as Expert Witness


Book Description

This is a nuts-and-bolts guide for the psychologist who may be called upon to testify as an expert witness. It discusses how to prepare psychological reports, depositions, and technical reports; what to expect when serving as a witness; and how to behave in various situations and avoid being used by attorneys and embarrassed in court. It describes the different kinds of actions that may require expert testimony - competency and sanity hearings, domestic cases, personal injury and wrongful death litigation, and questions of criminal intent and disability. The book also includes material on legal procedures, the background and operation of the court systems, and actual testimony for a wide variety of cases.




Expert Psychological Testimony for the Courts


Book Description

During the past two decades, the frequency and range of expert testimony by psychologists have increased dramatically. Courts now routinely hear expert testimony from clinical, cognitive, developmental, and social psychologists. Expert Psychological Testimony for the Courts provides a comprehensive, research-based analysis of the content, ethics, and impact of expert testimony. This book features leading scholars who have contributed to the scientific foundation for expert testimony and who have also served as expert witnesses. The opening chapter explores issues surrounding the admissibility of expert testimony, and the closing chapter explores the ethics and limits of psychological testimony. Each of the intervening chapters focuses on a different area of expert testimony: forensic identification, police interrogations and false confessions, eyewitness identification, sexual harassment, mitigation in capital cases, the insanity defense, battered women, future dangerousness, and child custody. These chapters describe the typical content of expert testimony in a particular area, evaluate the scientific foundation for testimony, examine how jurors respond to expert testimony, and suggest ways in which legal standards or procedures might be modified in light of psychological research. This groundbreaking book should be on the shelf of every social scientist interested in the legal system and every trial attorney who is likely to retain a psychologist as an expert witness. It can also serve as a text for advanced courses in psychology, legal studies, criminal justice, law, and sociology.




The Expert Expert Witness


Book Description

In this extensive revision of his classic guide, Stanley Brodsky, joined by coauthor Thomas Gutheil, continues to educate and entertain mental health professionals who are called as expert witnesses, teaching them simple, effective strategies for direct and cross-examination.




Testifying in Court


Book Description

The third edition of this classic resource provides mental health professionals with pithy, practical advice for testifying in court with the same wit and whimsy and a revamped structure.




Forensic Psychology and Neuropsychology for Criminal and Civil Cases


Book Description

Today's increasingly sophisticated psychological and neuropsychological assessments allow for a greater understanding, and improved evaluations, in forensic psychology. By integrating discussions of modern psychological and neuropsychological tests, with extant civil and criminal cases, Forensic Psychology and Neuropsychology for Criminal and Civil Cases, Second Edition serves as a fully-updated, professional resource outlining modern behavioral science’s impact on the legal system. This second edition synthesizes the theoretical, empirical, and clinical literature, examining it through the lens of case application. The book is divided into three parts to look at foundational legal, ethical and applied issues; criminal forensic evaluations; and civil forensic evaluations. Chapters new to this edition address substance abuse and intoxication, interviewing and interrogation, criminal profiling, faked amnesia and recall skills, post-concussive syndrome (PCS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and trends and research directions. Clinicians, researchers and psychologists practicing in any number of related fields will be able to address relevant questions from both criminal-forensic and civil-forensic perspectives. Key features: Presents the latest advances in methodology and technology to assist forensic professional in assessment and case formulation in the search for ground truth in applied settings Outlines base rates for forensic areas of concern, especially helpful in evaluation, report writing and courtroom testimony as an expert witness Addresses complex criminal issues such as competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility, mitigating defenses, and violence risk Forensic Psychology and Neuropsychology for Criminal and Civil Cases, Second Edition is an invaluable resource to clinicians, experts witnesses, and legal professionals—a helpful adjunct for mental health experts to formulate sound direct and cross-examination strategies, and eliciting suggestions for forensically-related treatment and intervention.




Listening to Killers


Book Description

Listening to Killers offers an inside look at twenty years' worth of murder files from Dr. James Garbarino, a leading expert psychological witness who listens to killers so that he can testify in court. The author offers detailed accounts of how killers travel a path that leads from childhood innocence to lethal violence in adolescence or adulthood. He places the emotional and moral damage of each individual killer within a larger scientific framework of social, psychological, anthropological, and biological research on human development. By linking individual cases to broad social and cultural issues and illustrating the social toxicity and unresolved trauma that drive some people to kill, Dr. Garbarino highlights the humanity we share with killers and the role of understanding and empathy in breaking the cycle of violence.







Psychological Experts in Divorce Actions


Book Description

Emotionally charged issues abound in matrimonial practice, especially in custody disputes. Expert testimony can have a dramatic impact on the outcome of a case, and when matters are highly sensitive or sensational the seeming objectivity of an expert can be dispositive. To effectively reinforce or question that testimony, certain specialized knowledge is essential. Scientifically accepted standards and theories are constantly evolving. Keeping up with the data had been a challenge, but one integrated resource has made it simple. Aspen Publishers’ Psychological Experts in Divorce Actions pulls all the research together into the definitive guide to understanding the role of psychological evaluations in divorce and custody actions. Focused on providing the best approach to protecting your client’s interests, this work explains all the leading testing instruments,what conclusions may be drawn and how to challenge or support those conclusions. In addition to offering effective examination and cross-examination strategies, it assists you in handling the gamut of psychological factors that affect clients in divorce and custody cases. Authors Marc J. Ackerman, Ph.D ., and Andrew W. Kane, Ph.D ., are licensed psychologists who have been involved in hundreds of custody cases. Drawing on their extensive experience—testing parties to a divorce and treating psychological patients in the clinic—and as psychological experts in the courtroom, they identify the most important psychological evaluation research used in divorce and custody decision-making and distill the information into clear terms lawyers can readily apply.They also examine vital issues including: Ethics —confidentiality, privilege, duty to warn or protect (Tarasoff), sharing raw data, test integrity Sexual abuse —bona fide or fabricated allegations, psychological effects of sexual abuse, profiles of abuser and abused Testing —personality tests (including MMPI-2, And The new MMPI-2-RF, Rorschach,Millon,TAT); intelligence tests (Wechsler scales,Kaufman scales, Stanford Binet); custody tests (ASPECT, PCRI, PASS, BPS); and many more How divorce affects families —custody, placement, age and gender differences, grandparents, sexual preference, psychological problems




Forensic Psychology Consultation in Child Custody Litigation


Book Description

This is the first comprehensive examination of the increasingly important role of forensic psychologists in consulting and expert witness testimony in child custody litigation. Offering practical advice on understanding the psychological dynamics often found in these cases, the authors use real-world examples where critical issues such as the developmental need of children, relocation, domestic violence, and the alienated child are involved. They detail a logical process for critiquing the evaluation reports of others and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a case.