Fundamentals of Forensic Practice: Mental Health and Criminal Law [Hardcover]

Richard Rogers (Author), Daniel Shuman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0387252266 | ISBN-13: 978-0387252261 | Edition: 1

Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists are increasingly asked to provide expertise to courts and attorneys in the criminal justice system. To do so effectively, they must stay abreast of important advances in the understanding of legal standards as well as new developments in sophisticated measures and the methods for their assessment. Fundamentals of Forensic Practice is designed to address the critical issues that are faced by mental health experts in their role of conducting assessments, presenting findings, and preparing for challenges to admissibility and credibility. Uniquely practical and comprehensive, this volume operationalizes legal standards and describes empirically validated methods for their evaluation. Not only is this essential for mental health professionals, but it is equally valuable to criminal attorneys. Lawyers require both clinical knowledge and understanding of legal standards in order to prepare their own experts and to challenge those on the opposing side. For both clinical and legal experts Fundamentals of Forensic Practice offers a full view of all phases of criminal proceedings: - Pretrial—diversion, determinations of bail, waivers of Miranda rights, and the capacity to consent to searches. - Trial—competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility. Beyond insanity, the latter addresses mens rea, automatism, and psychological context evidence, such as battered-woman syndrome. - Post-trial—sentencing, capital sentencing, competency to be executed, and other post-conviction issues. Other key features include: - Chapters on specific criminal issues in a consistent format, with comprehensive coverage of legal standards and relevant clinical methods - Guidelines for conducting more effective forensic evaluations - In-depth coverage of specialized assessments, eg. malingering, sexual predator cases, and the insanity defense. - A detailed overview of direct and cross-examination strategies This book is the second collaboration between Rogers and Shuman. As individual authors, each received the American Psychiatric Association’s prestigious Guttmacher Award for their outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is likely to be "the" book for frequent experts who want to better understand their roles in this complex environment, as well as the lawyers who utilize them. Well organized, easy to use, scholarly and practical, Fundamental of Forensic Practice is an important foundational text for training programs in forensic psychology, psychiatry, and metal health law. - William H. Reid, M.D., M.P.H., Clinical and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Texas A&M College of Medicine, and Texas Tech Health Science Center

Product Details

• Hardcover: 453 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387252266
• ISBN-13: 978-0387252261
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #853,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars indispensible for criminal trial lawyers, October 19, 2005

By 

Michael Ogul (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fundamentals of Forensic Practice: Mental Health and Criminal Law (Hardcover)

Richard Rogers, Ph.D., has long been recognized as perhaps the leading expert on malingering in the United States. He and a law school professor, Daniel Shuman, have co-authored a great book on forensic mental health issues which has just been released: Fundamentals of Forensic Practice: Mental Health and Criminal Law (Springer Publications, 2005) by Richard Rogers and Daniel W. Shuman. The book covers the major issues addressed by mental health experts in criminal cases (e.g., insanity, competency, responsibility, penalty phase aggravation and
mitigation, risk assessment), as well as the different stages of
proceedings (e.g., diversion, bail motions, trial, sentencing, civil commitments, competency to be executed). As one might expect, it details how a forensic mental health expert should go about performing a reliable evaluation, including addressing the various issues that are inherent in mental health evaluations (e.g., malingering). However, of perhaps even greater benefit to trial attorneys who practice criminal law, the book includes
suggested cross examination questions in many areas which are crucial to evaluating the credibility and reliability of the mental health expert's testimony. Indeed, the suggested cross examination questions--which are simply excellent--can be used by both prosecution and defense attorneys to expose unreliable aspects of the expert's conclusions. At the same time, by becoming familiar with the book's recommended approach
and suggested cross-examination, trial lawyers can go a long ways towards producing testimony by mental health experts which is credible, reliable and persuasive, and will stand up to cross-examination.

I strongly recommend this book to any attorney who is presenting or confronting testimony by any mental health expert.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental of Forensic Practice: Mental Health and Criminal Law, November 13, 2009

By 

Thomas M. Kozak (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fundamentals of Forensic Practice: Mental Health and Criminal Law (Hardcover)

While being a very scholarly yet easy to read book, the authors take an interesting position between law and psychology. They seem to implicitly favor "technique" in forensic evaluations complete with methods used by lawyers to tear psychologists down. And while there may be psychologists who do not adhere to the best practices, which needs to be pointed out, the authors completely ignore the sleazy tactics used by attorneys who use whatever they can find to discredit a witness, and/or confuse the testimony, all for the sake of winning. The authors unwittingly or unknowingly fail to address this issue. The tactics are emphasized without sufficient reference to factual accuracy. An example of this would be attorneys who use the authors referenced tactics to confuse testimony by psychologists and keep jurors confused, thus weakening the opponents case. What would have been preferred was methods to help reduce and or eliminate such attempts by attorneys along with some real psychological tactics for psychologist to use to make evident to jurors, that the lawyer is attempting to confuse the facts and move away from a genuine (and truthful) understanding of the matter at hand.
In that attorneys are generally regarded as one of the least admired professions in various surveys and psychologists are more highly rated, let's not do anything as psychologists to narrow that gap.
Thomas M. Kozak, Ph.D.