Customer Reviews

The Psychiatrist as Expert Witness

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

A classic work which explores the nuances of translating clinical acumen into testifying as a court qualified expert. Now updated and deepened.

Highly recommended reading for any clinician whose dedication to community service includes courtroom testimony in areas of forensic expertise.

Don't miss this gem! The 1998 edition became a standard text in courses on forensic psychiatry & psychology, expert testimony, etc., and this new 2009 second edition is even better. Providing careful attention to ethical, professional, legal, and practical issues, it provides wise and thoughtful guidance by one of the giants in the field. It also provides forms (informed consent for forensic assessment; financial agreement with an attorney; etc.) that can be adapted to specific areas of forensic practice.

This book is gimmicky; yet it's lacks any serious emphasis on substance. As a student of the interaction between psychiatry and the law, I often times find myself struck by the authors focus on the use of deceptive means to testifying.

Rather than treating the role and function of the expert psychiatric witness in a serious and somber manner, this book merely focuses on, and advocates the use of, annedoctal "tricks of the trade."

That such is the case should be particular disconcerting to the ethical psychiatrist, whose desire is not to advance a particular agenda at any cost, but whose true desire is to inform the court/jury via impartial and scientifically valid testimony.

I just wanted to point out that I own this book too; and that I share the sentiments of the other reviewer.