Highlighting of relevant case law and statutes --

This text provides an essential road map to forensic mental health assessments in death penalty cases for students and practitioners. The book integrates research with best practice recommendations, yielding a solid foundation of information related to capital punishment, death penalty litigation, and more.

This is the definitive reference and text for both mental health and legal professionals. The authors offer a uniquely comprehensive discussion of the legal and clinical contexts of forensic assessment, along with best-practice guidelines for participating effectively and ethically in a wide range of criminal and civil proceedings. Presented are findings, instruments, and procedures related to criminal and civil competencies, civil commitment, sentencing, personal injury claims, antidiscrimination laws, child custody, juvenile justice, and more.

Each entry in this essential collection of primary resources on capital punishment features an authoritative introduction and analysis that helps provide crucial context for understanding the evolution of law and public attitudes toward the death penalty in America, from colonial times to the present. Showcasing key primary documents that illuminate the ongoing debate and turbulent history of capital punishment in the United States, this collection gathers a wide range of fascinating and momentous documents, including court decisions and transcripts, legislation, personal accounts and perspectives, congressional testimony, and government documents. Since these documents reflect all political perspectives and messaging, students will gain valuable insight into the evolution of public opinion and government policy on the death penalty in America. To better understand these documents, each primary source is prefaced with an introduction and followed by scholarly analysis. These documents and accompanying analysis complement one another, helping students gain a better and more accurate understanding of the viewpoints, convictions, and perspectives that have shaped American attitudes and practices toward capital punishment since the United States' earliest days.

Designed to meet the specific needs of lawyers,Forensic Assessments in Criminal and Civil Law: A Handbook for Lawyers provides insight into what to expect from forensic mental health evaluations and how to navigate these assessments with skill and competence. The volume is divided into sections by evaluation type: criminal, civil, and juvenile and family evaluations. Each chapter addresses one of the most commonly requested forensic evaluations and is written by a forensic psychologist with both academic and professional experience with that type of evaluation.

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 death penalty has inspired controversy for centuries. Raising questions regarding capital punishment rather than answering them, Questioning Capital Punishment offers the footing needed to allow for more informed consideration and analysis of these controversies. Acker edits judicial decisions that have addressed constitutional challenges to capital punishment and its administration in the United States and uses complementary materials to offer historical, empirical, and normative perspectives about death penalty policies and practices. This book is ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate classes in criminal justice.

The essays selected for this volume develop conventional abolition discourse and explore the conceptual framework through which abolition is understood and posited. Of particular interest is the attention given to an integral but often forgotten element of the abolition debate: alternatives to capital punishment. The volume also provides an account of strategies employed by the abolition community which challenges tired methodologies and offers a level of transparency previously unseen. This collection tackles complex but fundamental components of the capital punishment debate using empirical data and expert observations and is essential reading for those wishing to comprehend the fundamental issues which underpin capital punishment discourse.

Forensic Psychology: Emerging Topics and Expanding Roles is designed to present the current state of the field, in terms of law, ethics, research and practice. Reflecting the efforts of almost 50 expert contributors, this comprehensive reference provides a basis for conducting forensic mental health assessments consistent with the state of the field as it currently exists and the standard of care that is emerging. This must-have resource contains coverage of: Mainstream topics such as civil commitment, termination of parental rights, and federal sentencing evaluations Psycho-legal topics such as clergy and teacher sexual abuse, elder abuse, and end of life issues The appropriate application of instruments frequently used in clinical psychology to address psycho-legal issues Ideal for forensic mental health professionals, civil and criminal attorneys, and advanced students, Forensic Psychology: Emerging Topics and Expanding Roles is the definitive comprehensive reference in the field. "Alan Goldstein has his finger on the pulse of forensic psychology. He and his A-list contributors showcase a striking array of classic conundrums and budding courtroom controversies. Remarkably, their analysis is as deep as their coverage is broad. There are two or three works that simply have to be on the shelf of every forensic psychologist. This book is one of them."

Tens of thousands of readers have relied on this leading text and practitioner reference--now revised and updated--to understand the issues the legal system most commonly asks mental health professionals to address. Highly readable, the volume demystifies the forensic psychological assessment process and provides guidelines for participating effectively and ethically in legal proceedings. Presented are clinical and legal concepts and evidence-based assessment procedures pertaining to criminal and civil competencies, the insanity defense and related doctrines, sentencing, civil commitment, personal injury claims, antidiscrimination laws, child custody, juvenile justice, and other justice-related areas. Case examples, exercises, and a glossary facilitate learning; 19 sample reports illustrate how to conduct and write up thorough, legally admissible evaluations. New to This Edition *Extensively revised to reflect important legal, empirical, and clinical developments. *Increased attention to medical and neuroscientific research. *New protocols relevant to competence, risk assessment, child custody, and mental injury evaluations. *Updates on insanity, sentencing, civil commitment, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Social Security, juvenile and family law, and the admissibility of expert testimony. *Material on immigration law (including a sample report) and international law. *New and revised sample reports.