This definitive text and practitioner resource—now in a revised and updated fifth edition reflecting significant developments in the field—comprehensively reviews the legal issues that mental health professionals are most frequently asked to address. The volume demystifies the forensic psychological assessment process and provides guidelines for participating effectively and ethically in legal proceedings. It describes and analyzes legal and clinical concepts and evidence-based assessment procedures pertaining to evaluations of criminal and civil competencies; mental state defenses; sentencing; civil commitment; workers compensation and mental injury claims; federal education, social security, immigration and antidiscrimination laws; child welfare and custody decisions; juvenile justice; and other contexts. Case examples, exercises, and a glossary of legal and clinical terms facilitate learning; 19 sample reports with commentary illustrate how to write up thorough, legally admissible evaluations.

New to This Edition

• Updated empirical research on competency, interrogation practices, risk assessment, the effects of divorce on children, neurological and developmental science, and more.
• Recent court rulings, evidentiary rules, and regulatory shifts.
• Increased attention to race, culture, and culturally competent practice.
• New topics: the rise of remote evaluations, debates over recording evaluations, the trend toward privatization of forensic services, the use of social media data in investigations, implications of artificial intelligence for forensic practice, the “competency crisis,” substance abuse commitment, and the Relevancy-Focused report format (including a new sample report), and more.