Evaluating Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in the Forensic Context: A Manual for Mental Health Practice - Softcover

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Natalie Novick Brown, a clinical and forensic psychologist in Washington State, Alaska, and Florida, is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences (courtesy staff) at the University of Washington School of Medicine. An international expert on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), with formal postdoctoral training and expertise in FASD as well as sexual offenders and child development, she has worked in many jurisdictions in the United States evaluating individuals charged with murder and other high-stakes crimes. In 2007, she and colleagues founded FASDExperts, a multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals that conducted forensic FASD assessments in the capital murder context. In 2012, she contributed to the American Bar Association’s Resolution on FASD. Dr. Brown developed this unique collection in order to reduce the ‘invisibility’ of FASD in the mental health field and encourage colleagues to specialize in this all-too-often “invisible” disorder.

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This book is intended for medical and mental health clinicians faced with the challenge of evaluating adolescents and adults in the legal context who may have a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Luminaries in their respective fields, the contributors to this book offer a range of expertise and perspectives regarding the forensic investigation of FASD: medical, psychological, psychiatric, criminal defense, prosecution, and the judiciary. 

The primary goal of the book is to provide medical and mental health clinicians with practical procedures that can be used in a variety of forensic and clinical settings. It includes protocols that have been used successfully in legal matters ranging from rights waiver and competency to capital murder and sexual offending. It not only provides detailed guidelines for interviewing birth mothers about the delicate topic of substance use during pregnancy but also introduces a methodology that can be used in the absence of exposure confirmation to arrive at a sound diagnostic conclusion through the process of differential diagnosis. Taken as a whole, the methodological procedures described by the contributors to the book serve as ‘best practices’ for comprehensive forensic mental health evaluation of potential FASD in juveniles and adult defendants as well as in victims.