Clinical Forensic Psychology: An Introduction

Clinical Forensic Psychology: An Introduction provides students with a succinct and practical overview of the discipline. The text features a distinct focus on the practice of forensic psychology and on the American and Canadian legal parameters that govern that practice.

The book covers a diverse range of topics that are organized into four parts. Part I features a brief historical overview of clinical forensic psychology-from its academic origins to its relationship with psychiatry-and clearly defines the field. Part II reviews psychology’s relationship with the law, including paradigm conflicts, expertise under the law, and the ultimate issue problem. The foundations of forensic mental health assessment are also reviewed.

In Parts III and IV, the text focuses on clinical activities in civil, criminal, and family court contexts. Part III is concerned exclusively with the criminal justice system and examines risk assessment, adjudicative competence, criminal responsibility, and sentencing evaluations, as well as issues associated with the special populations of juvenile, female, and sexual offenders. In Part IV, the chapters focus on civil and family court issues, with chapters covering psychological injury assessment, civil competency evaluations, parenting capacity, and child custody assessments.