Forensic Reports and Testimony: A Guide to Effective Communication for Psychologists and Psychiatrists

Forensic Reports & Testimony: A Guide to EffectiveCommunication for Psychologists and Psychiatrists provides aroadmap for the mental health professional who wants to provideconsistently accurate, defensible, and useful reports and testimonyto the legal system. Authors Randy K. Otto, Richart L. DeMier, andMarcus Boccaccini, recognized experts in the field, cover allaspects of the process, including preparing affidavits and reports, preparing for depositions, and testifying.

Every written or spoken communication for the courts must beclear and precise, and distinguish between facts, inferences, andopinions. This book uniquely:

-Shows the critical differences between forensicpsychological reports and the clinical reports psychologists andpsychiatrists are accustomed to writing

-Includes and explains important maxims of forensic reportwriting, including separating facts from inferences, focusing onoffering expert opinions, explaining why you think what you think, and connecting the dots between facts and conclusions

-Provides numerous examples of experts' testimony, affidavits, reports-with commentary and critiques

Expert forensic work deserves to be presented in a clear, precise, and understandable way so that it is useful to attorneys, judges, and juries. Forensic Reports & Testimonyprovides the guidelines and models forensic psychologists andforensic psychiatrists need to make that happen.