LIVE: Identifying and Avoiding “Junk Science” in Forensic Psychological Assessments
July 18, 2024 | 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific
July 18, 2024
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Pacific
1 Hour | 1 CE
$100 Registration | Live Virtual Training via Zoom
Tess M.S Neal, PhD presents a live virtual professional training program on Identifying and Avoiding “Junk Science” in Forensic Psychological Assessments.
This training covers the concept of “junk science” and how justice systems have tried to cope with this problem of separating pseudoscientific evidence from sound evidence, screening the former out, and allowing the latter in via evidence admissibility rules. Dr. Neal will take a close look at why this task is so challenging for courts and how these issues apply to forensic mental health evidence in particular. Specifically, this training will cover in detail the results of a two-part investigation of psychological assessments by psychologists in legal contexts.
The first part involves a systematic review of the 364 psychological assessment tools psychologists report having used in legal cases across 22 surveys of experienced forensic mental health practitioners, focusing on legal standards and scientific and psychometric theory. Results from the first part reveal wide variation in quality.
The second part is a legal analysis of admissibility challenges with regard to psychological assessments. Results from the second part show that courts are not well-calibration this variation in quality, and courts often fail to exercise the scrutiny required by law.
There will be a discussion on why and how this problem is not unique to mental health evidence and what courts are doing to try to address this problem. For instance, the US Federal Rules of Evidence guiding the admission of expert testimony just changed on December 1, 2023. This training will discuss this change and what it means for forensic mental health experts and will end with coverage of several free high-quality resources available to mental health experts to improve the quality of forensic assessment practice.
This training can help advance a person's career by knowing more about how to be better at assessment, how to evaluate the quality of other people's assessments, and overall can improve the quality of their work and the field. This program is uniquely valuable because this is the only work being done on this topic, and the training is one of a kind. This training is intended for all professionals in any stage of their career; any specialty area, and any environment involving law and mental health.
Training Outline:
- Introduction to the use of mental health assessments in legal settings with case examples
- Overview of forensic psychology within the field of psychology
- Discussion on expert gatekeeping and courts' efforts to filter out pseudoscience
- Importance of identifying solid science/expert evidence for courts and justice systems
- Detailed analysis of a high-profile project on the validity and admissibility of forensic psychological assessments in the US
- Evidence of courts allowing in evidence regardless of quality
- A broader issue of quality variation in mental health evidence not unique to the US
- Actions by courts and societies to address the issue of evidence quality
- Recent change to US evidence law effective Dec 1, 2023, on admissibility of expert evidence
- Conclusion with resources for improving the quality of psych assessment evidence
Intended Audience
This live program is intended for mental health and other allied professionals.
Experience Level
This live program is appropriate for beginner, intermediate, and advanced level clinicians.
CE / CPD Credit
APA, ASWB, CPA, NBCC: Click here for state and other regional board approvals.
Presented By
Tess M.S Neal, PhD
Tess M.S. Neal, PhD is an associate professor of psychology and serves as a Dean’s Professor at Iowa State University. Before moving to Iowa in Fall 2023, she was tenured at Arizona State University, where she was the founding director of the Future of Forensic Science Initiative. She is a scientist...
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this program you will be able to:
Describe the criteria the law uses to identify junk science by expert witnesses
Describe the average scientific validity of assessment tools used by psychologists as evidence in court
Describe how calibrated courts are to the scientific validity of psychological assessment tools offered in expert evidence
Describe free high-quality resources for improving forensic psychological assessment practice
Live Event Policy
Registration for our live events is covered for one (1) person per purchase. If you would like to purchase for a group, please contact our group training team.
Event Communications
When registering, use an email that is active and that you check regularly. We are not responsible for communications not being received; if you do not add caps@paloaltou.edu to your email safe sender list, our emails are likely to end up in your spam or junk folders.
Cancellation Policy
Have a sudden change of plans and are unable to attend live? No worries; you will be given access to the on-demand version of the program once available. Please note that if you attend live, no access to the recording will be given.
Event Conduct
Professional conduct is expected during our live programs. Our goal is to make our events as interactive as possible for all participants. We reserve the right to remove any participants who are disruptive, act unprofessionally, or who we are unable to verify their purchase.
Develop a Specialty Area of Practice
Transforming mental health professionals into experts
Expert Instructors
Professional training developed and delivered by the field's leading experts
CE Credit
Earn CE credit for meaningful professional training that will elevate your practice
Convenience & Flexibility
Learn at your own pace, from wherever you might be!
CE Sponsorship Information
Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0356 and the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0073. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6811. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CONCEPT Professional Training, #1480, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. CONCEPT Professional Training maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 11/22/23-11/22/26. Social workers completing this course receive (clinical or social work ethics) continuing education credits.