Workshop: Evidence for Mental Health Professionals
4 hours | 4 CEs
This live workshop on Evidence for mental Health Professionals is presented by David DeMatteo, JD, PhD, ABPP in partnership with the American Academy of Forensic Psychology (AAFP).
This workshop focuses on evidence – expert reports and testimony – provided by mental health professionals in the context of criminal and civil legal proceedings. This workshop provides a concise legal primer, describes the history and current roles of experts in the U.S. justice system, and examines the admissibility standards for expert evidence provided by governing case law (e.g., Frye, Daubert, Kumho, Joiner) and various rules of evidence (e.g., Federal Rules of Evidence, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure). This workshop also covers other topics related to the provision of expert reports and testimony by mental health professionals in criminal and civil legal proceedings, including the various bases of expert testimony, the rule against hearsay, responding to subpoenas, ethics and professionalism, the role of discovery, testifying to a “reasonable degree of scientific certainty,” strategies for providing testimony (direct-exam and cross-exam), and expert immunity. Best-practice standards for data gathering and data presentation will also be discussed.