Sanity examiner certification: An evolving national agenda.

Abstract

A national survey of the states and territories revealed that the vast majority of state courts allow psychologists (and other nonphysician health care providers) to serve as forensic experts. Over the past decade organized psychology has been similarly successful in removing all known legislative and administrative barriers to its participation in the federal judicial system. The American Bar Association's criminal justice mental health standards provide for parity with medicine.

Constitutional and Judicial Foundations in Criminal Forensic Neuropsychology

“…Farkas, DeLeon, and Newman (1997) discussed the results of a survey of 55 U.S. States and Territories regarding policies about psychologists'standing as qualified forensic examiners in criminal matters. They found considerable variability.…”

“…Further, "(c) Psychologists planning to provide services, teach, or conduct research involving populations, areas, techniques, or technologies new to them undertake relevant education, training, supervised experience, consultation, or study" (p. 1064). The Farkas et al (1997) survey revealed that some states required supervised experience to serve as court appointed experts in criminal matters (Michigan requires six months of supervision, including formal supervisor evaluations). Given the ethical codes and recent trends in state requirements, we propose that some amount of supervised experience in applying psychological principles to criminal forensic matters appears warranted for competent practice of criminal forensic neuropsychology; however, the length and nature of this supervision is not yet clear.…”

“…The Farkas et al (1997) survey reveals that 26.9% of the jurisdictions require completion of government-sponsored classroom training programs that ranged from two hours to seven days. Those neuropsychologists who aspire to perform criminal work in mandated jurisdictions will need to obtain the government-sponsored training.…”

Adjudicative competence

“…Assessment of adjudicative competence is generally conducted by psychiatrists or psychologists [12-14]. A number of experts have raised concerns about the quality of competency evaluations by those without specialty training in forensic practice [10,12,15].…”

“…A number of experts have raised concerns about the quality of competency evaluations by those without specialty training in forensic practice [10,12,15]. Although recent national summary data are unavailable, as of 1992, only 19% of the US states or territories required specific certification in forensic examination [14]. However, there do seem to be ongoing efforts within at least some of the individual states to add forensic board certification requirements [16].…”