Forensic Reports and Testimony (PDF)

Forensic Reports & Testimony: A Guide to Effective
Communication for Psychologists and Psychiatrists provides a
roadmap for the mental health professional who wants to provide
consistently accurate, defensible, and useful reports and testimony
to the legal system. Authors Randy K. Otto, Richart L. DeMier, and
Marcus Boccaccini, recognized experts in the field, cover all
aspects of the process, including preparing affidavits and reports,
preparing for depositions, and testifying.

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

*Shows the critical differences between forensic
psychological reports and the clinical reports psychologists and
psychiatrists are accustomed to writing

*Includes and explains important maxims of forensic report
writing, including separating facts from inferences, focusing on
offering 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 & Testimony
provides the guidelines and models forensic psychologists and
forensic psychiatrists need to make that happen.