MENTAL STATE AT THE TIME OF THE OFFENSE EVALUATIONS: INSANITY DEFENSE, DIMINISHED CAPACITY...

Insanity defense or other mental state at the time of the offense evaluations can be requested by the defense, the prosecution or the courts.
*These evaluations will not be offered for defendants who have presently been found to be incompetent to stand trial.
*Requests for forensic evaluations for individuals involved in the treatment ( i.e in the capacity of doctor-patient relationship) with the evaluator (presently or in the past) will not be accepted.
The party making the request should expect the report to address the following areas:

• Source of referral
  
• Date and Place of the Evaluation, and time spent for the preparation of the report.
  
• Statement of non-confidentiality.
  
• List of reference materials and of interviews utilized in the preparation of the report.
  
• Case law or statutory requirements to meet the criteria for an insanity defense in a given jurisdiction.
  
• Detailed background information of the defendant.
  
• Past psychiatric history
  
• Medical history
  
• Substance abuse history.
  
• Description of the offense in question by the defendant and by the collateral sources.
  
• Review of collateral information reconstructing the mental state of the defendant at the time of the offense, and the time proximate to the offense. These usually include police reports, witness accounts, notes and discharge summaries from recent hospitalizations, accounts of communications of the defendant with others, etc.
  
• Diagnostic Impression. (The absence of mental disorder usually precludes further evaluation).
  
• Detailed account as to how the given diagnosis was reached.
  
• Description of the correlation between the defendants behavior at the time of the offense with the symptoms of his/her mental illness. (In the case of multiple legal charges, each offense would be addressed separately)
  
• Correlation of the defendant's mental state and behavior with statutory requirements for the insanity defense in a given jurisdiction.
  
• Issue of malingering. (The reasons as to why the evaluator does or does not believe that the defendant is not fabricating the symptoms of mental illness as it relates to the offense in question).
  

The party making the referral is responsible for the provision of the necessary collateral information for the preparation of the report.