Dr Nik Loft1,2, Dr Joseph Sakdalan1,3
1Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare), Australia, 2Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, 3Cairnmillar Institute, Australia
Biography:
Dr Melisa Wood is a clinical and forensic psychologist with over 15 years' experience conducting psychological assessments for the court and other forensic contexts including hospital, community, prison, and police settings. She is the Principal Psychologist for the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare) court report service. She is also Forensicare’s Psychology Educator – Research, and an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University of Technology. Melisa is actively engaged in research and training and has published journal articles, conference presentations, and book chapters in forensic risk assessment, sexual and family violence, and psychopathy.
Abstract:
There have long been concerns about partisanship and bias, availability of appropriate expertise, and lack of quality assurance in court reports written by psychologists and psychiatrists (Malsch & Freckelton, 2005). These challenges are difficult to overcome given lack of formal feedback from courts or lawyers about the quality or utility of written reports, and the reports themselves are not available as a source of learning (Goodman-Delhunty & Dhami, 2012). Various guidance exists (e.g., Practice Notes or Codes of Conduct issued by Courts; professional guidelines produced internationally); however, Courts’ minimum standards do not cover the full scope of what is required of experts and international guidelines are not specific to the Australian legal context.
The Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare) provides reports to the Courts, OPP and Adult Parole Board on matters related to sentencing, fitness to stand trial, mental impairment defence, and release decision making. Anecdotally, Forensicare reports have generally been viewed positively by judicial officers. However, developing and maintaining staff competency in court assessment and report writing is challenging in the absence of guidance specific to the Australian (or Victorian) legal context. This paper will outline these challenges and Forensicare’s approach to overcoming these by improving the quality, reliability and utility of the written expertise its staff provides. This will include description of Forensicare’s comprehensive court report guidelines, formal training package and mentoring program, along with the process through which these initiatives were developed. Approaches to evaluating the effects of these initiatives will be discussed.