Psychological Evaluations for the Courts, Third Edition: A Handbook for Mental Health Professionals and Lawyers

"Melton et al's Psychological Evaluations for the Courts has been an impressive text since the first edition; with this (3rd) edition, I and am surprised to see an error in the description of the RRASOR on p. 314. The Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense Recidivism is one method used to evaluate sexual offenders for risk of rearrest or reconviction for a new sexual offense; therefore is used in many legal cases where the liberty interest of a person for years to come may be the main issue. This warrants an accurate review of the instrument, even if the review is only a few sentences. Melton et al state correctly that the instrument is composed of only four items, then list these as being prior offenses, gender of victim, age at release, and marital history. While marital history is an item of the Static-99 (a different but related method for estimating risk of sexual offenders), it is NOT an item of the RRASOR. The fourth item of the RRASOR is the offender's relationship to the victim.

The item "relationship to victim" is scored positive if the victim was unrelated to the offender, and negative if the victim was a close relative. This is in keeping with research that generally shows that a sexual offender who has offended only against a family member - incest - is less likely to commit and get caught for another sexual offense than is an offender who commits a sexual offense against an unrelated victim.

This is an unfortunate error, as the Static-99 item regarding marital history has been found to be the least reliable item to score and is the one most frequently left out of research studies and is being left out of the next version of the Static-99, the Static-2002.

Another point is that the "prior offenses" item refers to prior SEXUAL offenses, not to any criminal offense.

Sexual predator statutes were not yet enacted when Melton et al's first edition of this book came out and the methods often used today to estimate risk for future sexual criminal arrest and reconviction were not yet developed, so this section in the third edition is not one that has been extensively dealt with in previous editions.

I do have Melton's previous books and have, as others in my profession generally do, consider the volume on Psychological Evaluations for the Courts to be an indispensable resource; which is why this cursory and inaccurate treatment of a subject is so surprising. The authors have been contacted and although they cannot correct the error in this edition, they will address it in the next supplement.

The book is definitely worth having. "
~ Written on 2008-08-03

"This book is a must if you want to do forensic work. There is no equal."
~ Written on 2008-06-30

"This book is for any Forensic Psychologist working in the field. If your studying Forensic Psychology you will need this book and you WILL use this book later in the field, so you better get it!!!!"
~ Written on 2008-05-30

"The second edition, published in 1997, was the ultimate reference authority. The field has expanded considerably since then, and this third edition is even bigger and better. It is written for two groups: mental health professionals who perform psychological evaluations for the courts, and the legal professionals who retain them. It is also an invaluable resource book for students pursuing careers in forensic psychology or mental health law.

The collective experiences of the authors are diverse, and the book's coverage is similarly wide-ranging and comprehensive. Overview chapters discuss the nature of the legal system and forensic psychological assessment. Specific topics include criminal (competencies, mental state at the time of the offense, juvenile delinquency, sentencing) and non-criminal applications (civil commitment, tort claims, child abuse, parenting).

Always, the authors focus both on ethics and on practicality. We learn about operating a forensic practice and the how-to's of communicating with the courts, both orally and in writing. One of my favorite sections is the last hundred pages, which contain 17 sample reports complete with discussion. As a teaching tool, there is nothing better than this.

Thorough and well-written, this book is mandatory for the shelf of any forensic practitioner, mental health lawyer, or forensic psychology graduate student."
~ Written on 2007-10-05