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Evaluation of Sexually Violent Predators (Best Practices for Forensic Mental Health Assessment) | 
| Authors: Philip Witt, Mary Alice Conroy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 151329
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0195322649
Dewey Decimal Number: 614.15
EAN: 9780195322644
ASIN: 0195322649
Publication Date: September 15, 2008
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Product Description
Forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) has grown into a specialization informed by research and professional guidelines. This series presents up-to-date information on the most important and frequently conducted forms of FMHA. The 19 topical volumes address best approaches to practice for particular types of evaluation in the criminal, civil, and juvenile/family areas. Each volume contains a thorough discussion of the relevant legal and psychological concepts, followed by a step-by-step description of the assessment process from preparing for the evaluation to writing the report and testifying in court.
Volumes include the following helpful features:
- Boxes that zero in on important information for use in evaluations
- Tips for best practice and cautions against common pitfalls
- Highlighting of relevant case law and statutes
- Separate list of assessment tools for easy reference
- Helpful glossary of key terms for the particular topic
In making recommendations for best practice, authors consider empirical support, legal relevance, and consistency with ethical and professional standards. These volumes offer invaluable guidance for anyone involved in conducting or using forensic evaluations.
The present book focuses on evaluations for civil commitment of sexually violent predators (SVPs). Although this book focuses on evaluating SVP cases, the considerations discussed in this book, such as determining a sex offender's risk to reoffend, apply to evaluations of sex offenders in other contexts (e.g., community notification, sentence enhancement, and probationary management) as well.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A solid overview of this topic October 10, 2008
This book provides the reader with a solid overview of the major issues in a complicated area of sexual offender assessment. Risk, mental disorder and the elusive "nexus" between the mental disorder and risk, the issue of "volitional control", are discussed at length. That said, each state has its own unique way to accomplish this task, with different foci, and variations in interpretations of the legal language. It would be impossible to cover all these variations in a single book of reasonable length. This book is cogently written, if a little stilted at times, due to the structure imposed by the series editors.
Anyone actually intending to do these evaluations and testify in civil commitment hearings should read this book (and Dennis Doren's 2002 book, and The Sexual Predator series from Civic Research Institute, and Brodsky's books on testify in court, and ...) before attempting this incredibly difficult and important task. There is no one book (yet) that covers this specialized field with enough breadth and depth to explain it all. I welcome this addition and consider it an excellent text for a graduate-level class in Forensic Psychology.
Solid Foundation for Forensic Assessments October 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book provides a solid foundation for people who conduct psychological or psychiatric evaluations relevant to sexually violent predators. It is clear and well written. No single book can encompass everything known in the field, nor can it encompass all the controversies. But this book provides good background understanding and practical, how-do-you-do-it guidance, all within a solid framework for conducting forensic evaluations.
 Disappointingly superficial September 23, 2008
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
I was looking forward to reading this book, as the editors of this new "best practices" series are some of the luminaries in forensic psychology and there is a need for a thoughtful and objective analysis of forensic psychology practice in this controversial sub-field. Unfortunately, I found this book both simplistic and one-sided.
The book seems geared toward novice psychologists who are just preparing to step into this specialty area and to conduct their first Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) evaluation. However, if someone reads this manual and thinks she is prepared, she will be walking into a minefield, as the book skirts the major controversies with which even a beginning evaluator should be familiar. For example, controversial "actuarial" instruments are presented as if they are much more scientifically validated and generally accepted in the field than is the case. Other major controversies, such as those pertaining to treatment efficacy and to diagnostic validity (of paraphilia, antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, pedophilia, and personality disorder "not otherwise specified" - the main psychiatric conditions used to justify civil commitment), are presented superficially or not at all. The authors' extensive reliance on material written by state evaluators perpetuates a subtle bias. Critical scholarship is barely mentioned or omitted altogether.
Anyone who relies on this manual to prepare herself to work in this complex and controversial area will find herself in a deep sea of trouble.
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