What Is a Forensic Psychology Expert Witness?

Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists have been depicted in many popular TV shows and movies. Two common depictions of forensic psychiatrists and psychologists are Dr. Wong from Law and Order SVU and Dr. Lewis from Criminal Minds. Although these characters are often seen conducting psychological evaluations of criminals and those charged with crimes and testifying in court, they are also often involved in crime-solving. This makes the practice of forensic psychiatry/psychology seem pretty exciting…and maybe a little dangerous too! In reality, crime fighting is the job of law enforcement agencies and not psychologists.

Most people know what a clinical psychologist is and what types of services/work they provide. Clinical psychologists typically complete a Ph.D. or Psy.D. degree as well as a national licensing exam (and some complete additional state exams) which allows them to provide psychotherapy, psychological evaluation, and other psychological services like consulting. Clinical psychologists can also complete additional training in different specialty areas to gain competence in provide psychological services in those specialties. Forensic psychology is one of these specialty areas that requires additional training.

What Does a Forensic Psychologist Do?

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines forensic psychology as professional practice by a psychologist which applies “the scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge of psychology to the law to assist in addressing legal, contractual, and administrative matters (https://www.apa.org/practice/guidelines/forensic-psychology). Competence to practice forensic psychology “requires training and experience at the postdoctoral level, after basic competencies required for general psychological practice have been obtained at the graduate and internship levels.” For psychologists who are unable to obtain such training at the graduate or residency level, “psychologists can obtain this postdoctoral training through CE workshops (for the didactic component) and through consultation and supervision of their forensic work from a psychologist with suitable training and experience in Forensic Psychology” (https://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/education/guidelines.pdf). In summary, the competent practice of forensic psychology requires the practitioner to have received specialized knowledge, training, supervision, and skills beyond that received in traditional clinical psychology training.

So forensic psychologists need additional training in order to competently practice forensic psychology. But what do forensic psychologists do and what is a forensic psychologist expert witness?

Forensic psychologists can perform many types of work. They can provide consultation with attorneys and others in the legal system (e.g., jury consultant, consulting related to a civil or criminal lawsuit), treat and evaluate people charged or convicted of a crime, work with law enforcement agencies, conduct research, conduct forensic psychological evaluations, and testifying in court among other work. But when someone asks what a forensic psychology expert witness does, they are often asking about forensic psychologists who conduct psychological evaluations and then provide testimony related to their evaluation at deposition and/or at trial.

How is a Forensic Psychology Evaluation Different from a Clinical Evaluation?

Forensic psychological evaluations differ from evaluations conducted in clinical (e.g., psychotherapy) settings in many ways. For example, forensic evaluations must be conducted by a professional neutral and include empirically validated measures which assess for the presence of malingering/exaggeration/feigning/presentation style due to concerns related to conscious or unconscious biased self-presentation in order to obtain secondary gain (e.g., financial award). These evaluations often include the review of medical records, collateral interviews with other mental health professionals who have been treating the litigant, and review of case-related materials. The person being evaluated is informed that the evaluator will not be providing psychological assistance or intervention and also signs a release for a report based on the evaluation to be released to the attorneys and potentially others in the case, thus the usual confidentiality provisions they would receive in therapy do not apply. This differs from traditional clinical evaluations for the purpose of therapy where therapists typically do not administer such testing, do provide treatment/intervention, maintain confidentiality with few exceptions, and generally do not review other records or conduct collateral interviews, as it is the client/patient’s subjective (not objective) experience that is of primary initial importance and where the clinician’s belief in and support of the client/patient’s subjectively reported experience is vital to the therapeutic bond.

Forensic evaluations also are also typically more thorough than those of therapists; the need to obtain a detailed psychosocial (life) history and lifetime mental health history are vital to assigning an accurate diagnosis with any associated proximate cause in the forensic context. Without consideration of the plaintiffs’ complete history, it is not possible to confidently assign a correct DSM-5 mental health diagnosis (e.g., the client may be experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety or some other mental health condition immediately prior to the alleged events thus a complete lifetime diagnostic interview is required). In the therapeutic context, the therapist would benefit from a similar history taking and diagnostic interview but again, it is the client’s current symptom presentation that will be immediately treated and there is time throughout the course of therapy to gather more information about the client’s history. Finally, it is therapists and not forensic examiners who provide validation and/or normalization of someone’s mental health experiences as such behavior may inappropriately bias a plaintiff’s responses to interview or testing.

What is a Forensic Psychology Expert Witness: Summary

A forensic psychology expert witness is someone:

1) with a Ph.D. or Psy.D. in psychology with,

2) advanced training in forensic psychology who often,

3) conducts a thorough psychological evaluation (with psychological testing) of an individual involved in a legal matter and then,

4) submits a report with their opinions to an attorney or a court and may,

5) gives testimony at deposition and/or trial.