4 Hours / 4 CEs

On Demand | Self-Paced Professional Training

This on-demand professional training program on Constitutional Criminal Mental Health Law: An Overview is presented by Christopher Slobogin, JD, LLM.

This program covers the crucial legal doctrines that govern forensic practice, including: 

  • Constitutional rules and representative statutes concerning the forensic evaluation process
  • Competence to proceed
  • Competence to make decisions in the criminal process (pleading guilty, waiving counsel, waiving the insanity defense)
  • Commitment and treatment of those found incompetent
  • The insanity defense and other psychological defenses
  • Commitment of people found insane
  • Mental disability and the death penalty
  • Sexually violent predator laws
  • Risk assessment


The program surveys all-important Supreme Court opinions and a sampling of state and federal approaches to the issues. Case studies are reviewed, and their implications for forensic practice. 

This program enables beginning practitioners to understand the legal framework governing their work. It provides experienced practitioners with a more nuanced understanding of the legal rules they already know.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:

  • 1 Describe the most important legal rules governing competence, insanity, death penalty, and criminal commitment
  • 2 Describe the rationales for those rules
  • 3 Describe the rules for their daily practice
  • 4 Describe the rules with an eye toward reform

  • Intended Audience

    This training is designed for mental health professionals who work at the intersection of psychology and the legal system, with a particular focus on forensic mental health. It is especially relevant for clinicians involved in areas such as competence to stand trial, criminal responsibility, civil commitment, and risk assessment, as well as those conducting psychological evaluations for legal purposes.


    Examples of Relevant Professionals:
    • Mental Health Professionals
    • Psychologists specializing in forensic mental health
    • Psychiatrists involved in forensic evaluations
    • Social workers engaged in forensic or legal contexts
    • Counselors working with forensic populations
    • Clinicians conducting psychological assessments for legal proceedings

  • Experience Level

    This training is appropriate for licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals at various stages of familiarity with forensic legal doctrines.

    • Beginner: Participants new to forensic mental health will gain foundational knowledge of key legal doctrines, statutes, and Supreme Court opinions relevant to forensic evaluation and practice.

    • Intermediate: Participants with some experience in forensic settings will deepen their understanding of the rationale behind legal rules, explore diverse state and federal approaches, and apply case law to complex clinical scenarios.

    • Advanced: Participants with extensive forensic experience will critically analyze current legal frameworks, engage with reform-oriented perspectives, and refine their application of legal standards in nuanced or evolving forensic contexts.

  • Practice Setting

    Professionals practice in secure, legally regulated environments that interface directly with criminal and civil courts. Work involves structured evaluation protocols, collaboration with justice system stakeholders, meticulous documentation, and courtroom testimony within multidisciplinary teams.

    Examples of Practice Settings:
    • Court clinics and forensic evaluation services
    • Jails, prisons, and detention centers
    • State psychiatric hospitals and forensic units
    • Community mental health centers with forensic programs
    • Private practices conducting court-ordered evaluations
    • Specialty/problem-solving courts (mental health, drug, veterans)
    • Juvenile justice facilities and family courts
    • Sex offender treatment programs and SVP units
    • Probation and parole agencies
    • Civil commitment and competency restoration programs

Presented By

Christopher Slobogin, J.D, LLM Director of Vanderbilt Law School’s Criminal Justice Program

Christopher Slobogin has authored more than 200 articles, books, and chapters on topics relating to mental health law, criminal law and procedure, and evidence. Named director of Vanderbilt Law School’s Criminal Justice Program in 2009, Professor Slobogin is one of the five most cited criminal law and procedure law professors in the country over the past five years, according to the Leiter Report. Particularly influential has been his work on mental disability and criminal law, appearing in books published by the Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford university presses and several top-notch law reviews. Slobogin has served as reporter for American Bar Association task forces on the Insanity Defense and on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty, and has served as chair of both the ABA’s task force charged with revising the Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards and the ABA’s Florida Assessment team for the Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. In recognition for his work in mental health law, in 2016 Slobogin received both the American Board of Forensic Psychology's Distinguished Contribution Award and the American Psychology-Law Society’s Distinguished Contribution of Psychology and Law Award; only a total of five law professors have received either of these awards in their 30-year history, and Slobogin is the only to receive both awards. He has appeared on Good Morning America, Nightline, the Today Show, National Public Radio, and many other media outlets, and has been cited in almost 5,000 law review articles and treatises and more than 200 judicial opinions, including five U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Slobogin holds a secondary appointment as a professor in the Vanderbilt School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry.

View More Programs from this Presenter
Christopher Slobogin, J.D, LLM

CE Sponsorship Information

Palo Alto University, Continuing & Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by, recognized by, or maintains sponsorship provider status with the following boards and agencies. We maintain responsibility for all content in our CE/CPD programs. For more information, visit here. 

  1. American Psychological Association (APA): Approved sponsor of continuing education for psychologists.

  2. Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB): Approved continuing education provider (ACE program, Provider #1480), 11/22/2023–11/22/2026.

  3. Canadian Psychological Association (CPA): Approved to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.

  4. National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC): Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP No. 7190).



Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0356 and the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0073. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6811. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CONCEPT Professional Training, #1480, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. CONCEPT Professional Training maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 11/22/23-11/22/26. Social workers completing this course receive (clinical or social work ethics) continuing education credits.