Live Virtual Training via Zoom

John Fabian, Psy.D., J.D., ABPP, presents a live virtual professional training program on High-Stakes Sentencing: Forensic Psychology, Neuropsychology, Mitigation and Risk at the Point of Punishment. 

This live virtual training takes place over two full-day sessions from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm PST each day. 

  • Tuesday, May 12th
  • Wednesday, May 13th


This is a multi-day training event. Participants must attend all scheduled sessions in full to be eligible to receive continuing education (CE) credit. Partial credit will not be awarded.

This badge-earning program can be shared digitally on platforms like LinkedIn or your resume and counts towards various certificates. Enroll to earn credit and share your new digital credentials with prospective employers and colleagues. This program counts as a foundational program in the Criminal Forensic Assessment Certificate. 

Sentencing is the phase of a criminal case where forensic opinions carry extraordinary weight and where courts apply the highest level of scrutiny. In capital cases, life-without-parole proceedings, juvenile homicide resentencing, and serious felony matters, evaluators must translate complex psychological and neuropsychological evidence into opinions that are legally relevant, ethically grounded, and admissible.

This advanced, practice-driven program is grounded in more than 25 years of sentencing-phase litigation and expert testimony experience in thousands of criminal cases, including over 900 murder cases across state and federal courts. Drawing on extensive experience in death penalty mitigation and capital sentencing proceedings, juvenile homicide resentencing, intellectual disability litigation, sexually violent predator proceedings, mitigation and plea-negotiation, and admissibility challenges, the course focuses on how attorneys and courts evaluate mitigating circumstances, mental states short of insanity, moral culpability, risk, and risk-management at the point of punishment.

Participants will learn how to design defensible evaluation protocols when multiple prior forensic examinations exist, integrate psychological, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging findings without overreach, and communicate violence and sexual-violence risk in ways courts can responsibly use for sentencing, risk-management, and placement decisions.

Learning Objectives

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

  • 1 Describe the professional roles, referral questions, and methods of forensic psychological versus neuropsychological evaluations in pretrial and sentencing contexts
  • 2 Describe legally relevant evaluation targets in adult and juvenile cases
  • 3 Describe mitigation and moral culpability and analyze their relationship to aggravating factors within ethical and professional boundaries
  • 4 Describe defensible sentencing-phase evaluation protocols when multiple prior forensic examinations exist (competency, sanity, mitigation), including synthesis strategies and role-boundary management
  • 5 Describe methods sections that withstand admissibility challenges under Rule 702, Daubert/Kumho, and Frye standards, including attention to reliability, error rates, test selection, effort testing (PVT/SVT), and limitations
  • 6 Describe cases tailored to sentencing and placement decisions, distinguishing prison-based risk from community risk, and emphasizing management-focused opinions
  • 7 Describe intellectual disability in capital and LWOP cases consistent with DSM-5-TR and AAIDD standards and Supreme Court guidance, including proper treatment of IQ measurement error and adaptive functioning
  • 8 Describe findings related to neurodevelopmental disorders, traumatic brain injury, serious mental illness, and substance use into sentencing opinions using convergent data and defensible inference
  • 9 Describe developmentally informed mitigation narratives for juveniles grounded in adolescent brain science, environmental adversity, and post-Miller jurisprudence
  • 10 Describe clear, decision-relevant reports and slide-assisted testimony that anticipate cross-examination and effectively communicate complex findings to judges and juries
  • 11 Describe forensic assessments for special populations including veterans, methamphetamine induced psychosis, and tri-diagnosis cases will be explored

  • Intended Audience

    This program is intended for mental health professionals who conduct or aspire to conduct forensic evaluations in criminal cases, particularly those involved in capital, juvenile homicide, serious felony, or post-conviction litigation. The audience includes individuals who specialize in forensic psychology, forensic neuropsychology, psychiatry, or related disciplines and are engaged in translating complex psychological and neuropsychological evidence into legally relevant, ethically grounded, and admissible opinions for the courts.

    Examples of Relevant Professionals:

    • Mental Health Professional
    • Forensic Psychologist
    • Forensic Neuropsychologist
    • Psychiatrist
    • Clinical Psychologist (with forensic focus)
    • Neuropsychologist (with forensic focus)
    • Forensic Evaluator
    • Expert Witness in Criminal Cases

  • Experience Level

    This advanced CE training is designed for licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals with experience in forensic or clinical evaluation, particularly those involved in high-stakes criminal sentencing contexts.

    • Intermediate: Participants have some experience conducting forensic evaluations, are familiar with legal standards (e.g., Daubert, Frye), and have participated in court-involved cases but seek to deepen skills in complex sentencing matters.

    • Advanced: Participants regularly conduct forensic or neuropsychological evaluations for sentencing, have testified as experts, and seek advanced strategies for integrating complex evidence, addressing admissibility, and managing high-stakes, multi-evaluation cases.

  • Practice Setting

    Professionals in this field typically work in environments where legal and clinical expertise intersect. Their practice settings often involve secure facilities, legal institutions, or specialized clinics, where they conduct in-depth assessments, review records, and prepare reports for use in court. They may collaborate with attorneys, courts, and correctional staff, and frequently provide expert testimony in high-stakes criminal cases. These environments require strict adherence to legal standards, confidentiality, and ethical guidelines, as well as the ability to communicate complex findings to non-clinical audiences.

    Examples of Practice Settings:

    • Forensic units within psychiatric hospitals or state hospitals
    • Correctional facilities or jails
    • Private forensic assessment practices
    • Court clinics or court-appointed evaluation centers
    • University-based forensic psychology or neuropsychology programs
    • Government agencies (e.g., public defender or prosecutor’s offices)
    • Consultation roles for legal teams in capital or serious felony cases
    • Secure juvenile detention centers or youth justice programs
Presented By

John Fabian, Psy.D., J.D., ABPP

John Matthew Fabian, Psy.D., J.D., ABPP, is double board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in both forensic psychology and clinical psychology. He is a fellowship-trained clinical neuropsychologist and practices primarily as a forensic psychologist and forensic neuropsychologist in criminal, civil, and family law cases.

Dr. Fabian was formerly Director of a state court psychiatric clinic in Ohio, where he conducted pretrial and presentence evaluations and consulted at two additional adult and one juvenile court psychiatric clinic. While practicing as a full-time court psychologist, he earned his law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and also completed specialized training in forensic psychiatry and the law at Case Western Reserve Law School. During law school, he published two law review articles on forensic psychological evaluations in death penalty and sexually violent predator legal proceedings.

Dr. Fabian later served as a forensic psychologist at the Minnesota Security Hospital—the state’s maximum security forensic psychiatric facility—where he conducted pretrial and presentence evaluations and specialized in violence and sexual violence risk assessment for the Mentally Ill and Dangerous and Sexually Dangerous Persons civil commitment populations. He also consulted with the Federal Bureau of Prisons forensic studies center, examining federal criminal offenders.

Dr. Fabian has testified in state and federal courts across the United States and has evaluated over 4,000 adult and juvenile cases, including 700 murder cases. He has conducted criminal and civil evaluations in approximately 25 states and has testified over 400 times in about 20 states. He has an extensive background in civil forensic psychological and neuropsychological evaluations, particularly those involving PTSD and traumatic brain injury.


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Training Outline

Key topics covered in this training include:

  • Sentencing-phase legal framework and ethical boundaries

  • Forensic psychology vs. neuropsychology at sentencing

  • Mitigation, moral culpability, and multiple-evaluation cases

  • Admissibility standards (Rule 702, Daubert/Kumho, Frye)

  • Violence and sexual-violence risk at sentencing

  • Adult capital sentencing case lab and mock testimony

  • Juvenile homicide resentencing and adolescent brain development

  • Intellectual disability assessments post-Atkins, Hall, and Moore

  • Neuroscience and neuropsychological evidence at sentencing

  • Case-based breakout groups and applied report/testimony exercises

Live Event Policy

Registration for our live events is covered for one (1) person per purchase. If you would like to purchase for a group, please contact our group training team.

  • Event Communications

    When registering, use an email that is active and that you check regularly. We are not responsible for communications not being received; if you do not add [email protected] to your email safe sender list, our emails are likely to end up in your spam or junk folders.

  • Cancellation Policy

    Have a sudden change of plans and are unable to attend live? No worries; you will be given access to the on-demand version of the program once available. Please note that if you attend live, no access to the recording will be given.

  • Event Conduct

    Professional conduct is expected during our live programs. Our goal is to make our events as interactive as possible for all participants. We reserve the right to remove any participants who are disruptive, act unprofessionally, or who we are unable to verify their purchase.

Earning a Certificate

This is a badge-earning program, which means it will help you earn a certificate that can be showcased on digital platforms like LinkedIn.
View Certificates

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).


Sponsorship Approval Statements

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), is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7190. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Palo Alto University, #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. Palo Alto University 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. Continuing and Professional Studies, Palo Alto University, is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0103. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Palo Alto University, Continuing & Professional Studies (CONCEPT), 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. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies, is recognized by 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.