20 Hours | 20 CEs

This self-paced training program on Best Practices in the Evaluation of Competence to Stand Trial is presented by Patricia A. Zapf, PhD.

One of the primary foundations of criminal law is that all defendants have a right to a fair trial. Towards this end, upwards of 60,000 evaluations of competency to stand trial are conducted annually in the USA. Research has shown that the opinion of the evaluator in these evaluations is accepted by the courts upwards of 95% of the time. Thus, it is imperative that these evaluations be conducted using best practices. Two important sources have recently been recognized as setting the foundation for best practices in competency evaluation. This training program provides a strong foundation for South Dakota evaluators who conduct adjudicative competency evaluations of adults. This training was developed for the South Dakota Unified Judicial System and the South Dakota Department of Social Services.  

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

  • Describe important legal cases that deal with issues relevant to the interpretation adjudicative competence standards and statutes

  • Describe the developments in the conceptualization of the Dusky Standard

  • Describe the research on evaluations of adjudicative competence

  • Describe theoretical issues in competency evaluation

  • Describe the most recent clinical guidance on competency evaluation

  • Describe the administration procedures for various competency assessment instruments

  • Describe the psychometric properties of CAIs

  • Describe the process for case and opinion formulation

  • Describe the process of communicating opinions regarding criminal competence

  • Describe required, appropriate, and inappropriate report contents

Curriculum

    1. Review Before Proceeding

    1. Lesson 1 Video

    2. Heilburn & LaDuke 2015

    3. Lesson Quiz

    1. Lesson 2 Video

    2. The Legal Context

    3. AAPL-CST Guidelines

    4. Lesson Quiz

    1. Lesson 3 Video

    1. Lesson 4 Video

    2. Forensic Mental Health Concepts

    3. Attorney CST Questionnaire

    4. Philipsborn (2004)

    5. Lesson Quiz

    1. Lesson 5 Video

    2. Empirical Foundations and Limits

    3. Interdisciplinary Fitness Interview Manual

    4. Pirelli, Gottdeiner & Zapf (2011)

    5. Lesson Quiz

About this course

  • $500.00
  • 51 lessons
  • 11 hours of video content

Presented By

Dr. Patricia Zapf

Patricia A. Zapf, PhD

Patricia A. Zapf, Ph.D. is Vice President for Continuing & Professional Studies at Palo Alto University (PAU). Prior to coming to PAU she was a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY) for 16 years, during which time she was instrumental in the development of a new doctoral program in clinical psychology with an emphasis in forensic psychology and served as the program’s first Director of Clinical Training. Prior to her time at CUNY, she was on the psychology and law faculty at the University of Alabama. In 2009, Dr. Zapf founded CONCEPT Professional Training with the mission of elevating the level of practice in psychology and related professions.

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