Forensic Psychologist In Miami Beach, FL

What a Forensic Evaluation Involves, Step by Step

Seven steps, approximately 10 hours of professional time, and the report is written last.

1. Clinical interview. Direct examination of the person, structured to the referral question.
2. Mental status examination. Present-state observation, documented rather than summarized.
3. Collateral interviews. Family, treating clinicians, corrections staff, teachers in juvenile matters. The examinee’s own account is never the only account.
4. Record review. Medical charts, prior psychological reports, arrest and booking records, school records, legal filings. In retrospective work this is most of the evaluation.
5. Psychological testing. Standardized instruments selected for the question, with effort and validity measures throughout.
6. Interpretation and scoring. Every instrument scored and interpreted against its normative basis.
7. Report writing. Written last, after the data exists, not shaped to a conclusion decided in advance.

That is the sequence for every evaluation type we perform, and the approximately 10 hours is the figure for a mental health evaluation specifically. Complex matters run longer. We tell you which one yours is on the first call rather than after the retainer clears.

In competency matters, the report has to do one more thing. Fla. Stat. 916.12(3) requires the examining expert to first consider and specifically include in the report the defendant’s capacity to appreciate the charges or allegations, to appreciate the range and nature of possible penalties, to understand the adversarial nature of the legal process, to disclose to counsel facts pertinent to the proceedings, to manifest appropriate courtroom behavior, and to testify relevantly. A report that discusses diagnosis and skips those six is non-compliant on its face. It is also the first thing a prepared opposing counsel checks.

Full detail on each evaluation type sits on our forensic psychological evaluations page, and the wider list of assessments covers clinical, immigration and injury work.

Criminal Law Cases

Competency, criminal responsibility, risk and mitigation, for adults charged in Miami-Dade and across Florida.

• Competence to Stand Trial
• Criminal Responsibility (insanity defense)
• Competency to Waive Miranda Rights
• Mitigation (downward departure)
• Violence Risk Assessments
• Psychosexual Evaluations / Sexual Risk Assessments
• Sexually Violent Predators
• Capital Sentencing
• Involuntary Commitment and Treatment
• Expert Witness Testimony
• Consultation

Two things worth knowing before you commission any of these.

Competency and criminal responsibility are different questions about different points in time. Competency asks whether the defendant can participate in the proceeding now. Criminal responsibility asks about mental state at the moment of the offense, which may be years ago. The second is reconstructed from records and collateral accounts, not from a current interview, which is why the records you hold matter more than anything else you can hand us.

Two experts, not one, before a commitment. Fla. Stat. 916.12(2) requires evaluation by a minimum of two experts before the court commits a defendant as incompetent, with narrow exceptions where incompetence is stipulated.

Juvenile law cases

Adolescent competency and risk assessment, using instruments normed for adolescents rather than adult measures applied to minors.

• Competence to Stand Trial
• Assessment of Violence and Sexual Risk
• Sexual Behavior Assessment
• Expert Witness Testimony
• Consultation

Our experts have provided psychological assessments for youth and adolescents through government and private entities including the Department of Juvenile Justice, ChildNet, Communities Connected for Kids, and direct court referral. We conduct these evaluations at juvenile detention centers as well as at our offices.

Where the question is educational rather than forensic, psychoeducational testing for children and teens is a separate evaluation with a different purpose and a different report. Attorneys and parents sometimes ask for one and need the other.

Juvenile competency is not adult competency with a younger examinee. Developmental immaturity can impair capacity to proceed in the absence of any mental illness, and an evaluator applying an adult framework to a 14-year-old will miss it. Ask any evaluator which instruments they use for adolescents specifically.

Civil Law Cases

Injury, capacity, commitment and immigration matters, for plaintiff and defense.

• Personal / Emotional Injury
• Psychological Factors in Physical Trauma
• Independent Medical Examinations (IME)
• Immigration
• Guardianship
• Civil Commitment
• Pre/Post Adoption Evaluation
• Mental Competency Examinations
• Psychological Autopsy – Assessment of Suicide
• Expert Witness Testimony
• Consultation

In civil court the psychological question is usually causation rather than diagnosis. A diagnosis alone carries no injury claim. The report has to connect the event to the impairment, address pre-existing conditions directly instead of around them, and state a prognosis a treating physician can work with. Our work evaluating psychological aspects of injury matters includes neuropsychological assessments where a brain injury is in dispute, workers’ compensation claimant assessment, and capacity determinations for wills, powers of attorney and guardianship.

We are retained by both sides. Plaintiff and defense in civil matters, prosecution and defense in criminal ones, courts and agencies directly, and private individuals. An expert who only ever works one side of the aisle is a target on cross-examination, and our work runs both ways.

Family Law Cases

Parental capacity, social investigations and time-sharing evaluations, with the children’s welfare as the governing interest.

• Parental Capacity Assessments
• Social Investigations
• Psychological Evaluations
• Expert Witness Testimony
• Consultation

Florida stopped saying “custody” in 2008. The statutory terms are parenting plan and time-sharing.

Two points from the governing rule are worth more to you than anything else in this section. Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.363 requires the written report no later than 30 days before trial or 75 days from the order of appointment. And subdivision (e) states that a court-appointed expert is subject to the same examination as a privately retained expert, and that the court “shall not entertain any presumption in favor of the appointed expert’s findings.”

Sit with the second one. A court-appointed evaluator’s conclusions carry no automatic evidentiary advantage in a Florida family matter. A well-built retained evaluation meets them on level ground.

Psychologists conducting time-sharing work frequently add attachment and bonding assessments, and where maltreatment risk is raised, that becomes part of the referral question rather than a footnote. Evaluations are sought by parents, by organizations such as ChildNet or Communities Connected for Kids, and by the court itself.

In family work the psychologist’s duty runs to the welfare of the children, whichever party pays. We say that on the first call, because occasionally it ends the call.