SERVICES & PRACTICE AREAS
Criminal Forensic
Evaluations
Being sure to give adequate consideration to factors like low intelligence, poor memory/executive functioning and/or personality changes due to head injury is often a critical component to success in the courtroom. Whether prosecutor or defense counsel, when you need to know how an individual’s neuropsychological and mental health come to bare on his or her legal case, an expert evaluation requires only the very best in practice.
Sid Binks & Associates brings psychological and neuropsychological knowledge to the legal arena where the expectation is a board certified level of expertise. With over 20 years of experience, rest-assured you will receive an objective expert opinion based on research and grounded in fact. A comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation will assess the presence of a wide variety of diagnosable cognitive impairments, including issues related to attention, learning, memory, executive functioning (planning, reasoning, problem solving), language skills, visuospatial skills and adaptive functioning (activities of daily living). These impairments can arise from many different brain diseases/insults, e.g., traumatic brain injury, concussion, exposure to explosive ordnance blast waves, seizure, dementia, brain tumor, stroke, learning disability, and ADHD, among others.
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Evaluation typically includes synthesis of the clinical interview and testing data with historical information gathered from document review (medical/military/academic/forensic records) and collateral interviewing of family, friends and co-workers.
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Evaluation always includes consideration of neurocognitive malingering.
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Depending upon the referral question, evaluation may also include emotional functioning testing to explore related psychiatric concerns (addiction, anxiety, depression, PTSD, psychosis, mania, etc.).
Evaluation will focus on how neurocognitive impairments may or may not be related to behavior relevant to specific crimes and legal issues. Brain injury can not only result in cognitive impairment/dementia, but can also result in neurologically-based personality changes including increased aggression, emotional lability, impulsivity, apathy and paranoia. These kinds of changes, in addition to changes related to neurocognition, have wide forensic implications for both pre-trial (competency, criminal responsibility, ability to form intent) and post-trial (sentencing, dangerousness) scenarios. You will receive timely verbal feedback of results and, if desired (and depending upon legal strategy), a written report in the form of a summative letter, a more detailed report of findings and expert testimony at trial. Review of expert opinions offered by opposing counsel (both by reviewing data and in-trial testimony) is also available.
Typical kinds of evaluations include:
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Evaluation for Malingering & Problems with Effort
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Competency to Stand Trial Evaluations
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Criminal Responsibility Evaluations (not guilty by reason of insanity)
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Aid-in-Sentencing/Re-Sentencing Evaluations
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Risk-Assessment/Dangerousness Evaluations (risk of re-offending)
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Capital Punishment/Death Penalty Evaluations
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Asylum Evaluations
Sid Binks & Associates is especially focused on how neurocognition impacts these types of forensic concerns. If you already have an expert offering the ultimate opinion in a criminal matter, often, the addition of a neuropsychological evaluation can be effectively utilized in support of that opinion.