Evaluations and Assessments:

  • Competency to Stand Trial: Assess whether a defendant understands the legal proceedings and can assist in their own defense.

  • Insanity Defense Evaluations: Determine if a defendant's mental state at the time of the offense meets the legal criteria for an insanity defense.

  • Risk Assessments: Evaluate the likelihood of future violence or re-offending.

  • Child Custody Evaluations: Provide assessments and recommendations in divorce and custody disputes.

  • Personal Injury Evaluations: Assess the psychological impact of injuries in civil cases.

  • Fitness for Duty Evaluations: Determine the psychological suitability of individuals for certain roles, such as law enforcement.

Expert Testimony:

  • Personality Traits & Disorders

    • Presence of diagnosable personality disorders (e.g., narcissistic, antisocial, borderline)

    • Traits like grandiosity, lack of empathy, impulsivity, or paranoia

    • Whether traits are stable over time or influenced by external factors (e.g., trauma, environment)

    • How personality may have impacted behavior or decision-making

    • Differentiation between clinical mental illness and extreme ideological belief

    Mental Health & Criminal Responsibility

    • Competency to stand trial

    • Mental state at the time of the offense (mens rea)

    • Whether a disorder impaired the defendant’s ability to know right from wrong

    • Risk of future violence or recidivism (threat assessment)

    Psychological Manipulation & Coercion

    • Identification of grooming behaviors or coercive control

    • How manipulation can override personal autonomy (especially in cult-like or abusive dynamics)

    • Vulnerability factors in victims (e.g., trauma history, cognitive limitations, social isolation)

    • Stockholm Syndrome or trauma bonding in manipulated individuals

    Cults & Cult Leaders

    • Characteristics of cultic groups (e.g., isolation, absolute authority, us-vs-them worldview)

    • Common psychological profiles of cult leaders (e.g., charismatic, narcissistic, controlling)

    • Groupthink and conformity psychology—how followers may suspend critical thought

    • Indoctrination techniques and brainwashing mechanisms

    • Psychological aftermath for former members or victims

    Pattern Recognition & Behavioral Profiling

    • Comparison to known cases of extremist behavior, cult formation, or mass manipulation

    • Whether behavior fits patterns of ideological possession, delusional thinking, or fanaticism

    Educational Role for the Court

    • Translating complex psychological concepts into lay terms for judges, juries, and attorneys

    • Providing context—not just diagnosis—for why someone might act in a particular way