Getting reacquainted with an old friend.

Abstract

Do you remember your last high-school reunion? There is something quite magical about the experience of rediscovering old friends and old flames, people who you haven't seen for years. At first, you are struck by how they have changed. They are dressed differently, have gained a little weight. But later, you realize they haven't changed so much as grown: Their essential character-the things you liked so much about them, the things that interested you, even the things that annoyed you-remains the same. I enjoyed greatly my reunion with Psychological evaluations for the courts (PEC), recently released in its second edition. Back in 1987, when the original edition was published, PEC was my first textbook of forensic psychology. It helped me to develop a professional identity distinct from that of my fellow graduate students, who were more interested in traditional clinical psychology. Here was a book that treated psychology and law not as two solitudes, but as a definable, legitimate area of expertise and practice. It influenced how I conducted psycholegal assessments and, in a more fundamental way, how I conceptualized and approached my role as evaluator. The introductory chapters provided an overview of law and discussed the relationship between psychology and law. Later chapters addressed a broad range of criminal and civil issues. The authors went beyond the standard topics covered in other books (e.g., criminal responsibility, competency to stand trial, civil commitment, custody) to discuss such things as competency to consent to treatment and testamentary competency. They used a standard format when discussing various assessments: Review the relevant law, review the relevant research, and make procedural recommendations based on these reviews. The final chapters addressed report writing and expert testimony, and included many sample reports. The authors' tone throughout was conservative and pragmatic; their philosophy was that mental health professionals can play a useful role in legal proceedings if they are familiar with the law and recognize the limits of their professional knowledge.