Context

The purpose of this assignment is to create a rough draft of the forensic evaluation that you selected in u05a1 from the following five options:

• Competency to stand trial.
• Child custody.
• Parenting fitness.
• Mitigation of penalty.
• Recidivism potential (such as a violence risk assessment or a sexual risk assessment).

Instructions

For this assignment, you will begin work on an outline of key components of a forensic evaluation, which will be further developed in Unit 9. In this initial draft of your forensic evaluation, include the following components. A forensic evaluation generally has all of these elements, although some evaluators may provide more background information on the evaluee than others. Many examples of forensic evaluations are provided in Chapter 19 of your Melton textbook (linked in Resources). Include:

1. Introduction
   • Explain the legal question being asked.
   • Invent a fictional client to be evaluated and describe all relevant characteristics of this evaluee (name, gender, and age).
2. Informed Consent
   • Include a paragraph explaining what you would inform the evaluee about the nature and purpose of the evaluation, including any limitations in confidentiality and release of information.
3. Interview Questions
   • Based on the particular type of evaluation selected, include a section describing the questions related to the referral question that you plan to ask your evaluee.
4. Collateral Information
   • Include other third-party information relevant to the legal question that you would obtain for review.
5. Test Battery
   • Justify the appropriateness of two instruments that you would administer for the type of evaluation you are conducting.

A sample forensic evaluation is linked in Resources to assist in formatting your evaluation. Note that your forensic evaluation does not require the same level of detail in the background history.

Objectives

Your assignment should fulfill the following objectives:

1. Create a forensic evaluation appropriate to the age and gender of a fictional evaluee.
2. Explain the legal question being asked.
3. Explain all aspects of informed consent pertaining to this evaluation.
4. Justify the questions most appropriate to ask the fictional evaluee.
5. Describe the third-party information most relevant to the legal question being asked in this evaluation.
6. Justify appropriate instruments for the evaluation being conducted.
7. Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of the psychological professions.

Additional Requirements

In addition to the above objectives, your assignment should meet the following requirements:

• Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Formatting: current edition APA style and format.
• Length of paper: 6–8 pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 points.