title: The empirical limits of forensic mental health assessment.
abstract: This article introduces a special issue of Law and Human Behavior, including five articles describing the limits of forensic mental health assessments of (a) risk of violence in female adolescents, (b) sexually violent predators, (c) dangerousness in capital murder cases, (d) child sexual abuse, and (e) PTSD litigants. Knowing the limits of forensic mental health assessment methods is essential in order to recognize their strengths, increase the credibility of forensic mental health assessment, and drive research that will enhance the value of assessments for the courts.
authors.affiliation: Law and Psychiatry Program, Center for Mental Health Services Research, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA. Thomas.Grisso@umassmed.edu
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grisso
authors.forename: Gina M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Vincent
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*