Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Broward County Public Defenders Office formed a collaboration to provide needed psychological services to defendants, both to the general defendant population served by the Public Defenders Office attorneys and in the Mental Health Court -- which is the first of this type of therapeutic jurisprudence program.

Nova Southeastern University

     The Center for Psychological Studies at Nova Southeastern University enjoys national recognition in psychology, housing two APA Accredited residential doctoral programs with over 400 students, two masters programs which are both residential and field-based with over 600 students, two internships (one APA accredited and the other a candidate for APA accreditation), an acclaimed ce program and postdoctoral residency training. The Center for Psychological Studies also includes a Community Mental Health Center, which provides a full range of mental health services to 4000 citizens of Western Broward County. Clients range from 4 yrs of age through the very elderly, and they are served in the Child and Adult Services at our three clinic sites and our Geriatric Institute which provides both residential and day treatment services. In addition we have 12 research-based faculty led clinics that offer specialized services such as brain injury assessment and rehabilitation, biofeedback and domestic violence intervention. It is this unique combination of resources -- academic programs and clinical service programs -- that allows us to accomplish our tripartite mission of integrating service to the community with training and research.

     I joined Nova as Dean of Psychology in August of 1997, and began a program of retooling our programs for the 21st century. As part of this initiative, we have developed a series of concentrations to prepare our students for the new roles that they will inhabit in the future. Concentrations are like "minors"; they prepare students for emerging specialties in psychology, and require taking prescribed electives and practica, as well as conducting doctoral research in the area.

The Forensic Practicum

     One of these concentrations is in forensic psychology, which we have developed through our collaboration with the public defenders office and the mental health court. The concentration includes an advanced practicum setting in the Broward County Public Defenders Office and in the Mental Health Court. Since one of the major roadblocks to the development of pre-doctoral training in forensic psychology is the difficulty in establishing practicum arrangements, I will concentrate on this aspect of the concentration.

     The advanced practicum is set up as an apprenticeship in which doctoral students work with forensic psychology consultants in the Criminal Court to evaluate defendants and assist attorneys in developing viable defenses, including those that require mental health testimony, such as determining: (1) if someone was competent at the time of the commission of a crime or if that person is competent to assist his/her attorney to properly prepare for trial; (2) if a person was psychotic or had other mental disease or disorder to be considered insane or mentally ill at the time of the commission of a crime; or (3) if the person was justified in using force or was subjected to duress because of abuse issues. In major crimes where the death penalty is charged, they also investigate mitigation issues.

     In addition the doctoral students play a major role in the new Mental Health Court. The Broward County Mental Health Court was started in June 1997 as an experimental new specialty court to handle mentally ill defendants who are arrested on suspicion of committing misdemeanor (lower level) crimes. Prompted by several high publicity cases where defendants spent long periods of time incarcerated in jail awaiting hearings on their charges, the chief judge accepted the findings of the Broward County Public Defenders' Office, the Broward County Sheriff's Office, the state attorney's office, the mental health community, and other concerned community leaders and formed the first Mental Health Court in the nation to deal with criminal matters. Determining that it would better serve the community interests to rehabilitate by mental health treatment rather than punish through incarceration these chronically mentally ill persons, a judge with considerable mental health training was assigned to the court along with representatives from the local mental health community.

     The first few months indicated that there were a sufficient number of chronically mentally ill defendants who could benefit from having their crimes, such as shoplifting, loitering, intoxication in a public place, and simple, non-domestic assaults handled in this court. Like most who are arrested for crimes, these people were often poor, homeless, and sometimes minorities without many resources. Most of those who were quickly identified had long histories of being known to mental health agencies in the county. They did not have family or friendship networks that could be helpful to advocate for them. They often were floridly psychotic at the time of their arrest and admitted to not having taken their anti?psychotic medication. Many had dual, and even treble diagnoses including substance abuse and organic brain involvement. Some were mothers of young children who were in and out of social services care while others had teens who were basically on their own.

     Although defendants alleged to have committed felony or major crimes are entitled to be represented by an attorney even if they cannot afford to pay, those accused of misdemeanor crimes usually are not unless specified by the county. Part of the agreement worked out for this new court was for the public defenders to represent the clients and be an integral part of the Mental Health Court. It was unusual for the forensic psychologists to be called to evaluate someone in the mental health court because of the quick turn around time the judge required. A defendant seen on Monday through Wednesday was usually adjudicated on Thursday, so 24 hours was typically the time the psychologist had to get to the jail, do a quick competency evaluation and write a short report for the court. Most of the time, the judge was basing her conclusions on prior treatment records or the assessment of social workers or other mental health workers with less training than would be desirable given the serious mental illnesses presented here. The practicum students were placed in the court each day where, at the request of the judge, they could do a quick assessment right there while the court was busy with another case. While it wasn't the ideal evaluation, it was better than what existed before, and it permitted the judge to resolve some cases right then and there without having to send the defendant back to jail if there was a better alternative.

     Students were provided with a weekly 1 1/2 hour seminar that met in the Public Defenders Office. Some of the supervising psychologists also attended weekly although several only came when they did a presentation. The first 10 weeks were given to presentations on specific topics. The next 6 weeks were case conferences where supervising psychologists and students presented one or more cases to the others for discussion purposes. Attorneys were invited to these case presentations to help students get used to oral reporting which is required in criminal cases prior to submitting written reports especially when working with the defense.

     The students also submitted weekly updates of all their cases to Dr. Lenore Walker, the practicum coordinator via email as well as more detailed information on specific cases she was supervising. Another social worker who worked at the Public Defenders Office supervised the Mental Health Court. Students were also permitted access to Dr. Walker's office computer on which the test scoring programs were stored. Each student thus had a supervising adjunct faculty psychologist, a court social worker, a faculty supervisor, a practicum coordinator, and a group seminar.

Evaluation

     The process of developing a practicum site such as this is usually a long and cumbersome one, particularly when issues of confidentiality and trust are as important as they are when a criminal defendant's legal rights in addition to his or her health and mental health are at stake. However, in this case, the two principle people had a long history of working together and came with support from their superiors. Both the university president and the elected public defender also knew each other and were supportive of the collaborative program. By being able to use the customary and usual rules governing practica at Nova and internships (which is what the practicum students were called in the courthouse), we did not disrupt either program by requiring an intolerable number of exceptions. This may well have helped maintain its success as there was less room for error or sabotage.

     It is often difficult to get outsiders, including students, to work with criminal defense attorneys given their demand for confidentiality especially while developing a defense to a crime. In this case, the students were all assigned to work on at least one major crime that received high publicity because of the nature of the violence. Getting used to the idea that they would be interviewing a "murderer" was difficult for the students until they went in with the supervising psychologist the first time and realized that each defendant needed to be evaluated individually, without those stereotypes. They learned to take specific precautions for their own and the client's safety. They also learned how to work within a very rigid criminal justice system. The supervisors liked working with the students; they provided good challenges and helped update their own knowledge with new information being learned from classes and readings. Forensic psychologists must continuously be able to back-up their findings with data; students learned how important knowing the psychological literature and research can be in helping these clients. They also learned how to work together with criminal defense attorneys, some of whom may try to manipulate the data to say what they want it to say on behalf of their clients. Staying neutral during the evaluation phase became much more of a challenge especially when they then needed to work as part of a defense team once the data were collected.

     As always, I welcome your thoughts on this column. You can most easily contact me via email:(new address): levant@uakron.edu

Biographical Sketch

     Ronald F. Levant, Ed.D., A.B.P.P., is Recording Secretary of the American Psychological Association. He served as Director, Secretary, President and APA Council Representative of the Massachusetts Psychological Association, and is a recipient of the Ezra Saul Psychological Service Award. He was the Chair of the APA Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP) from 1993-95, a member of the APA Board of Directors (1995-97), and APA Recordimg Secretary (1998-2000). He is Dean, Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

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