Fellowship Training Program
The Forensic Psychiatry fellowship training program is a component of the Center for Forensic Behavioral Sciences under the Directorate of Behavioral Health. The one-year fellowship is the sole military training program.
Mission
The mission of the Forensic Psychiatry fellowship is to provide in-depth training to active duty officers that will foster development of advanced skills as forensic psychiatrists. Advanced skills will include objectivity and self-confidence in delivering expert testimony, ability to perform comprehensive assessment and analysis of criminal defendants, and substantial knowledge of the interplay between the legal system and the psychiatric realm. Upon successful completion of the fellowship, fellows will be prepared to be forensic subject matter experts for their local region as well as for courts-martial throughout the world.
Objectives
- The legal basis of forensic evaluations
- The ethical practice of forensic psychiatry
- Forensic assessment of criminal responsibility and competence to stand trial
- Correctional psychiatry
- Forensic research
- Forensic consultation
- Cultural competence in forensic assessment, treatment, and consultation
- Applications of forensic psychiatry to the military setting
Consultation and Assessment Services Offered
- RCM 706 Sanity Board Evaluations (Competency to Stand Trial & Criminal Responsibility) and other court-ordered evaluations
- Topics we are frequently consulted on include assessment of sex offenders, malingering, violence risk assessment, potential for rehabilitation and recidivism, forensic issues related to PTSD, sex offenders, false confessions, and impact of criminal victimization.
- Consultation with the FBI on active criminal investigations
- Consultation with WRNMMC on forensic issues that may arise on their services
- Specialized consultation to the Office of General Counsel, intelligence community, military criminal investigative operations, and the Office of Military Commissions
- Psychological autopsy (equivocal death analysis)
- Expert testimony
Training Opportunities
- Consultation and expert testimony opportunities throughout the world
- Assessment of criminal defendants for competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC., Clifton T. Perkins Hospital in Jessup, MD, and at WRNMMC
- Correctional psychiatry experience at a detention center
- Rotation through the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, Quantico, VA
- A diverse array of other learning avenues, to include civil forensic opportunities, psychological autopsies, learning through didactics and research, and participation in committees at WRNMMC
- Paid attendance at a course in criminal law through The Judge Advocate General's Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia, or through Georgetown University
- Paid attendance at one CME event such as the APA or AAPL annual meetings. This is dependent on a given year's fiscal situation, and more likely approved if the fellow is presenting at the meeting.