Adolescence is a distinct period of development that presents a number of special challenges. This fact has important implications for professionals selecting and administering assessment procedures and interpreting the data they yield, yet assessment texts have focused on adults or children and devoted minimal attention to adolescents. This book constitutes the first up-to-date and practical guide to the effective psychological assessment of adolescents. Throughout, the author's emphasis is on standardized instruments. Their use, he argues, provides more valid information about individuals, leads to better treatment or placement decisions, and contributes to the more efficient management of organizational resources than does reliance on clinical interviews and judgment alone. Assessing Adolescents in Educational, Counseling, and Other Settings will be welcomed by all those professionally involved in the assessment of adolescents--psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, child care agency staff, and educators--as well as by those who must make decisions based on their assessments--school principals, youth court judges, and managers of residential treatment facilities among others. Developmental researchers will also find this review of available standardized tools helpful in their work.

Psychological assessment has always paralleled the growth of psychology and its specialties, and it is not an overstatement to say that measurement and assessment are the cornerstones of psychology, providing the tools and techniques for gathering information to inform our understanding of human behavior. However, the continued growth and new developments in the assessment literature requires an ongoing examination of the principles and practices of central importance to psychological assessment. The Oxford Handbook of Child Psychological Assessment covers all areas of child and adolescent assessment. Leaders in the field summarize and synthesize state-of-the-science assessment theories, techniques, and applications. Placing an emphasis on clinical and psychoeducational assessment issues, chapters explore issues related to the foundations, models, special topics, and practice of psychological assessment. Appropriate as a desk reference or a cover-to-cover read, this comprehensive volume surveys fundamental principles of child assessment, including ability, achievement, behavior, and personality; covers the role of theory and measurement in psychological assessment; and presents new methods and data.

This book places juvenile risk assessment within the context of FMHA for juveniles, so those using it will find it particularly useful to incorporate into their evaluations of risk and needs for adolescents in the juvenile justice system. In making recommendations for best practice, authors consider empirical support, legal relevance, and consistency with ethical and professional standards.

This book provides a discussion ofadvances in our understanding of the juvenile offender. These derive from psychological and criminological theoryand researchonthe phenomenonofyouth crime and from efforts on the part of social science researchers and practitioners to develop and evaluate new approaches to prevention and treatment. The theoretical and empirical advances relate, first, to analyses of the nature and extent ofyouth crime. This is reflected, for example, in various descriptive and classification systems developed for characterizingjuvenile offenders. Significant advances are also being made in understanding the risk factors associated with youthful criminal activity, as well as the processes linking the risk factors with antisocial behaviors. This understanding is based on theory and research relatingto the correlates andcauses ofdelinquency. The advances in our understanding of the nature, correlates, and causes of juvenile crime are accompanied by progress in analyzing the treatment ofyouth in juvenile justice systems and in developing and evaluating alternative approaches to treatment. These efforts include research on decision-making within juvenile justice systems and the development of screening and assessment tools. This also includes efforts to develop and evaluate effective prevention and treatment programs for use with youths involved in criminal activity and those at risk for this activity.

This highly effective guide is designed to help attorneys differentiate expert testimony that is scientifically well-established from authoritative pronouncements that are mainly speculative. Building on the foundation of Jay Ziskin's classic work, this updated text blends the best of previous editions with discussion of positive scientific advances in the field to provide practical guidance for experts and lawyers alike. Major contributors in the field summarize the state of the literature in numerous key areas of the behavioral sciences and law. Working from these foundations, the text provides extensive guidance, tips, and strategies for improving the quality of legal evaluations and testimony, appraising the trustworthiness of experts' opinions, and as follows, bolstering or challenging conclusions in a compelling manner. Distinctive features of this text include detailed coverage of admissibility and Daubert challenges, with unique chapters written by an eminently qualified judge and attorney; hundreds of helpful suggestions covering such topics as forensic evaluations, discovery, and the conduct of depositions and cross-examinations; and two chapters on the use of visuals to enhance communication and persuasiveness, including a unique chapter with over 125 model visuals for cases in psychology and law. More than ever, the sixth edition is an invaluable teaching tool and resource, making it a 'must have' for mental health professionals and attorneys.

Clinical Forensic Psychology and Law is a compilation of recent and classic articles providing comprehensive coverage of the field of clinical forensic psychology and law. Selected articles sample the major areas of the discipline, including criminal and civil forensic assessment, forensic treatment, youth assessment and intervention, and professional and ethical issues in forensic practice. The volume is designed for use by scholars, graduates and undergraduates in psychology and law schools.

This authoritative, highly readable reference and text is grounded in the latest knowledge on how antisocial and criminal behavior develops in youth and how it can effectively be treated. Contributors describe proven ways to reduce juvenile delinquency by targeting specific risk factors and strengthening young people's personal, family, and community resources. Thorough yet concise, the book reviews exemplary programs and discusses theoretical, empirical, and practical issues in assessment and intervention. It also provides best-practice recommendations for working with special populations: violent offenders; gang members; sexual offenders; youth with mental health, substance abuse, educational, and learning problems; and female offenders.