Destigmatizing and Litigating Mental & Behavioral Health in Court
CLE Credit: Up to 13.5 hours of self-study CLE Credit, including 1 ethics credit, where authorized. Please confirm with your state's CLE commission to ensure this program is available for self-study CLE certification.
Program Summary: The number of individuals with mental illness and behavioral health conditions in the criminal legal system continues to increase, at enormous fiscal, health, and human costs. Mentally ill persons, many of whom enter the criminal justice system for offenses and aberrant behaviors related to their illnesses, often serve substantially longer sentences than others convicted of similar crimes, and are automatic candidates for punitive sanctions like solitary confinement. Judges and prosecutors are often undereducated on the role mental health plays in criminal conduct and often believe punishment is the answer, rather than treatment. Until America decriminalizes mental illness, criminal defense lawyers–and particularly, public defenders–must shoulder the tremendous responsibility of providing outstanding representation to those with mental and behavioral health issues.
Representing a client with mental and behavioral illness requires an in-depth understanding of criminal procedure, experts, mental health defenses, and effective communication tactics. There is also a growing need to understand defendants' stories and the impact trauma, grief, and abuse have on mental health. This program brings together the nation’s top experienced lawyers, doctors, and thought leaders with expertise in mental health issues to empower attorneys to do exactly that.
This training covers issues relating to competence, the NGI defense, Sexually Violent Person (SVP) commitments, coping with grief and loss, storytelling and sentencing, the impact of COVID on mental health, and the traumatic effects of policing in communities of color. Zealous, informed advocacy can break the powerful negative stigma society has attached to mental illness.
Presentations Included:
1. Grief and Forgiveness: Parallel Points and the Impact on Our Clients | Lori James-Townes
2. Convicted, Committed, Condemned: Defending Sexually Violent Persons (SVP) | Richard Jones
3. Communicating with Client's with Mental Health Issues | George Woods
4. Putting on Your Smarty Pants: How to Effectively Work with Experts | Carrie Thompson
5. The Ethics of Representing a Client with a Disability | Andrew Birrell
6. Forensic Mental Health: Psychosis, Substance Use, and Trauma | Dr. Gimel Rogers
7. Preparing for Sentencing, at the Beginning, Using Effective Storytelling | Jennifer Sellitti
8. Litigating the NGI Defense: Challenges & Opportunities | Carey Haughwout
9. The Impact of Childhood Sexual Trauma on Mental Health and Sexual Violence Risk | Dr. Sanjay Shah
10. Policing as Trauma: Litigating Race, Stereotype Threat and the Traumatic Effects of Policing in Communities of Color | Kristin Nicole Henning
11. Impact of Childhood Trauma and ACES on a Defendant's Mental Health: A Sentencing Strategy | David Savitz
12. COVID-19 and Its Impact on Mental Health | Kristina Joseph and Gabrielle Pittman
Order by Mail or Fax by downloading a PDF order form. Call (202) 465-7661 to order by phone!
Prices
- List Price $225.00
- Member Price $199.00