Safeguarding the quality of forensic assessment in sentencing : a review across western nations / edited by Michiel van der Wolf.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction / Michiel van der Wolf -- 2. Contemplations and discussions on the quality of forensic assessment in sentencing : puzzling pieces for decision makers / Michiel van der Wolf, Michiel de Vries-Robbé -- 3. An English perspective / Adrian Grounds, Nicola Padfield -- 4. An American perspective / Christopher King, Lauren Grove, Brooke Stettler, Sharon Kelley -- 5. A Canadian perspective / Michelle S. Lawrence, David W. Morgan -- 6. An Australian perspective / Jamie Walvisch, Andrew Carroll -- 7. A German perspective / Johannes Kaspar, Susanne Stübner -- 8. A Swedish perspective / Tova Bennet, Malin Hildebrand Karlén, Lena Wahlberg -- 9. A Dutch perspective / Michiel van der Wolf, Hjalmar van Marle, Sabine Roza -- 10. Comparative analysis / Michiel van der Wolf.

This edited collection provides an interdisciplinary and cross-national perspective on safeguarding the quality of forensic assessment in sentencing offenders. Taking an in-depth look at seven different Western countries, each chapter provides an overview of the role of assessment in sentencing offenders, as well as a focus on formal ways in which the respective country's legal system and disciplinary associations protect the quality of forensic assessment. Each chapter explores how to assure better decision making in individual cases based on assessments of psycholegal concepts such as mental disorder/insanity, criminal responsibility and dangerousness. Combining the perspectives of lawyers, legal scholars, and clinicians working in the field, this book is essential for those working in and with forensic assessment.

Michiel van der Wolf is a professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Leiden University and associate professor in Criminal Law at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

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