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Research

Fellows devote approximately 10% of their time to research on a topic or problem in mental health law or forensic clinical psychology. Typically, this will be a project developed at the fellows’ own initiative and supervised by Dr. Gina Vincent. Alternatively, it may develop as a derivative of on-going research projects by Program faculty. The Commonwealth's forensic mental health system provides a wide variety of opportunities for data collection, although the time commitments of fellows to service and didactic training typically encourage fellows to work on conceptual papers, research reviews, or analyses of existing databases, rather than the collection of new data.

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Current Research Activities and Interests of the UMass Chan Law-Psychiatry faculty include:

  • Evaluating competence to consent to or refuse treatment.
  • Violence risk assessment.
  • Prevalence of mentally ill individuals in the correctional system.
  • Drug and mental health courts.
  • Developing quality assurance measures for forensic reports.
  • Identification of mental health needs of youths in juvenile justice settings.
  • Juveniles' competence to stand trial.
  • Assessment/inclusion of race, ethnicity and culture considerations in forensic evaluation.