Article Figures & Data
Tables
Topic category % of Exam I. Legal regulation of psychiatry: Hospitalization, confidentiality/privilege, right to treatment, right to refuse treatment, duty to protect, informed consent, medical board issues, research 19 II. Civil: Malpractice, personal injury, workplace concerns (Worker's Compensation, disability, discrimination, and harassment), competency for medical treatment and finance, and testamentary capacity 19 III. Criminal: Competency (to stand trial, waive rights, testimonial), criminal responsibility, alcohol and drug prosecution, and presentencing/diversion programs 19 IV. Death penalty: Ethics, competency to be executed, exceptions, epidemiology, aggravating circumstances, mitigating circumstances, and victim impact 5 V. Corrections: Epidemiology, settings, special treatment programs, treatment of seriously mentally ill, due process issues, sociology, conditions of confinement, security vs. treatment issues, probation/parole, sex offenders, and class actions 9 VI. Legal topics/basic law: Sources of law, court system, adjudicative process 8 VII. Children/families: Civil (custody, abuse/neglect, competency, commitment, adoption, evaluation of sex abuse, malpractice), criminal, forensic evaluation of children, education, and disabilities 8 VIII. Special issues: Hypnosis, polygraph, syndromes, malingering, psychological assessment, psychopathy, neuroimaging, managed care, drugs and alcohol, psychological autopsy, ethics, practice issues, expert witness, and risk assessment 13 Topic Number of Articles History of forensic psychiatry 4 Roles and responsibilities of forensic psychiatrists 10 Assessment of dangerousness 14 Assessment of accused sexual offender 16 Evaluation and treatment of incarcerated individuals 13 Ethical, administrative, and legal issues in forensic psychiatry 10 Legal regulation of psychiatric practice 15 Writing a forensic report 3 Eyewitness testimony 0 Fundamentals of law, statutes, and administrative regulations 5 Structure of federal and state court systems 1 Use of law library and on-line legal reference services 0 Theory and practice of sentencing 4 Basic civil procedure 0 Basic criminal procedure 4 Jurisdiction 0 Responsibility 3 Tort law 0 Children's rights 0 Family law 0 Confessions 2 Structure and function of juvenile systems 0 Structure and function of correctional systems 4 Conservatorships and guardianships 0 Child custody determinations 2 Parental competence and termination of parental rights 0 Child abuse/neglect 0 Psychiatric disability determinations 6 Testamentary capacity 0 Psychiatric malpractice 6 Personal injury litigation 6 Developmental disability law 0 Competency to stand trial 18 Competence to enter a plea 0 Testimonial capacity 1 Voluntariness of confessions 1 Insanity defense 6 Diminished capacity 7 Evaluations in aid of sentencing 2 Safe release of persons acquitted by reason of insanity 4 Competence to be executed 0 Topic category ABPN Exam JAAPL 2008 JAAPL 2009 JAAPL 2010 JAAPL 2011 JAAPL 2012 JAAPL Average (%) I. Legal regulation of psychiatry 19 5.1 (2) 10.5 (4) 4.3 (2) 12.8 (5) 15.7 (6) 9.68 II. Civil 19 10.3 (4) 15.8 (6) 10.9 (5) 7.6 (3) 5.3 (2) 9.98 III. Criminal 19 28.2 (11) 21.0 (8) 30.4 (14) 17.9 (7) 26.3 (10) 24.76 IV. Death penalty 5 2.6 (1) 0 (0) 4.3 (2) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1.38 V. Corrections 9 12.8 (5) 23.6 (9) 2.1 (2) 7.6 (3) 13.1 (5) 11.84 VI. Legal topics/basic law 8 0 (0) 5.3 (2) 0 (0) 0 (0) 5.3 (2) 2.12** VII. Children/families 8 2.1 (1) 0 (0) 6.5 (3) 5.1 (2) 13.2 (5) 5.48 VIII. Special topics 13 30.7 (12) 23.6 (9) 19.5 (9) 41 (16) 21 (8) 27.16 Unclassifiable in ABPN MOC exam content outline 7.7 (3) 5.3 (2) 21.7* (10) 7.6 (3) 0 (0) 8.46 Total articles reviewed 39 40 47 39 38 Legal Digest case reports (number)† 32 37 36 32 31 Data are expressed as the percentage of the MOC examination or articles in JAAPL committed to the topic. The numbers in parentheses are the number of JAAPL articles on the topic.
↵* In 2010, there were seven Analysis and Commentary articles published in Vol. 38, No.4 that paid tribute to the contributions of Howard Zonana to forensic psychiatry and the Yale Forensic Fellowship. These articles were unclassifiable.
↵† Legal Digest cases are informative on matters relevant to legal issues/basic law and could be classified in this section, but for illustrative purposes and because they could receive dual classifications, they were classified as a distinct category.
