PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Julie Goldenson AU - Stanley L. Brodsky TI - Trauma-Focused Mitigation Testimony in Capital Sentencing Hearings AID - 10.29158/JAAPL.210090-21 DP - 2022 Mar 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 39--43 VI - 50 IP - 1 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/50/1/39.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/50/1/39.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2022 Mar 01; 50 AB - When capital trials of convicted defendants reach the sentencing phase, forensic mental health experts often testify as part of mitigation evidence. Three aspects of such testimony hold particular promise. First, developmental traumas in the lives of the defendants are especially well conceptualized in terms of complex posttraumatic stress disorder, as described in the ICD-11. Second, Cunningham’s framework, which critically examines the impact of harmful and protective factors over the course of a defendant’s development, allows for an examination of moral culpability apart from legal culpability. Third, specific training on trauma and its effects on personality and psychopathology allows forensic mental health professionals to more skillfully complete trauma mitigation evaluations.