ABSTRACT
The practice of forensic neuropsychology is becoming more common in criminal settings. Neuropsychologists are more frequently being asked to examine individuals charged with a variety of crimes to determine their competency to stand trial and/or the determination of criminal responsibility. This has been, and still largely remains, the province of forensic psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and forensic psychologists. But this is an area of practice that is beginning to be more common for neuropsychologists, particularly as attorneys and courts gain greater familiarity with our profession’s development of theory and tests in the area of motivation and symptom validity and appreciate the work we can do. In fact, our proficiency with such techniques would seem to make us ideal professionals for such evaluations and clearly better suited than many whose assessment techniques are largely impressionistically based. There is little doubt that science wins out in court-all other things being equal. Because competency evaluations are so common, neuropsychologists who practice in the criminal/forensic setting need to be aware of the various presentations and guises which defendants may assume in order to project an image of incompetence and/or mental illness.
