M.L. Zimmermann’s scientific contributions

Psychiatrists and psychologists are frequently called upon to evaluate criminal defendants concerning their mental competency to proceed to trial. As a practical matter, however, nonrepresenting attorneys are also well positioned to consult to representing defense counsel and to respond to that legal issue, especially with regard to the defendant's ability to participate with counsel in an adequate presentation of his or her defense. By being aware of this practice, the consulting forensic mental health professional will often be in a good position to work more effectively with retaining (representing) counsel and to buttress his or her opinion about the defendant's mental competency to proceed to trial in criminal matters. This article discusses the background and present status of these issues, and concludes with an ongoing research project in this area.

Two sets of factors which operate at the time of Miranda rights administration to a criminal suspect during the course of arrest and interrogation are defined and discussed. These factors are 'clinical' (pertaining to the suspect undergoing 'Mirandizing') and 'legal' (pertaining to the circumstances of the Mirandizing). The factors are organized into the Miranda Checklist Inventory (MCI), a systematic inventory which can be used as a guide for the forensic mental health professional in retrospectively evaluating an adult or juvenile's competency to have waived his or her Miranda rights. The MCI is presented as the Appendix to this article.

The term 'blackout' '...carries no particular legal implications' (1), notwithstanding confusion in the legal and forensic communities about the meaning and significance of blackouts and other 'amnestic phenomena.' This article reviews definitions and theories about blackouts and presents an intoxication/forensic case involving a blackout. Using that case, the authors discuss the pitfalls as well as the applicability of blackouts and other amnestic phenomena in criminal law, in terms of current Daubert concepts and standards. These concepts and standards are also reviewed.