Writing Reports for Court: A Practical Guide for Psychologists Working in Forensic Contexts.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Date: 01 August 2008
• Author: Smallbone, Stephen

Writing Reports for Court: A Practical Guide for Psychologists Working in Forensic Contexts

by Jack White, Andrew Day and Louisa Hackett

2007; Australian Academic Press; 198 pages, ISBN 9781875378807

Some years ago, when I was teaching a postgraduate course in forensic psychology, a senior judge came to my class to talk with the students about psychological report writing for the courts. At one point I asked him what he thought was the most important feature of a good court report. The judge rubbed his chin, paused thoughtfully, considered this and that, related a courtroom anecdote or two and, after a further few minutes of deliberation, eventually came to his key point. 'Conciseness', he concluded.

The irony was not lost on the class, but nor was the sage advice. In the field, psychologists who write reports for courts typically receive little guidance or feedback on their work. Regrettably, most who get involved in this work do so without having undertaken any specialised training. There are no specific professional guidelines, and there is no clear consensus among psychologists themselves (nor indeed among the judiciary, it seems) about what constitutes a good court report. There have been a few, mainly American, books on forensic psychology that have included sections on report writing, but nothing specifically to help prepare psychologists for writing useful reports for Australian courts. I was therefore delighted to see that Jack White and his colleagues in South Australia had written a book that aimed to fill this important gap.

Writing Reports for Court is written as a practical guide for professional and trainee psychologists. It is not an academic work, and contains no new discoveries or...