Grand Rounds for Judges: Mental Health Issues in Criminal Cases

The Flaschner Judicial Institute and the Trial Court’s Judicial Institute are teaming up to offer a series of Grand Rounds for judges on mental health issues that present in the courtroom. Grand Rounds is a formal educational model used in teaching hospitals for doctors where a physician presents a complex case then participants offer perspectives and propose strategies for decision-making and treatment recommendations.

This is the first Grand Rounds program for judges that we are offering. On November 28th, participating judges will work together with judicial colleagues and expert mental health professionals on a complex hypothetical criminal case involving mental health issues in which a guilty plea is on the table as the proposed resolution. Should you take that plea? What kind of information relating to the defendant and the defendant’s mental health and substance abuse do you want and/or can you reasonably expect as a judge in order to help you decide? Judges will be able to share lessons learned in a peer consultation setting and put their own questions on the table for discussion.

Participating Experts:

Judith G. Edersheim, J.D., M.D.
Co-Director and Co-Founder, MGH Center for Law, Brain & Behavior
Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Robert Kinscherff, Ph.D., J.D.
Associate Professor (Doctoral Clinical Psychology Program), William James College
Science Faculty, MGH Center for Law, Brain & Behavior

This first program is geared towards judges in the Boston Municipal Court, District Court, Juvenile Court, and Superior Court. Additional Grand Rounds sessions that will focus on civil and family law cases will be held in the spring of 2018.