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What is the purpose of a Fitness to Plead assessment? Fitness to Plead in the Crown Court (Archbold 4-166a to 4-185) The purpose of this procedure is to strike a fair balance between the need to protect a defendant, who has, in fact, done nothing wrong but is unfit to…
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What are the Pritchard Criteria? This is taken from a Consultation by the Law Commission (Consultation Paper 197). They were to publish a report in the summer of 2012 and are hopefully going to introduce a standard psychiatric assessment as the Pritchard Criteria is quite a controversial test. The law…
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Who can assess Fitness to Plead? Although the 1964 Act does not therefore specifically require that the evidence comes from a psychiatrist, in practice a finding of unfitness to plead has required a consensus of psychiatric opinion. However, a significant change under the Mental Health Act 2007 was to allow…
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What are the hourly rates for Psychology Expert Witnesses? The Community Legal Service (Amendment 2) Order 2011, refers to hourly rates for Expert Witnesses as follows – “Paragraph 15A – …. the Commission may provide for the payment of expert service only at the fixed fees or at rates not exceeding…
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How many hours can Expert Witness Psychologists charge for reports? There is no absolute maximum number of hours an Expert Witness Psychologist can charge, as it it very much dependent on the nature of the instructions and assessment plus other factors such as the amount of paperwork the Expert is…
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What expenses can Expert Witnesses claim for? Paragraph 3 of Section 6 sets out the guidelines for general provisions relating to experts and the following are not payable by the Commission as disbursements from 3rd October 2011: a) Any administration fee charged by an expert, including (but not limited to)-…
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What can Expert Witnesses charge for attending Court? According to Regulation 20 of Part V of the Costs in Criminal Cases (General) regulations 1986, an expert witness is ‘a person of any calling, profession or trade who gives evidence because of his expertise.’ The guidance for attending a hearing for…
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What are the Standards for Expert Witnesses in Children’s Proceedings? Following a consultation period between 16 May to 18 July 2013, new standards for experts working in family proceedings relating to children became law. All experts must now comply with the following standards: 1) The Expert’s area of competence is…
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The role of Psychologists as Expert Witnesses in Family Proceedings An expert Psychologist may be instructed in the Family Courts when their expertise is necessary to make decisions in the case A Psychologist can provide individual and collective psychological profiles of different family members They can undertake comprehensive assessments that…
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Regulation & Codes of Conduct for Psychologists Instructed Psychologists should be registered with the Health & Care Professionals Council (HCPC) or the British Psychological Society (BPS) and use their protected title If an expert is instructed who is not subject to UK professional standards or regulation should meet the criteria…
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