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At long last Capacity FOR JUSTICE C4J invites the legal and mental health communities and interested others to visit Capacity FOR JUSTICE .org and explore a Texas Registry of Forensic Experts for Competency, Sanity and Capacity Determinations in Adult and Juvenile Proceedings.The Registry is free for the user and registrants as a public service. The primary goal is accessibility for the Texas courts, judges, lawyers and interested other s in selecting an expert to evaluate a defendant or juvenile for competency/fitness to proceed to trial and/or sanity/responsibility for conduct. The following information is required to be able to search the registry. If you are a mental health professional, and you would like to be included in the registry as an expert, you must first register to access the system. After registering and logging in, just click on the “Your Profile” tab. Click on the button that says “Include in Registry”. You will be required to provide proof of licensing and certification as an expert before you will be included in The Registry.
 
   
   
   
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USER OF REGISTRY AGREEMENT

Texas Registry of Forensic Experts for Competency, Insanity, and Capacity Determinations in Adult and Juvenile Proceedings

This online statewide Registry is intended as a tool for judges, attorneys, mental health professionals, families and other consumers of mental health services to assist them in locating potential juvenile and criminal forensic expert consultants and witnesses. Persons listed in the Registry may have additional expertise regarding mental retardation, dual diagnosis, juvenile competency and foreign language fluency.

The Registry is not a credentialing service. No state agency is authorized to perform credentialing of juvenile and criminal forensic expert witnesses. The Registry provides a listing of state licensed psychiatrists and psychologists who have at least 24 hours in forensic evaluation training shown by Capacity FOR JUSTICE, (C4J) records. Determination of any expert’s qualification to consult or testify must be determined by users of the Registry and is subject to the discretion of judicial officers who receive their testimony.

C4J plans to periodically update information in the Registry as it is provided by Registry participants. Information from the C4J forensic expert training database maintained since the inception of those training programs in 2001 is included in the Registry. In 2004, C4J conducted a statewide survey of participants in those trainings to gather information for the Registry database and it has also received records of attendance in accredited 24 hour expert witness workshops presented by the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and North Texas State Hospital in Vernon and Wichita Falls conducted in 2003 for inclusion in the Registry database. Records for 454 trained participants have been reviewed in compiling the database. Additional training credits are listed based on documentation provided by the listed participants. The Registry utilizes Microsoft ® Access 2002 (10.6501.6626) SP3 to enable users to conduct searches and perform queries to locate professionals who may be qualified by certain areas of special expertise or geographic location.

The statutory qualifications for juvenile and criminal forensic expert witnesses are stated in Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, art. 46B.022 “Incompetency to Stand Trial” and 46C.101 “Insanity Defense” and Texas Family Code, art. 51.20, “Physical or Mental Examination”, art. 55.31, “Unfitness to Proceed Determination”; “Examination” and art. 55.51 “Lack of Responsibility for Conduct Determination”; “Examination”. The Texas Legislative Council has also issued a letter clarifying the application of these statutes. The language of the relevant statutes and a copy of the clarifying opinion are posted on the website for review by users of the Registry.

Capacity FOR JUSTICE, Inc.

By Genevieve Tarlton Hearon, President
Executive Director
May 2008
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