The Centre for Forensic Neuroscience provides relevant and comprehensive assessments, with regular and timely communications from the Expert Witness. We use the most up-to-date and well-researched test instruments and technologies which are directly applicable to Court standards. Our experts have an experience in a variety of forensic cases combined with an emphasis on superior presentation skills and commitment to evidence-based assessments. CFN provides an extensive range of litigation and investigative support services. The following list contains examples of the type of instructions we undertake:
- Homicide and other crimes of violence
- Diminished capacity
- Competence
- Assessment of Testamentary Capacity
- Violence risk assessment
- Post-Conviction Sex Offender Polygraph Testing
- Stalking threat assessment and intervention
- Threat assessment
- Domestic violence
- Disputed confessions
- Threats to companies and other organisations
- Mental vulnerability & impairment
- Sentencing and mitigation
- Prison Law matters
- Biological factors in criminal behaviours
- Arson
- Staged homicide and suicides
- Analysis of suicide notes to determine if they were used to cover up homicides
- Immigration and Sanctuary Seekers assessment: IQ, PTSD, Malingering
- Profiling animal cruelty
- Elder abuse
- Interrogative Suggestibility& Compliance
- Drugs and alcohol abuse
- Suicide and self harm
- School and University violence threat management and training
- Specialist forensic interviewing
- Pre-sentence reports
- Pre-trial reports
- Consultancy to tribunals and inquiries
- Integrity Testing of job applicants and employees
- Compulsive use of the Internet
- Fitness for duty examinations
- Investigative hypnosis
- Issues arising from internet-based social networking
- Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring
- Animal Hoarding issues in a forensic context
Adult and Adolescent Forensic Assessments
The exact process of the assessment varies according to the instructions given by the legal representative, thus a standard psychological examination may be made, or, alternatively, a more comprehensive brain-injury/pathology evaluation my be necessary if brain functioning is raised as a legal issue. The psychological assessment evaluates personality and psychopathology with standardised tests, together with a check on Cognitive Status, which may involve the administration of specific neuropsychological tests.
Functional and Structural Brain Imaging
Brain imaging is carried out using either a PET/CT scan or Magnetic Resonance Imaging, which is available from a network of centres in the UK, such as York Diagnostic Imaging.