This document provides three case vignettes involving individuals facing legal charges and in need of forensic assessment. The first case involves Ms. G, a 46-year-old woman charged with burglary who was intoxicated and combative at the time of arrest. The second case involves Mr. P, a 26-year-old man charged with his fourth DUI who believes the charges are unjustified. The third case involves Mr. H, a 24-year-old man charged with second-degree murder for shooting his noisy neighbor, who claims he was instructed by God to do so. For each case, the reader is asked to determine the most appropriate type of forensic assessment from among four options.

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Individual Assessment
© 2013 Argosy University
Case Vignettes
Case 1
Ms. G is a forty-six-year-old Caucasian female charged with
burglary. She was arrested for the offense after
she was found by the police with her neighbor’s property. She
was intoxicated and in possession of drugs
at the time of the arrest. She also was belligerent and combative
and surprised that she was being accused
of a crime. She initiated a physical altercation with the police
and was immediately taken into custody with
the highest level of constraint to protect her and the officers
from potential harm. The officers’ report
indicated that Ms. G was irritable, assaultive, hyperactive, and
irrational when they approached her. She
was also unable to engage in conversation and believed the
officers were attempting to poison her. Her
energy level was excessively high, and she emphatically stated

2. that she knew the mayor personally and
would have the officers and prosecutor incarcerated for
accusing her of this crime. She refused defense
counsel and insisted on speaking to the judge before her
pretrial. While incarcerated, she rallied the other
inmates to protest the rules and initiated a hunger strike. She
became more paranoid while in the holding
cell, suggesting that the police planted drugs on her and were
attempting to locate and kill her only
remaining family member. They were, in fact, attempting to
contact her brother to gather information on her
mental health. Her brother provided them with relevant family
history. He indicated that Ms. G had lost her
parents at an early age and was separated from her brother when
they went into foster care. Her brother
had had minimal contact with her from the time she was four
years old until she turned eighteen and found
him with the help of a private investigator. They maintained
only intermittent contact because Ms. G was
transient, moving around the country on a regular basis. She
held odd jobs, sold drugs, and lived with
boyfriends to survive. To her brother’s knowledge, Ms. G had
never received any mental health treatment.
She also denied a history treatment. She refused to speak with

3. the police about her charges and personal
history.
Ms. G faces a trial for her offense because she refused a plea
bargain. She also refused defense counsel
when it was offered.
Determine what type of forensic assessment would be most
appropriate for this case and discuss the
rationale for your decision.
Your choices are:
• Competency to stand trial
• Substance abuse evaluation
• Not guilty by reason of insanity
• Mental health treatment evaluation
Case 2
Mr. P is a twenty-six-year-old single male charged with his
fourth driving under the influence (DUI). He was
arrested while parked in his car in front of his apartment. His
blood alcohol level was just over the legal limit,
and he passed most of the sobriety tests given by the officer
who arrested him. During the arrest, he stated
that he had returned from a going-away party for a friend and

4. was so tired he fell asleep in his car before he
was able to make it into his apartment. He admitted to drinking
that evening but denied with certainty that
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Individual Assessment
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Case Vignettes
he was intoxicated. His story was convincing to the officer, but
his previous history of DUIs warranted the
arrest. Mr. P was pleasant and cooperative during the arrest and
was taken into custody without incident.
He was released the next day with a court date. He obtained
legal defense and faced the judge with both
fear that he would be incarcerated and confidence that he had a
defensible case. Much to his surprise, the
judge imposed a harsh sentence—ninety-day substance use
treatment—at the corrections facility. Mr. P
has never been incarcerated and faces losing his job if he spends
ninety days in treatment. The judge did

5. not show him any leniency or take into consideration his
position in the community, his clean criminal
background, or the eight-year time span between his last and
present DUI charges. Mr. P disclosed to his
lawyer that his father was an alcoholic and that there is a long
history of alcohol and drug abuse in his
family. He also indicated that his mother was schizophrenic and
he was responsible for much of her care
during his formative years. He became a successful operations
manager for a software engineering
company at an early age and is on the fast track to becoming a
shareholder within the next two years if he
maintains a clear record and follows company policy. He
admitted to a bout of depression in college
following the placement of his mother in a nursing home. He
denied a history of depression prior to that
point in time but admitted that his past circumstances likely
made him susceptible to emotional difficulty. He
began drinking at fourteen years of age to deal with the stress of
his mother’s illness and his responsibility
for her. His use increased during the one year in college when
he was depressed. He received the initial
two of his three previous DUIs on campus that year. His third
DUI was the result of driving home after

6. having a drink to celebrate passing a difficult examination. The
police in his college town were known to
make a high number of drunken driving arrests that were rarely
fought in court. He believes that he was
simply prey for the police and denied he was irresponsible with
drinking and driving.
Mr. P admitted to recent work stress that likely threatened his
position and future with the company. He
denied feeling depressed or the urge to use alcohol to reduce his
stress.
Mr. P has been depressed and used alcohol excessively in the
past when he faced stress and difficulty. He
also denies the seriousness of the charges against him.
Determine what type of forensic assessment would be most
appropriate for this case and discuss the
rationale for your decision.
Your choices are:
• Competency to stand trial
• Substance abuse evaluation
• Not guilty by reason of insanity
• Mental health treatment evaluation

7. Case 3
Mr. H has been charged with second-degree murder as a result
of shooting a man in his apartment
complex for playing loud music night after night. He admitted
to killing the man and expressed remorse but
felt justified in his murder because he had made so many
previous requests to his neighbor to turn down his
music. During questioning, Mr. H revealed that on the night of
the shooting, he was instructed by the God of
his universe to exterminate the noise that disturbed the angels.
It was at that point when he loaded his rifle
and went upstairs to kill his neighbor. The suspect is twenty-
four years old with no former mental health
history. He was able to discuss his past development with the
detective working on the case. He presented
with no hostility or irrational thoughts. He related that his
development in his family was relatively uneventful
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8. Case Vignettes
and that he had close relationships with both his mother and
father and with his two younger siblings, one
brother and one sister. He had recently moved into his own
apartment, after graduating from college, and is
receiving support from his mother until he finds work. His
father died two years ago in a tragic car accident.
He felt guilty for moving but also wanted to be independent and
begin his career. The suspect admitted to
hearing voices on one other occasion when he was driving his
car to the grocery store about one year ago.
He assumed it was he himself who was talking to himself and
never gave it another thought. He began to
apparently feel more remorse as the interview proceeded, but
the investigator was uncertain that it was
genuine and wondered if he was being manipulated by the
suspect. The investigator returned him to his cell
to await further questioning and formal charges.
Mr. H faces murder charges and is not clearly presenting with
remorse. He has experienced recent losses
and changes that have resulted in an increase in stress and
responsibility.

9. Mr. H has also begun to experience auditory hallucinations,
which he indicated provoked him to shoot his
neighbor.
Determine what type of forensic assessment would be most
appropriate for this case and discuss the
rationale for your decision.
Your choices are:
• Competency to stand trial
• Substance abuse evaluation
• Not guilty by reason of insanity
• Mental health treatment evaluation
Correct the following thesis statement based on the question
listed and notes:
Question: Discuss the artifact record keeping strategies and
practices of archaeologists and excavators in comparison to
modern day bookkeeping strategies and practices for businesses.
for example those of the Hypostyle Hall or ancient Greek
Parthenon.
Thesis Statement (need correction) : These days we have

10. computers and other technology used for record keeping while
earlier they used to have different kinds of writing systems
where they used to count manually and would sometimes use
pictures or symbols for record-keeping. Bookkeeping
procedures such as Abacus, Papyrus, and double-entry
bookkeeping were among the famous types of methods used in
Hypostyle Hall or Greek Parthenon.
Notes:
a thesis will work more effectively if it is expressed in a single
sentence. Here, we have two sentences. This is usually a sign
that we need to think a little more about our topics to distill our
ideas into a main point. This is very common in the early stages
of drafting! And I wouldn't worry too much about it at all until
you're a little further along with your research and drafting. At
that point, challenge yourself to express your paper's main idea
in a single sentence.
Second -- and this is something we have to watch for in
particular with history papers -- take a closer look at your
second sentence. This is a factual statement rather than a thesis
statement because it expresses an inarguable state. Facts are not
arguable: they are either correct or incorrect. If we say the
capital of the US is Washington, DC, we have stated a correct
fact. Nobody will try to persuade us that the capital of the US is
actually some other city, and even if they tried, they would be
stating an incorrect fact.
A thesis statement instead should state a position. A position
rests on facts, but it is not itself a fact. Washington, DC, is the
capital of the US, and that is a fact, but it would be possible to
take a position on whether DC should also be a state, and to
support that position with more facts.
Argosy University
Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment

11. Report
Course FP6020
Name:
Identification Number:
Date of Birth:
Tests Date:
Time Spent:
Interview Date:
Time Spent:
Name of Assessment (competency to stand trial, substance

12. abuse, not guilty by reason of insanity, or mental health
evaluation).
Introduction
In this section, briefly introduce the main purpose of the
evaluation.
Reason for Referral
In this section, discuss the reason this case or individual was
referred to you. Also, discuss what you hope to find out about
the client and the client’s role in the assessment. The points you
make here will be the guides to what interview format and
psychological tests you choose and what type of report you will
prepare, (recommendations to the court or attorney, competency
findings, or treatment recommendations). The interview data,
test data, findings, and recommendations will relate to the
referral question.
Presentation
In this section, identify interview behavior and review mental
status. Discuss cooperation and willingness to discuss pertinent
history and current functioning. Identify appearance features
with a general description and comments concerning hygiene.
Review mental status elements including attention; orientation;
thought processes; thought content; short-term, long-term, and
immediate memory and recall; comprehension and estimation of
intelligence; response to proverbs; awareness of current events;
ability to build rapport with the examiner; defenses; affect;
mood; speech coherence; eye contact; reasoning ability; reality
testing; judgment and impulse control; insight; and
concentration.
Current Life Situation
Discuss the client’s current legal and occupational status
relationships, and family involvement. Review the client’s

13. perception of the offense, the purpose of the assessment, the
case against him or her, and the need to have the assessment.
Also, explore the client’s current relationships with
professionals in the case, recent stressors, and general methods
for coping. Include any pertinent information about this client’s
life as it is being experienced currently.
Background Information
Discuss the client’s development, family experiences, abuse,
traumas, birth order, mother’s and father’s occupations, family
morals, family values, closeness of relationships, educational
history, military history, occupational history, and legal history.
Also, discuss the history of relationships with friends and
spouses and personal and occupational acquaintances.
Psychological History
Discuss relevant psychological history including previous
diagnoses and treatment. Also, review the family history of
psychological difficulty and treatment.
Substance Use History
Discuss substance use as it relates to the age of the client when
first using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and other substances.
Also, explore abuse and dependence history and factors that
sustain use. Discuss the client’s treatment history and any
family history of substance use and treatment. Discuss
frequency of present use, how it began, what sustains it, periods
of sobriety, factors contributing to sobriety (external or
internal), obstacles to success with sobriety, family history,
previous attempts at treatment, number of relapses, perception
of use difficulty, awareness of relapse potential, awareness of
risk factors for relapse, and triggers to use and relapse.
Medical History

14. Review all relevant medical history, medications, and
treatments. Explore family medical history.
Objective Testing
Identify the full name of each test, and include descriptions of
the purposes for each one used in the assessment.
Example
Tests administered
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, second edition
(MMPI-2)
The MMPI-2 is a self-administered personality inventory
designed to evaluate personality traits and symptoms of
psychological illnesses and personal maladaptive adjustment.
Weschler Adult Intelligence Scales, fourth edition (WAIS 4)
The WAIS 4 is a full-scale intelligence test used to identify
intellectual functioning and potential deficits in both verbal and
non-verbal areas.
Findings
Relate your findings in the format recommended by the test
manual. Incorporate your findings with your observations of the
client and the self-descriptions the client offered during the
interview. Also, include test findings as they relate to collateral
information on the client.
Diagnostic Impressions
AXIS I:
AXIS II:

15. AXIS III:
AXIS IV:
AXIS V:
Conclusion
Summarize your findings by incorporating interview data, test
data, collateral information, and mental status elements. Discuss
your findings as they relate to your observations of the client
and the referral question and purpose of the assessment.
Recommendations
Discuss your recommendations as they relate to the referral
question, treatment needs, third party request, and the purpose
of the assessment.
Sign your name and credentials.
Date your report.
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Individual Assessment
© 2013 Argosy University