Dr. Reed has developed expertise in investigative psychology, in particular as it relates to the investigation of allegations of child abuse. Her knowledge of the literature and of best-practice guidelines in this domain is extensive, as is her knowledge of the abuse literature. Her written work and testimony in criminal trials have an impact on the prosecution as well as the defense of alleged perpetrators, and therefore on outcomes that are important to children, families, and communities.
She also provides more traditional evaluations for criminal and juvenile courts as a court-appointed examiner or as a privately hired psychological evaluator.
Types of Services Rendered:
- Trial consultation
- Reviews and evaluations addressing psycholegal questions
- Expert reports
- Expert testimony
- Reviews of other professionals’ evaluations
Specific Services:
- Review Reports and Testimony For Child Abuse Allegations Cases:
- Reports using Investigative Psychology (the science of evidence-gathering, evidence analysis, and decision-making methods for investigations) to analyze the investigative methods used by Child Protection, DHS, and law enforcement following allegations of child abuse such as those used for the investigative interviews of children and adults, whether alleged victims, parents and other collaterals, witnesses, or suspects based on:
- best-practice investigative guidelines for welfare agencies and the police (such practices reducing the potential for inaccurate reports by alleged victims or their caregivers, false confessions by alleged perpetrators, and wrongful convictions and incarcerations) and
- scientific research findings on eyewitness memory and cultural, family, developmental and other factors/contexts relevant to investigations and investigative interviews.
- Reports and testimony based on a review of evidentiary materials and summaries of the literature on various clinical and forensic topics to answer other psycholegal questions related to allegations of child abuse, such as:
- allegations in the context of divorce or child custody proceedings
- memory of autobiographical events in children at various ages
- parental and other adult influences on children’s memory
- impact of trauma and of psychotherapies on the memory of events and the reports of abuse
- delayed reporting of abuse and recantation
- importance of cultural practices when determining intent
- Reports using Investigative Psychology (the science of evidence-gathering, evidence analysis, and decision-making methods for investigations) to analyze the investigative methods used by Child Protection, DHS, and law enforcement following allegations of child abuse such as those used for the investigative interviews of children and adults, whether alleged victims, parents and other collaterals, witnesses, or suspects based on:
- Forensic Evaluations for Juvenile/Delinquency and Adult Criminal Courts:
- Competency to Waive Miranda Rights
- Competency to Proceed (Rule 20.01 evaluations)
- Criminal Responsibility – related to mental illness or developmental disability (Rule 20.02 evaluations)
- Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile Studies (EJJ evaluations)
- Certification/Decertification or Waiver/Reverse Waiver Studies (evaluations for the transfer of juveniles to and from adult criminal court)
