Professor James R. Eisenberg’s new book, ​“Law, Psychology, and Death Penalty Litigation,” pro­vides a thor­ough intro­duc­tion to the role that foren­sic psy­chol­o­gy plays in cap­i­tal tri­als. Using a step-by-step approach that cov­ers the his­tor­i­cal and cur­rent legal con­text of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, Eisenberg describes the var­i­ous tasks that might con­front the foren­sic psy­chol­o­gist in a death penal­ty tri­al, includ­ing issues of com­pe­ten­cy to be exe­cut­ed, men­tal retar­da­tion, risk assess­ment, and relat­ed eth­i­cal dilem­mas. Eisenberg, an award-win­ning Professor of Psychology and Director of the Criminal Justice Program at Lake Erie College in Ohio, has worked on over 200 death penal­ty cas­es and thou­sands of oth­er crim­i­nal and civic foren­sic pro­ceed­ings. He is a mem­ber of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Mental Illness and the Death Penalty. (Professional Resource Press, 2004) See Resources.

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