Pragmatic psychology, forensic mental health assessment, and the case of Thomas Johnson - Applying principles to promote quality

Pragmatic psychology provides the opportunity to address the law's demand for individualized justice in the context of forensic mental health assessment (FMHA; K. Heilbrun, 2001). This article describes a particular approach toward achieving this goal: using broad principles of FMHA to promote the quality of forensic assessment in a specific case. Three particular applications of this approach are described: constructing forensic reports, measuring report quality, and measuring the normative characteristics of forensic reports. Each is discussed and illustrated in the context of the case report of Thomas Johnson, which is based on a genuine case but sanitized and otherwise disguised to prevent identification of the defendant or participants.