Everything older than 7 days, in date order. Filter it by question or by kind, or search the headlines and summaries.
Headlines are the editor's. Summaries are machine-written and staff reviewed. Nothing here is legal or clinical advice.
Base Rate Information Improves Risk Estimation of Laypeople and Experts.
Sex Abuse. 2026;38(7):822-848.
Cal. Ct. App.
Whether due process requires an evidentiary hearing before revoking an incompetent defendant's outpatient competency restoration status.
Trauma Violence Abuse. 2025;27(4):1372-1391.
Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2026:306624X261490589.
Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2026;70(13-14):1437-1474.
Confirmation Bias: An Enemy of Objectivity in Forensic Mental Health Assessments.
J Leg Med. 2026:1-22.
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2026:48674261489461.
Forensic mental health service use in early psychosis: A scoping review.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2026;61(10):1981-1996.
Joseph Carl Underwood v. The State of Wyoming
Wyo. Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether a court's failure to provide an informed assistant for a defendant's intellectual disability rendered his Alford pleas involuntary.
2026 WY 110
Office of the Child Advocate v. Blanchester, Kaytlyn and Dylen Shipperd TPR
Del. Sup. Ct. · affirmed in part
Whether a court denying termination may rest on a parent's present fitness without expressly weighing the statutory best-interests factors.
Navigating Consent and Confidentiality in Adolescent Substance Use Treatment.
Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2026;35(4):707-721.
J Ment Health. 2026;35(5):638-657.
J Correct Health Care. 2026;32(5):328-338.
Mayo Clin Proc. 2026;101(10):1780-1787.
J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. 2026;33(5):922-932.
State of Louisiana v. De'Andrus Long Jr.
La. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a filed but unordered request for a juvenile competency commission blocks divestiture of juvenile jurisdiction by indictment.
Violence Against Women. 2025;32(12-13):4579-4604.
Beyond a Moment in Time: Rethinking Capacity and Compassion in Addiction Psychiatry.
Acad Psychiatry. 2026;50(5):631-632.
In Re: Amendments to Florida Probate Rules 5.015, 5.630, and 5.648
Fla. Sup. Ct.
Whether to adopt probate rule amendments defining "elisor" and requiring guardianship petitions to disclose conflicts of interest.
Davison v. Ohio State Univ. Wexner Med. Ctr.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a bench trial court is presumed not to have relied on allegedly inadmissible expert testimony it admitted provisionally.
2026 Ohio 3883
J Clin Epidemiol. 2026;198:112417.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a factfinder may reject an unrebutted expert insanity opinion based on lay evidence of the defendant's flight from police.
2026 Ohio 3924
Matter of Naila P. (Althea P.)
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · reversed
Whether a parent's compliance with mental health treatment is good cause to vacate a consent neglect finding via a suspended judgment.
2026 NY Slip Op 05540
Ross v. Community Living Experiences, Inc.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a nursing agency that only prepares medication records and offers on-call advice owes a duty for a resident's overdose death.
2026 Ohio 3921
D.C. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a court ruling on a youth sentence-reduction motion must expressly weigh the movant's age at the offense as a mitigating factor.
Eirevbenagie Obazee v. Texas Health and Human Services
Texas Court of Appeals, 15th District · affirmed
Whether substantial evidence supports finding that leaving a resident needing one-to-one supervision alone is reportable neglect.
William Castillo v. Jeremy Bean
9th Cir. · affirmed in part
Whether counsel's error in state post-conviction proceedings can excuse procedural default of trial ineffective-assistance claims.
Bronstein v. Latin School of Chicago
Appellate Court of Illinois · affirmed
Whether Illinois's school bullying prevention statute creates an implied private right of action for a bullied student.
2026 IL App (1st) 242271
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · affirmed
Whether a court adequately explained fee awards charged to an alleged incapacitated person after a guardianship petition was withdrawn.
2026 NY Slip Op 05541
Bruce Henry v. Sheriff of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
11th Cir.
Whether a lifetime ban on a parent convicted of a child-pornography offense residing with his own child survives strict scrutiny.
State of Washington v. Aron Nixon
Wash. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a directive that the court 'within 45 days order a hearing' on a proposed less restrictive placement requires a trial in 45 days.
Ind. Ct. App. · reversed
Whether a juvenile court may place a delinquent child with, and award wardship to, a non-party adult lacking custody or guardianship.
4th Cir. · affirmed
Whether five months in restrictive housing with periodic reviews is an atypical and significant hardship creating a liberty interest.
Conn. Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether barring jurors from weighing the mere fact of a victim's delayed disclosure is harmful error when the defense attacked that delay.
Utah Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether an agency's reunification efforts were reasonable and ADA-compliant when a parent's personality disorder diagnosis came late.
2026 UT App 144
1st Cir.
Whether a state tort claims act's blanket waiver of sovereign immunity waives Eleventh Amendment immunity for state civil rights claims.
Perceptions of Masculinity Among Men Convicted of Violence Against Women.
Violence Against Women. 2026:10778012261493145.
Suicide by Proxy: A Psychoanalytic Hypothesis Illustrated by Three Forensic Case Reports.
Case Rep Psychiatry. 2026;2026:6643923.
Australas Psychiatry. 2026:10398562261491631.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a licensed professional clinical counselor may testify as an expert that a complaining witness has post-traumatic stress disorder.
2026 Ohio 3802
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Hon. Phillip J. Shepherd
Ky. Sup. Ct. · denied
Whether mandamus lies to make a circuit court declare that its longstanding execution injunction does not bar issuing a death warrant.
Wyo. Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether a threshold verdict question asking if a patient inappropriately touched another required a legal definition of that phrase.
2026 WY 104
State ex rel. Papp v. Spellacy
Ohio Ct. App. · dismissed
Whether an incompetency finding stays proceedings so as to void an order of court-supervised release, warranting prohibition.
2026 Ohio 3739
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;110:102283.
Cal. Ct. App.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a guilty plea in adult court after discretionary bindover waives the right to challenge the juvenile court's amenability finding.
2026 Ohio 3700
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether lay evidence of incoherence, without expert testimony, supports instructing jurors that abnormal mental condition is not a defense.
Marquel Jamar Wattley v. State of Indiana
Ind. Ct. App. · reversed
Whether executing a full suspended sentence abuses discretion where the probation violations stemmed from mental-health decompensation.
John Doe v. Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc.
8th Cir. · reversed
Whether a jail psychiatrist's choice to monitor rather than transfer a psychotic detainee pleads deliberate indifference.
Julian Darius Karapetkov v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Va. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a sentence within the statutory range but far above the discretionary guidelines is subject to appellate proportionality review.
Phenomenological, Diagnostic, and Forensic Aspects of Gangstalking and Targeted Individuals.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026;54(3):330-339.
Rethinking "Objectivity" for 21st Century Forensic Psychiatry.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026;54(3):282-289.
Neighbourhood-level variations in psychosis prevalence and involuntary psychiatric admissions.
Schizophr Res. 2026;297:542-550.
Appellate Court of Illinois
Whether the State may dismiss and refile an involuntary commitment petition the same day over the respondent's good-cause objection.
2026 IL App (1st) 231954
National Survey of Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education Exposure to Correctional Psychiatry.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026;54(3):302-309.
Ex Parte Felton Brady v. the State of Texas
Texas Court of Appeals, 9th District (Beaumont) · dismissed
Whether mandating a GPS monitor for a civilly committed sexually violent predator housed in a treatment facility is punitive as applied.
Erica Monique Jenkins v. the State of Texas
Texas Court of Appeals, 10th District (Waco) · affirmed
Whether post-trial IQ testing suggesting a more severe intellectual disability is newly discovered evidence warranting a new trial.
Cal. Ct. App. · denied
Whether a court may order a defendant seeking pretrial mental health diversion to submit to examination by a prosecution-retained expert.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;110:102278.
9th Cir. · vacated
Whether statistical disparity alone shows a prison policy of default male housing supporting class-wide Eighth Amendment injunctive relief.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed in part
Whether failing to hold a competency hearing after ordering an evaluation that was never completed is harmless error.
2026 Ohio 3628
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether failing to hold a statutorily mandated competency hearing is harmless error where the record shows no indicia of incompetency.
2026 Ohio 3637
Fla. Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for not rebutting ballistics evidence or developing brain-aneurysm mitigation in a capital case.
Appellate Court of Illinois · affirmed
Whether an 18-year-old's 42-year murder sentence states an as-applied proportionate penalties claim warranting an evidentiary hearing.
2026 IL App (4th) 250934
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether conduct driving successive counsel to withdraw impliedly waives a parent's right to counsel at a permanent custody hearing.
2026 Ohio 3622
Matter of State of New York v. Ernest D.
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · affirmed
Whether nonsexual violations of a SIST regimen, such as drug use, can support confinement as a dangerous sex offender.
2026 NY Slip Op 05312
Ind. Ct. App. · affirmed in part
Whether routine transport, staffing, and cost concerns constitute good cause to hold a civil commitment review hearing remotely.
Arch Womens Ment Health. 2026;29(5).
Maurice Forte v. State of Mississippi
Miss. Ct. App. · affirmed in part
Whether excluding a defendant's hospital records for lack of a sponsoring witness denied him the right to present an insanity defense.
Conn. Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether admitting an undisclosed police witness's expert testimony defining "grooming" in a child sexual abuse trial was harmful error.
Capacity Assessment and Scope of Practice Laws: A Call for Modest Reform.
J Leg Med. 2026:1-18.
9th Cir. · denied
Whether the Rehabilitation Act requires a federal agency to build housing so disabled homeless veterans can access its medical care.
Holick v. Boston Medical Center
Massachusetts Appeals Court · affirmed in part
Whether a physician's informal complaints about colleagues' diagnoses are protected reports under the health care whistleblower statute.
Kan. Sup. Ct. · vacated
Whether a court may impose a guidelines prison sentence and simultaneously order commitment to a state security hospital for treatment.
Kan. Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether expert psychological-autopsy testimony that a decedent was at low risk for suicide invades the jury's province in a murder trial.
Alaska Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether a court plainly errs by ordering 90-day commitment without inquiring whether the respondent was offered voluntary treatment.
2026 WL 2673474
Tracey Edwards v. Benita Witherspoon
4th Cir. · affirmed in part
Whether shackling a prisoner in labor and denying her opioid use disorder medication postpartum states Eighth Amendment and ADA claims.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a probate court may appoint an independent agency rather than a parent as guardian of an incompetent adult based on best interest.
2026 Ohio 3545
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a juvenile court must state detailed reasons for transferring a juvenile despite an expert's opinion favoring retention.
2026 Ohio 3558
A 20-Year Follow-Up on the Risky Enterprise of Evaluating Sexually Violent Persons.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026.
Luther Poynter v. Aaron Shirley
6th Cir. · vacated
Whether a pretrial detainee's failure-to-protect claim requires subjective awareness of risk or only objective unreasonableness.
Adom v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
9th Cir. · reversed
Whether a prison's finding that incontinence supplies are not medically necessary excuses its duty to accommodate under ADA Title II.
5th Cir. · affirmed
Whether parents may consent to only some assessments in a district's proposed initial IDEA evaluation and still trigger its FAPE duty.
Cal. Ct. App. · reversed
Whether an intervening tribe is presumptively entitled to inspect a guardian's court-ordered psychological evaluation without a petition.
A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Family Interventions in Reducing Juvenile Recidivism.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026.
Md. Ct. App. · vacated
Whether a court may sanction a health agency by ordering it to admit incompetent defendants in chronological order regardless of acuity.
10th Cir. · dismissed
Whether an order for a detained defendant to undergo a competency evaluation is immediately appealable under the collateral-order doctrine.
Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. Seven Cntys. Servs., Inc.
6th Cir. · affirmed
Whether a staff restraint of a child at a behavioral care facility is a 'professional service' excluded from the duty to indemnify.
Lora Nadine Baxter-Balmer v. State of Indiana
Ind. Ct. App. · reversed
Whether an examiner's inability to opine on sanity due to intoxication creates a conflict permitting rejection of an insanity defense.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed in part
Whether the Second Amendment permits presumptively permanent disarmament based on a juvenile adjudication for violent firearm conduct.
2026 Ohio 3423
Emily A. Bickford v. Matthew A. Bradeen
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · affirmed
Whether strict scrutiny, not the best-interest standard, governs allocating religious decision-making between parents.
2026 ME 94
10th Cir. · affirmed
Whether Rule 16 requires pretrial disclosure of government expert rebuttal countering a defense expert opinion the defense never disclosed.
10th Cir. · affirmed
Whether an expert's diagnosis of child abuse and neglect and testimony on expected parental response invade the jury's province.
10th Cir. · affirmed in part
Whether a county policy of never seeking extreme risk protection orders is affirmative conduct under the state-created-danger theory.
Jonathan Michael Burton v. Dr. G. Espino
11th Cir. · reversed
Whether a doctor's refusal to treat an inmate, allegedly because of his grievances, raises triable Eighth and First Amendment claims.
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · affirmed
Whether nonpecuniary harm from a delayed competency-restoration transfer is an actual loss supporting an indemnifying contempt fine.
2026 NY Slip Op 05242
E. W. v. Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation
7th Cir. · affirmed
Whether the ADA or Section 504 requires a manifestation-determination meeting before denying a disabled student's reenrollment.
Dr. Lesley Williams v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
11th Cir. · affirmed
Whether a medical resident with PTSD whose requested accommodations were denied before dismissal can survive summary judgment.
United States v. Matthew Frazier
7th Cir. · affirmed
Whether a defendant's report of ongoing hallucinations at a jury-waiver colloquy required a sua sponte second competency hearing.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a petitioner's claimed mental illness and limited literacy excuse the diligence required to avoid the postconviction time bar.
2026 Ohio 3286
Connecticut Appellate Court · affirmed
Whether an agency's failure to facilitate a parent's training in a child's feeding-tube care defeats a reasonable efforts finding.
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · affirmed in part
Whether an adult child of a ward is an interested person with standing to contest an attorney fee award in the guardianship.
Shane Romine Borrego v. State of Iowa
Iowa Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether undocumented assertions of low IQ and mental illness raise a fact issue precluding summary disposition of a postconviction claim.
Ohio Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a trial court may impose discretionary fines on an indigent defendant who claims no present or future ability to pay.
2026 Ohio 3462
Surrogate Decision-Making in Carceral Healthcare.
J Gen Intern Med. 2026;41(10):2956-2960.
Fish v. Extreme Enterprises of Marion County, Inc., Extreme Lawn Care
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · remanded
Whether guardianship expenses required for an incapacitated injured worker to pursue workers' compensation benefits are reimbursable.
Conn. Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether a court ruling on a sentence modification motion may rely on the parole board's prior denials of parole and commutation.
Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2026;35(4):e70323.
Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2026;49(3):463-475.
J Clin Ethics. 2026;37(3):249-256.
Child Abuse Negl. 2026;179:108220.
Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2025;49(3):505-516.
J Intellect Disabil. 2026:17446295261484256.
Perspectives on the use of coercion in highly specialised rehabilitation: a focus group study.
Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2026;146(9).
Connecticut Appellate Court · affirmed
Whether a court may award joint legal custody and unsupervised visitation without ordering a psychological evaluation of a parent.
Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. 2026;33(4):731-743.
J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. 2026.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102234.
The value of person-first language in forensic mental health services.
BJPsych Bull. 2026;50(4):299-302.
J Correct Health Care. 2026;32(4):238-239.
Psychiatr Serv. 2026;77(8):703-704.
Triage urgency criteria for patients on the high security waiting list.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102237.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102252.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102230.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102250.
Crim Behav Ment Health. 2026.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102248.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102253.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102249.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102233.
Criminal responsibility and mental disorder: Why do heterogeneous constructs not overlap?
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102236.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102258.
A cross-national comparative study on forensic psychiatric evaluation in Switzerland and Italy.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102257.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2026;108:102254.
Nev. Sup. Ct. · denied
Whether a psychology board regulation barring disclosure of psychological test data overrides a court's discovery order.
142 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 58
Law Hum Behav. 2026;50(4):361-372.
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland · affirmed
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2026;60(8):792-802.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2026;122:103200.
Cal. Ct. App. · reversed
Whether a written citation alone, with no advisement by court or counsel, suffices for a knowing jury waiver in an LPS conservatorship.
Pa. Super. · reversed
Whether out-of-home placement is the least restrictive option for a juvenile whose recommended therapy is available only at home.
2026 Pa. Super. 190
Assessment of Intellectual Disability in Death Penalty Cases.
Psychiatr Serv. 2026:appips20260419.
New Kent County Department of Social Services v. Autumn Surran
Va. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a parent's lack of contact during involuntary psychiatric hospitalization, with no agency services provided, warrants termination.
Laws Governing the Care of People with Serious Mental Illness in Solitary Confinement.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026.
Alaska Sup. Ct. · affirmed
Whether a child under twelve may use counsel's objection to nullify a guardian ad litem's waiver of the psychotherapist-patient privilege.
2026 WL 2543397
Law Hum Behav. 2026;50(4):323-334.
Psychiatr Serv. 2026;77(8):709-717.
Ga. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether a verified guardianship termination petition with unsworn medical letters meets the statutory affidavit requirement for a hearing.
Should I and Can I Use AI for Forensic Psychiatry Report Writing?
JMIR Ment Health. 2026;13:e99749.
United States v. Jeremy Burton
8th Cir. · affirmed
Whether expert testimony on drug-induced unconsciousness is admissible to negate knowing possession in a felon-in-possession prosecution.
An Epistemology for Forensic Psychiatry.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2026.
State of Louisiana v. Seth T. Strickland
La. Ct. App. · affirmed in part
Whether a trial court must revisit a restored defendant's competency before trial or sentencing absent any new bona fide doubt of capacity.
Leg Med (Tokyo). 2026;85:102951.
Aaron Shaw v. State of Florida
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · affirmed
Whether voluntarily disengaging from an annual Jimmy Ryce probable cause hearing after notice defeats a due process claim.
Ex Parte Randy Louis Dupree v. the State of Texas
Texas Court of Appeals, 9th District (Beaumont) · dismissed
Whether requiring a civilly committed sexually violent predator to wear a GPS monitor inside the treatment center is punitive as applied.
Aust J Rural Health. 2026;34(4):e70239.
A case of cannibalistic behaviour in psychosis: Clinical and forensic considerations.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2026;122:103197.