Testifying in court can be a challenging experience. Novices who are unfamiliar with the judicial environment can feel insecure about many aspects of their testimony, from the language they use to the clothes they wear. Even experienced expert witnesses can be flustered by a skillful lawyer's cross-examination.
For over 20 years, Stanley Brodsky's Testifying in Court has been a trusted guide for expert witnesses across a variety of professions. Readers have come to know and trust his sage and good-humored advice on every aspect of the experience from initial preparations to maintaining power and control during cross-examination.
In this extensively updated edition of his classic text, the author has combined a wealth of new research with feedback from users of the first edition and his own evolving experience as an expert witness. As in the first edition, key principles are addressed in brief essays that draw on real-life scenarios and end in a take-home maxim.
Introduction to the Second Edition
- Admit–Deny
- Burden of Proof and Degree of Certainty
- Challenges to Experience: 1. Insufficient Experience
- Challenges to Experience: 2. Case-Specific Experience
- Challenges to Experience: 3. The Case Against Experience
- Changing Your Mind
- Child Sexual Abuse Testimony
- Collateral Data
- Courtroom as Place Identity
- Credentialing
- Culture
- Diagnoses and Definitions
- The Direct Examination
- Disaster Relief
- DSM Cautions
- Examiner Effects
- Feisty Experts: Witnesses Chiding Judges and Attorneys
- Freud as an Expert Witness
- Frittering Away Trustworthiness
- The Hired Gun
- The Historic Hysteric Gambit
- Humor
- Intimidation
- Just Before the Court Appearance
- Knowing When to Fold Them
- Language of Testimony
- The Learned Treatise Gambit
- Listening Well
- Malingering and Faking Good
- Moving On
- Narcissistic Experts
- Negative Assertions
- Perspective-Taking
- Power and Control on the Witness Stand
- Predictable Answers
- Probes for Guilt and Shame
- Professional Witnesses and Professionalism
- Psychotherapists as Expert Witnesses
- The Pull to Affiliate and Allegiance Effects
- The Push–Pull Technique
- Qualifications and Expertise
- Report Matters
- The Rumpelstiltskin Principle
- Saying "I Don't Know" Versus Waffling
- Socialization During the Trial
- Staying Current
- Theatrical and Outlandish Attorneys
- Transformative Moments
- Uninvolved and Inept Attorneys
- Using Quiet Times
- Vigorous Cross-Examinations and Vigorous Answers
- The Well-Dressed Witness
- When It Is Over
- Worst Testifying Experiences
- Your Expertise Used Against You
References
Index
About the Author
Stanley L. Brodsky is a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Alabama, where he coordinates the psychology-law PhD concentration. His work specializes in the application of psychological knowledge to offenders, law, and legal issues. He is considered by many professionals and scholars to be the nation's leading expert on court testimony. In 2008, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Psychology & Law Award of the American Psychology-Law Society.
;){kind=link}