LIVE: High-Stakes Sentencing: Forensic Psychology, Neuropsychology, Mitigation and Risk at the Point of Punishment
May 12, 2026 - May 13, 2026 | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Pacific
May 12, 2026 - May 13, 2026
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Pacific
16 Hours | 14 CEs
$650 Registration | $600 Early Registration (through May 5th) | Live Virtual Training via Zoom
John Fabian, Psy.D., J.D., ABPP, presents a live virtual professional training program on High-Stakes Sentencing: Forensic Psychology, Neuropsychology, Mitigation and Risk at the Point of Punishment.
This live virtual training takes place over two full-day sessions from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm PST each day.
This is a multi-day training event. Participants must attend all scheduled sessions in full to be eligible to receive continuing education (CE) credit. Partial credit will not be awarded.
This badge-earning program can be shared digitally on platforms like LinkedIn or your resume and counts towards various certificates. Enroll to earn credit and share your new digital credentials with prospective employers and colleagues. This program counts as a foundational program in the certificatem Criminal Forensic Assessment Certificate
Sentencing is the phase of a criminal case where forensic opinions carry extraordinary weight and where courts apply the highest level of scrutiny. In capital cases, life-without-parole proceedings, juvenile homicide resentencing, and serious felony matters, evaluators must translate complex psychological and neuropsychological evidence into opinions that are legally relevant, ethically grounded, and admissible.
This advanced, practice-driven program is grounded in more than 25 years of sentencing-phase litigation and expert testimony experience in thousands of criminal cases, including over 900 murder cases across state and federal courts. Drawing on extensive experience in death penalty mitigation and capital sentencing proceedings, juvenile homicide resentencing, intellectual disability litigation, sexually violent predator proceedings, mitigation and plea-negotiation, and admissibility challenges, the course focuses on how attorneys and courts evaluate mitigating circumstances, mental states short of insanity, moral culpability, risk, and risk-management at the point of punishment.
Participants will learn how to design defensible evaluation protocols when multiple prior forensic examinations exist, integrate psychological, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging findings without overreach, and communicate violence and sexual-violence risk in ways courts can responsibly use for sentencing, risk-management, and placement decisions.
Program Outline:
Day 1
- Sentencing-phase legal framework and ethical boundaries
- Forensic psychology vs. neuropsychology at sentencing
- Mitigation, moral culpability, and multiple-evaluation cases
- Admissibility standards (Rule 702, Daubert/Kumho, Frye)
- Violence and sexual-violence risk at sentencing
- Adult capital sentencing case lab and mock testimony
Day 2
- Juvenile homicide resentencing and adolescent brain development
- Intellectual disability assessments post-Atkins, Hall, and Moore
- Neuroscience and neuropsychological evidence at sentencing
- Case-based breakout groups and applied report/testimony exercises
Intended Audience
This live program is intended for mental health and other allied professionals.
Experience Level
This live program is appropriate for beginner, intermediate, and advanced level clinicians.
CE / CPD Credit
APA, ASWB, CPA, NBCC: Click here for state and other regional board approvals.
Presented By
John Fabian, Psy.D., J.D., ABPP
John Matthew Fabian, Psy.D., J.D., ABPP, is double board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in both forensic psychology and clinical psychology. He is a fellowship-trained clinical neuropsychologist and practices primarily as a forensic psychologist and forensic neuropsycholo...
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this program you will be able to:
Describe the professional roles, referral questions, and methods of forensic psychological versus neuropsychological evaluations in pretrial and sentencing contexts
Describe legally relevant evaluation targets in adult and juvenile cases
Describe mitigation and moral culpability and analyze their relationship to aggravating factors within ethical and professional boundaries
Describe defensible sentencing-phase evaluation protocols when multiple prior forensic examinations exist (competency, sanity, mitigation), including synthesis strategies and role-boundary management
Describe methods sections that withstand admissibility challenges under Rule 702, Daubert/Kumho, and Frye standards, including attention to reliability, error rates, test selection, effort testing (PVT/SVT), and limitations
Describe cases tailored to sentencing and placement decisions, distinguishing prison-based risk from community risk, and emphasizing management-focused opinions
Describe intellectual disability in capital and LWOP cases consistent with DSM-5-TR and AAIDD standards and Supreme Court guidance, including proper treatment of IQ measurement error and adaptive functioning
Describe findings related to neurodevelopmental disorders, traumatic brain injury, serious mental illness, and substance use into sentencing opinions using convergent data and defensible inference
Describe developmentally informed mitigation narratives for juveniles grounded in adolescent brain science, environmental adversity, and post-Miller jurisprudence
Describe clear, decision-relevant reports and slide-assisted testimony that anticipate cross-examination and effectively communicate complex findings to judges and juries
Live Event Policy
Registration for our live events is covered for one (1) person per purchase. If you would like to purchase for a group, please contact our group training team.
Event Communications
When registering, use an email that is active and that you check regularly. We are not responsible for communications not being received; if you do not add caps@paloaltou.edu to your email safe sender list, our emails are likely to end up in your spam or junk folders.
Cancellation Policy
Have a sudden change of plans and are unable to attend live? No worries; you will be given access to the on-demand version of the program once available. Please note if you attend live, no access to the recording will be given.
Event Conduct
Professional conduct is expected during our live programs. Our goal is to make our events as interactive as possible for all participants. We reserve the right to remove any participants who are disruptive, act unprofessionally, or who we are unable to verify their purchase.
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