The certifying organization for Forensic Psychiatry is the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Previously, there was a free-standing American Board of Forensic Psychiatry, which offered its own examination. That Board no longer exists.
To be Board Certified:
- A person must have completed all requirements of an approved, three to four-year residency in psychiatry;
- An additional training program in child and adolescent psychiatry requires 2 years;
- A person must have completed an additional year of an approved fellowship in forensic psychiatry;
- There are about 45 accredited fellowships;
- Certification in general psychiatry is a prerequisite for forensic certification;
- The forensic examination consists of 200 multiple-choice questions concerning adult and child forensic psychiatry;
- Topics include: sex abuse evaluations, involuntary psychiatric hospitalization, violence, psychiatric aspects of guardian/conservatorships, family law, testamentary capacity, competence to stand trial, Internet crimes, legal cases from the United States Supreme Court down to lower courts, and many more;
- To maintain Board Certification, an examination is required every 10 years;
- Until 1999, psychiatrists could be “grandfathered” into forensic Board Certification, if they could demonstrate a career rich in forensic psychiatry and if they passed the examination.
