What is forensic social work?
Forensic social work takes place within the judicial system. There are various ways social workers participate in legal proceedings, including competency evaluations, child custody assessments, and in criminal matters. My specialty is postconviction mitigation.
What is mitigation?
Mitigation occurs after an individual is convicted of or pleads guilty to a criminal offense, but before sentencing takes place. Essentially, during this time period the Court is determining an appropriate consequence for the defendant. Mitigation is a process whereby the Court is assisted to appreciate the context within which the offense took place. Often (but not always), this information helps the Court make better sense of why the crime was committed, which can lead to a fairer sentence.
What does that even mean?
Let’s say that one night, a woman breaks into a store. She’s arrested and charged with burglary. Her attorney tells her to plead guilty because she’s caught on camera.
But what if that offense took place during an acute manic episode, and she was influenced by intense delusional thoughts prompting her to commit this act? That situation differs from burglary, which is an economically motivated crime against property. To assist this defendant, a social worker could conduct an evaluation and prepare a report explaining the situation to the Court. This contextual information could mitigate the intensity of the judgment rendered against the client, who may, for example, be ordered to participate in mental health treatment rather than be remanded to a correctional facility.
I enjoy this aspect of social work practice because I believe that incarceration is generally an inappropriate consequence for committing most types of crimes. I also consider this work to be a service to the taxpayers of Maryland, given that incarceration is terribly expensive and a huge waste of public resources. I obtained a certificate in forensic social work from the University of Maryland School of Social Work in 2014.