Program description
The USC Institute of Psychiatry, Law and Behavioral Science has been in existence since 1963, and is one of the first accredited programs in the United States. It offers a full-time, one-year fellowship and an option for a second year. All fellows serve, under supervision, as consultants and expert witnesses for the State and Federal Criminal Court, Family Law Court, Mental Health Court, Juvenile Court, County and Federal Probation Departments, Los Angeles County Coroner's Department, as well as insurance companies. Each fellow is assigned two cases per week involving psychiatric-legal issues for the courts and various administrative hearings. In addition, each fellow testifies weekly in the country's largest Mental Health Court. The fellows have at least five USC faculty supervisors at any given time.

Courses specifically designed for the fellows include: criminal law, civil law, juvenile law, family law, federal criminal law, mental health law, correctional psychiatry, videotape seminar, landmark mental health law cases, and legal regulation of psychiatry. Courses and seminars are approximately 14 hours per week. The fellows also conduct treatment of mentally disordered offenders.

Each fellow is granted a faculty appointment in the USC Department of Psychiatry. Each fellow teaches and supervises USC psychiatric residents and medical students in the area of psychiatry and the law. The fellowship is tailored to meet the educational, training, and experience requirements by ACGME which are necessary for certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

The fellow will be expected to make a scholarly contribution by participation in a forensic research project or by undertaking a comprehensive review of a forensic psychiatric topic suitable for publication.

Fringe benefits include health/dental insurance, malpractice insurance, 24 days of vacation, 8 paid sick days, (3 of which can be used as personal leave).