Office of Forensic Services

The Office of Forensic Services provides oversight responsibility for services provided to individuals with mental illness that are court-involved, such as conducting court-ordered evaluation and treatment of individuals whose competency to stand trial or criminal responsibility are at issue in a criminal case, monitoring inpatient services for court-committed individuals, and monitoring individuals found not criminally responsible and court-ordered to conditional release in the community. The Office also oversees MHA’s presentence psychiatric evaluation program and juvenile court competency to proceed program. For sex offenders found not criminally responsible of reportable sex offenses, the Office administers the registration and reporting requirements of the State’s sex offender registration law and performs presentence mental health assessments on persons found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor. As part of its mandate, the Office trains DHMH forensic evaluators and pretrial screeners, and collects data on the MHA forensic evaluation system.