Dispatches from Dr. Joel Dvoskin
Dr. Joel Dvoskin is one of America's leading forensic psychologists. He is a Diplomate in Forensic Psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Psychology-Law Society. Dr. Dvoskin has served as President of Division 18 of the American Psychological Association, Psychologists in Public Service (2000-2001), and of Division 41 of the APA, the American Psychology-Law Society (2006-2007). He has received awards from the National Coalition for the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Justice System and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Dr. Dvoskin is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, New York University Medical School, and Louisiana State University Medical Center. Since 1995, he has operated a full-time private practice of forensic psychology, providing expert testimony on civil and criminal matters and consultation in the provision of mental health and criminal justice services and workplace and community violence prevention programs. Dr. Dvoskin is the author of numerous articles and chapters in professional journals and texts, including Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending.
The Zero is honored to have Dr. Dvoskin as a regular contributor.
Fegruary 2012: Should a student be disciplined when she makes a request? And what about the professor who approves the request? Dr. Joel Dvoskin weighs in on the New York Times story, "A Counselor's Convictions Put Her Profession on Trial."
January 2012: The case for why possession of child pornography should be illegal is so simple, obvious, and true that Dr. Joel Dvoskin has submitted his shortest dispatch yet.
November 2011: In a New York Times Op-Ed, Penn State Professor Michael Berube tried to put the Jerry Sandusky/Joe Paterno abuse story in perspective—his perspective, the one that benefits him. Read Dr. Joel Dvoskin's response to Berube's Op-Ed.
June 2010: Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein thinks the law is too harsh on kiddie-porn collectors. New York Times reporter A.G. Sulzberger portrays Weinstein as a hero. And Dr. Joel Dvoskin summarily takes them both to task in "Poor Judgement and Bad Journalism," a Guest Dispatch to The Zero.
July 2008: If you've been following the news out of Memphis recently, no doubt police brutality is on your mind. Frequent Zero contributor Dr. Joel Dvoskin—one of America's leading forensic psychologists—has filed this Guest Dispatch on the matter.
March 2007: "[A]llegedly cured of his penchant for [homosexual sex, once-Reverend Ted] Haggard and his wife are reportedly headed out of town, because the evangelical Christian community of Colorado Springs can't seem to forgive him. As the Rev. Mike Ware of Westminster, Colorado, put it, 'It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs right now. It's like an open wound. He needs to get somewhere he can get the wound healed.' Apparently, a Christian community isn't a good place to heal. Go figure." Read all of Dr. Joel Dvoskin's guest dispatch by clicking here.
October 2006: Dr. Joel Dvoskin—one of America's leading forensic psychologists—visited New Orleans recently. He saw heartbreaking squalor, and it had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina. Click here to read Dr. Dvoskin's account of the experience.
June 2006: Last month, The New York Times ran an Op-Ed piece supporting the notion that sex offenders should receive treatment after being released back into the community. Frequent Zero contributor Joel Dvoskin agrees, but not for the flawed reasons published in the Times, and he points out those flaws in "Sex Offender Commitment Laws: A response to LaFond and Winick." Click here to read Dr. Dvoskin's article.
February 2006: "It is as if America's many criminal justice systems are trying as hard as they can to get it wrong. If this were a boxing match, there would be an investigation, because it looks like we're trying to lose." Click here to read all of Dr. Joel Dvoskin's essay on the execution of Crips gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams.
September 2005: Why would people loot TVs during an emergency? Why would people in need shoot at those who are trying to help them? Frequent Zero contributor Joel Dvoskin offers an explanation, and a solution. Click here to read, "Flooded Streets and Flooded Emotions: The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."
November 2002: "Eric Harris predicted, only weeks before the [Columbine] massacre, the behavior of the national print and electronic media; he knew that he and Dylan Klebold would be made famous, and that others would emulate them. There is little doubt that this provided at least part of the motivation for the murders at Columbine." Read Dr. Joel A. Dvoskin's editorial, "How Fortunetellers and Media Contribute to Murder."
January 2000: When a system is bad, are you doing more harm than good by staying? Frequent Zero contributor Dr. Joel Dvoskin offers his wisdom on the matter in "Confessions of an Incrementalist."
January 1999: "What are the Odds on Predicting Violent Behavior?" Dr. Joel Dvoskin approaches that question—and the question of what to do should you fear the violent behavior of a mentally-ill family member—in this article from The Journal of the California AMI.
November 1997: The complex and seemingly overwhelming issue of false allegations is presented in an incredibly easy-to-understand form in this message from Joel Dvoskin.
1997: "[N]ot all mental health diagnoses foster treatment. In fact, there are some diagnoses that hurt people very much. All too often, the result of psychiatric diagnosis is to stigmatize certain people as dishonest, unlikeable, and, worst of all, hopeless. Nowhere are these iatrogenic (harm created by treatment) effects of diagnosis more pernicious than in the criminal justice system, and no diagnosis hurts more than that of a personality disorder." Read Dr. Joel Dvoskin's entire article, as originally published in The Journal of the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill, by clicking here.
