Professor James R. Elkins

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

(1) In my portfolio of writings am I limited to the various substantive topics which you have outlined for the course? No. You are welcome in your writings to pursue whatever comes within the realm of "law & psychiatry" (read broadly). There are, of course, an obvious efficiency and economy in writing about the subjects we take up in class (simply to avoid preparation for class, while engaging in an additional preparation to engage in your writing). However, there are times when interest and curiosity trump efficiency and economy and this may well be the case as you think about what you want to do by way of your writings for the course. As a precautionary matter, I would encourage to check with me before you pursue non-course subjects for your writings.

(2) Should we turn in our writings to you as we produce them? Yes and no. If the writings are specifically (and narrowly) related to what we are doing in class, then we might be able to make use of some of your writings in the class, and/or post on the course web site. There may, however, be writings which you may choose (for whatever reason) not to share with course colleagues and do not wish to have posted on the web. In this case, I have no objection to your holding on to these writings and making them available as part of your portfolio at the end of the semester.

I do not have in mind "grading" the writings as you produce them. However, in whatever reading a knowledgeable person does, there is an on-going element of evaluation and that will be true of my reading of your work. I have no objection to providing you with a snapshot of my evaluative reading of your work should you seek it out.

(3) How will my grade for the course be determined? I propose that your grade for the course be based on the following: 50% portfolio of writing; 50% class research assignments, class discussion, and perhaps an oral examination (i.e. a conversation in which we individually try to discuss in a substantive way, your work in the course). (If you want to work on a particular research paper and submit that as your course writing, and the paper is to be a substantial writing, I'd be willing to consider, a different weighing of the 50/50 allocation outlined above, to something like, 75% for the paper, 25% for your other course work. If you elect this option, you would need, somewhere along the way to discuss the paper topic with me and finalize an agreement about grade allocation.

(4) Will you provide still further evaluation criteria? Possible, but I'll undoubtedly need to be further prompted to do so. Evaluating written work, even in the context of a portfolio, is relatively straightforward. -- Is the writing presented in decent, workable prose? Is it well organized? Is it thoughtfully presented? Is it well-researched? Well-argued? How much time and effort went into the research and the writing (i.e. quantity counts but is always measured against other/obvious criteria)? Of what value will the writing be to future students of criminal law, future students in law & psychiatry, to West Virginia lawyers, to lawyers elsewhere?

(5) In your introductory remarks and now in this FAQ you mention West Virginia law. Will the course focus on West Virginia law? We will read West Virginia cases throughout the course, but I do not assign them for the purpose of teaching West Virginia law, or making West Virginia law the focus of the course. (The focus of the course is the presentation and cross-examination of psychiatric and psychological expert witnesses, and their role in the legal system, rather than the discrete set of rules/law which govern the interaction of law & psychiatry.)

The use of psychiatrist and psychologists in criminal and civil cases works, for the most part, in West Virginia the way it does elsewhere. I assign West Virginia cases for several reasons: (a) they present us with interesting cases, and the cases are set in locales that we know something about; (b) the West Virginia cases involve some psychiatrists and psychologists who do forensic work in the state and thus it's possible to familiarize yourself with them as professionals as well as with experts in particular cases; (c) you may find that knowing, first hand, some of the relevant West Virginia cases will be of some future use (especially if you end up with any kind of criminal law practice.