Kirk Heilbrun is Professor and Head of the Department of Psychology, Drexel University in Wyndmoor, PA. Thomas Grisso is Director, Law and Mental Health Core, Center for Mental Health Services Research at UMASS Medical School.

There appears to be nearly universal acknowledgement of a need to disseminate scientific research in forensic assessments to those 'in the trenches'. The Best Practices in Forensic Mental Health Assessment series was developed to directly address this need.This first book in the series will be the only volume to be written by the series editors as a 'road map'. As such, it will lay out the standards of best practices and how they plan to define and derive them throughout the rest of the titles in the series.