"These experts make enormously consequential recommendations to judges in disputed child-custody cases, but some question whether the decisions they make are always based on sound methods.
Over the weekend, the Seattle Times published an excellent account of the failings of one such professional: Stuart Greenberg, a forensic psychologist who frequently appeared in criminal trials and child-custody hearings to offer his views."
PETER JAMISON; SF WEEKLY; Wikipedia informs us that:"SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los Angeles, California LA Weekly. Founded locally in the mid 1980s and bought by Village Voice Media (then New Times Media) in 1995, SF Weekly has garnered notable national journalism awards and enjoys mixed reviews by the Bay Area community..."
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"We've written before about growing concerns over the competence, ethics, and eccentricities of psychological experts tasked with making decisions in California's family courts," the SF Weekly commentary by Peter Jamison published on June 27, 2011 uder the heading, "Family Court Evaluator Spied on Employees with Hidden Bathroom Camera," begins.
"These experts make enormously consequential recommendations to judges in disputed child-custody cases, but some question whether the decisions they make are always based on sound methods," the commentary continues.
"Over the weekend, the Seattle Times published an excellent account of the failings of one such professional: Stuart Greenberg, a forensic psychologist who frequently appeared in criminal trials and child-custody hearings to offer his views. As the Times reports, Greenberg, despite his stature in Washington state courts, had been disciplined years ago for being "incompetent and unethical" by state regulators. He was ultimately arrested for placing a hidden camera in his office bathroom so he could spy on employees for sexual stimulation.
He committed suicide in 2007 after his arrest.
As the Times puts it:
Greenberg had proved such a toxic force -- a poison coursing through the state's court system -- that it took more than three years for lawyers and judges to sift through his victims and account for the damage done.
For a quarter century Greenberg testified as an expert in forensic psychology, an inscrutable field with immense power. Purporting to offer insight into the human condition, he evaluated more than 2,000 children, teenagers and adults. His word could determine which parent received custody of a child, or whether a jury believed a claim of sexual assault, or what damages might be awarded for emotional distress.
The paper details two cases where Greenberg, testifying in family court, led to children being improperly removed from their mothers.
The story will sound familiar to anyone who has studied problems in state family courts. In a March cover story, SF Weekly described how Menlo Park psychologist Leslie Packer called a mother's fears that her daughter was being molested by her ex-husband "paranoid." The daughter was placed in the full custody of the father, who was later convicted of sexually abusing her."
The commentary can be found at:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/06/stuart_greenberg_psychologist.php
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
