| FAQ’s for Attorneys |
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Why Hire Positive Resources, LLC as Mitigation Experts on criminal cases?
- Bachelors in Criminal Justice, Masters in Counseling from TCNJ with 6 years of experience working “in-house” with Mercer County PTI, Trenton Municipal Courts, Mercer TASC and OPD
- 25+ years of experience in NJ/NY criminal defense consulting as a sentencing advocate, mitigation expert and drug and alcohol evaluator
- Licensed as a Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor in NJ-initially certified in 1986, licensed in 2004
- Notary since 1999, which facilitates taking sworn statements and certifications during investigative interviews
- Sub-contractor is bilingual and has Masters in both Social Work and Criminal Justice
- Certified in use of the LSI-R, a risk assessment tool used by NJDOC and recognized by many criminal justice authorities as a legitimate mechanism to evaluate a defendants likelihood to respond to alternative sentence plans
- Member of NASAMS-National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates and Mitigation Specialists
- Member of NLADA
What can Positive Resources do for the attorney to make your job easier?
- Be a liaison between the client, their family and legal staff
- Assist in building a theory of defense using clinical skills to conduct an analysis of defendant’s background, family/genetic influences and mitigation themes.
- Help analyze discovery for strength and weakness of case (earlier the better to negotiate at EDP or pre-indictment)
- Brainstorm with legal staff
- Create people index (spread sheet of witnesses) and prepare chronologies that clarify patterns of behavior and mitigating factors
- Prepare Genograms of defendants family which identifies themes related to genetic and intergenerational dysfunction
- Assist in locating, negotiating and managing of mental health experts hired by the defense
- Approach victim if appropriate, which helps minimize the adversarial tension the defense team usually must acquiesce to.
- Clarify past, present and future motivations of the defendant, which expedites the case’s conclusion, especially if a plea, is appropriate.
- Assist counsel in record gathering that supports defense, plea and sentencing themes
- Produce a “Client Specific” sentencing plan that explains crime motives and helps restore balance between defendant and victim.
- If applicable, identify defendant’s strengths and weaknesses, risk assessment and amenability to community sentencing.
- Help orchestrate and manage a “character letter” campaign for sentencing.
What kinds of cases can best be helped by use of a sentencing advocate?
- DWI cases of Vehicular Homicide when driver was intoxicated
- Murder or first degree crimes, especially if defendant is a first time offender-theme of aberration can be developed
- Sex offense cases-risk assessment and referral
- Interfamilial cases where victim and defendant are member of same family-case is highly emotional for the 2 sides of adversarial fence and therefore could benefit from “social worker” mediation
- Cases in which victims were particularly provocative versus the defendant-victims role in crime can be corroborated with records, interviews etc.
- Cases where defendants and or victims were under the influence of CDS or alcohol
- Cases in which diminished capacity or NGI being investigated
- High publicity cases that defendant and their family could benefit from support and liaison ship of forensic social worker
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