Chief Magistrate Evelina Baptiste has said that despite the common notion that psychological evaluations are ordered for prisoners as a form of punishment from the court, this is not so.
Baptiste who was sitting at a Roseau Magistrate’s court this morning, said that persons and even magistrates are of the view that when the court orders a psychological evaluation, it does so to punish a defendant for a crime. The chief magistrate assured that this assumption is incorrect.
Baptiste spoke of a past incident where she as the chief magistrate had to intervene and remove a defendant from the Psychiatric Unit at the Princess Margaret Hospital after he was sent there by a certain magistrate as a form of punishment for his alleged crime.
“The next day I had to take him out,” she said.
Doctor Griffin Benjamin, top psychologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital who was on the stand this morning, supported the magistrate’s statements.
Benjamin spoke of a patient whom he said was referred to him by an (unnamed) magistrate in Marigot for an “injection”. The psychologist said that the defendant was simply told that he was being sent to the psychiatric ward so doctor could give him an “injection.”
Benjamin said that he has since written to the permanent secretary in his ministry concerning the matter.
Magistrate Baptiste asked that this letter be forwarded to her.
Benjamin suggested public sensitization and proposed a workshop be conducted between psychologists and sitting magistrates as a possible remedy to the problem.
I just dont know when the ice from the Northern Hemisphere is going to melt in that MADgistrate head.
Is that person on the bench going to learn to deal with the law as it is understood by practitioners and the court of appeal ? The record breaking appeals against the said MADgistrate is sickening and the learned lawyer continues to dance with a tune of sheer arrogance amidst a cloud of legalistic embarrassment to many practitioners including myself. Its simply pathetic and I do hope that the media circus is brought to an end by the OECS Judicial and legal services commission. We have all of a sudden become the legal clowns of the region thanks to INTELLECTUAL INSANITY. i THINK DR Benjamin must be brought in to do some clinical diagnosis before more poor people/s chidren from Marigot and the ghettos of Dominica are summoned to the Acute Phychiatric Unit by that MADgistrate!
to all the readers on dno where in this world a police officer is looking for an individual to present a summon to, he did not find the individual and give that summon to someome else to hand over to that said individual< wat a dam shame , isnt that police officer crazy ?suppose he or she doh give that person the summon and again he claims that he did not receive it wats gonna happen / are you gonna arrest?this is so silly .idiot ??????????? come on lawyer you are being paid to do your job$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
@Stop it:
You know, sometimes we read people’s comment and are bewildered by the nonsense these people speak.
Here is someone in a sense actually attacking Griffin, as if the man did or said something wrong, they are creating an outrageous argument that has nothing to do with the opinions of the Judge, neither the testimonial of Griffin Benjamin.
In the event that one would like to attack someone, that some should be the Magistrate in Marigot who ordered the accuse, or convict to go to Griffin for the purpose of obtaining an injection , when in fact the magistrate is not a medical doctor.
I this case I concede that the Magistrate in this case would be an idiot, and out of order if in fact he/she orders something like that!
Nonetheless, if someone appears in any court, the municipal, or supreme court, and it is observed that this someone before the court is acting, or behaving abnormally, the judge or magistrate do have the power to order some psychological evaluation of the person.
The purpose of the evaluation would to determine what is happening in the individual’s psychological life that may be ” blocking their ability to behave, or feel in a more appropriate, and constructive manner.
And such psychological evaluation should be performed by a licensed psychologist, or a professional psychiatrics, when a problem, that does not have a physical origin, is noticed and the cause needs to be determined.
This problem can exist in several realms, for example:
1. inappropriate behavior
2. inappropriate mood states
3. failure to perform up to expected standards.
Another psychological information about the nature of an individual’s problems, and disabilities comes from psychological testing. Personality assessment is a subject that fascinates many people, so much so that there are thousands of personality tests, and hundreds of books written about them.
Some test are focal, designed to illuminate a single personality attribute, such as anxiety, or depression, or to uncover a particular kind of brain damage. Others are omnibus, seeking to describe a large portion of personality and abnormality.
Many test are unstructured or projective, requiring the client to draw a person or persons or a series of designs, to determine abnormality through careful interviewing, while others aspire to the same goal through formal, structured examinations.
Most psychological testing procedures are relatively standardized. That important fact increases the likelihood that different examiners will obtain similar information from the client: that is, that the test will be reliable.
If several examiners give the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale to the same client, for example, then the client’s score should be approximately the same from one examination to the next.
Psychological test fall into three categories: psychological inventories, projective test, and intelligence test.
The later are what judges should concentrate on when they order psychological evaluation.
It is stupid for any to consider psychological evaluation of a person as punishment for crime committed.
And finally, to all those who would like to attack Griffin, rule him out and attack me, I know Griffin may not have the time to argue with the powers that be, however, since his late grandmother Flore Telemaque was my biological aunt, I believe I can put my life on the line for him.
Yes, that is why I am called Son, and he is known as Sonno, in our village. I guess there could not be two people called ” Son in the same family.
Hahahahahahahahah!!
And I know there is someone who is going to complain again that there are plenty of doctors who did not go to medical school: be informed that some of us attended medical school, and dropped out, nonetheless, some of the knowledge disseminated here is also taught in premed school also, so it’s not a big deal.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
@Stop it:
how did you arrive at that. My god. You people not easy.
Dr. Benjamin you also know the characters you meet on a daily basis. They say all sorts of nonsense. I can’t believe u even repeated that nonsense. Really…what are you to gain from all this. Bejamin said t he defendant said that the magistrate said…. All hear say. Thought Baptiste would have learnt something after the inquiry. Stupes!!!
Baptiste to what lengths will you go? Why would a magistrate send a defendant to the hospital for injection? Shame on you woman. Are you insinuating that Behanzin did so? You just can’t seem to give it a rest. You know defendant’s say all sorts of nonsense. You hear it in your ears everyday. A defendant is not sent for evaluation based on his word of mouth….it’s by the form which the court sends to the hospital. You need to stop it. Start focusing on what’s under your bed rather than trying to bring down the best magistrate.