Mitigation Evaluations

Mitigation evaluations are neuropsychological assessments conducted to inform sentencing, plea negotiations, or other phases of criminal proceedings where the defense is presenting a fuller picture of the defendant than the offense conduct alone provides. The neuropsychological component focuses on cognitive functioning, including:

• Long-standing cognitive impairments that may have shaped the defendant’s life trajectory and decision-making
• Acquired brain injury, including traumatic brain injury, hypoxic injury, or other events with documented cognitive consequences
• Neurodevelopmental conditions, including intellectual disability, learning disabilities, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and FASD
• Neurodegenerative conditions in older defendants
• Substance-related cognitive impairment, including the cognitive sequelae of chronic alcohol use and stimulant use
• Cognitive consequences of severe early-life trauma and adversity

Reports integrate standardized cognitive testing with developmental, educational, medical, and psychosocial history. They are written to support effective representation at sentencing, including under the federal Sentencing Guidelines and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, and in capital and quasi-capital cases where the Atkins v. Virginia and Hall v. Florida frameworks may apply.

Mitigation evaluations are by their nature defense-retained. The structure of the criminal system means that prosecutors rarely retain private experts for sentencing-phase work because they have access to court-appointed examiners and probation department resources. Mitigation work is therefore properly understood as a defense-side function, not a partisan one.