Chapters 4 through 9, each devoted to assessment for a specific legal competence, ended with discussions of the current status of the field.
These discussions examined research directions for the development of FAIs, as well as clinical applications to guide the use of FAIs, related to the specific legal competence featured in each chapter.
Looking across all of these areas of legal competency, what general messages arise that would guide the future development of specialized instruments for competence assessments? And what general recommendations are suggested for their use? The present chapter addresses these questions in a section on "Developing Forensic Assessment Instruments" and another on "Using Forensic Assessment Instruments." The final section on "Continuing the Improvement of Forensic Assessments" comments on the continuing value of the book's five-concept model for legal competencies and discusses issues that may promote or inhibit the development and use of FAIs in the future.