About Me

Dr. Joel A. Dvoskin is a clinical and forensic psychologist, licensed in Arizona and certified in Forensic Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.
He is the former Acting Commissioner of Mental Health for the State of NY, after serving for more than a decade as Associate Commissioner and Director for Forensic Services for the NY State Office of Mental Health. He served as Chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Behavior Health and Wellness for the State of Nevada.

Dr. Dvoskin is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Past President of two APA Divisions, including the American Psychology-Law Society (Division 41) and Psychologists in Public Service (Division 18). He served on the APA Policy Task Force on Reducing Gun Violence, and on the APA Blue Ribbon Commission on Ethics Processes. Currently, he serves on APA’s Amicus Curie Committee Expert Panel.

CONSULTATION
He has provided consultation to a wide array of organizations, including the U.S. Secret Service, the NBA, the NBA Players Association, the NCAA, and numerous corporations, organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies across the US and Canada. Consultations are provided on workplace violence prevention, management and leadership, and responding to organizational crises.

TEACHING
He previously served on the adjunct faculty of the University of Arizona Law School, and currently teaches at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, in addition to his consulting practice in forensic psychology in Tucson, Arizona.

INVITED SPEAKER AND TRAINER
He has been an invited speaker to the Conference of Chief Justices, the National Association of Attorneys General, the National Tactical Officers Association, CIT (Police Crisis Intervention Teams) International, numerous universities, and hundreds of other professional organizations. He has twice been honored as the Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of California – Davis College of Medicine.

Dr. Dvoskin provides training and public speaking services, mediation, expert testimony on civil and criminal matters, and consulting services to state mental health, criminal and juvenile justice, public safety agencies, courts, police departments, corporations, and universities. Dr. Dvoskin helped the New Orleans Police Department to develop an innovative program to prevent police misconduct called EPIC (Ethical Policing is Courageous), which received national acclaim, as well as Georgetown Law Center’s Project ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement), which has created a culture of active bystandership in more than 400 police departments across the US and Canada.

CORRECTIONS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND MENTAL HEALTH
In 1995, Dr. Dvoskin served on the White House Task Force on the Future of the African American Male. He has served as a monitor or independent expert overseeing settlement agreements over correctional and mental health facilities and systems in Washington, New Mexico, Michigan, Oregon, Colorado, and Montana, and frequently serves as an expert for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), various government agencies, the American Civil Liberties Union, and various state Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&A).

Dr. Dvoskin has served as the design consultant for numerous hospital, prison, and jail architectural projects, including St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, the Fulton (MO) State Hospital, and the Hawaii State Hospital.
Dr. Dvoskin won a AIA award during this time as well.

​CRIMINAL AND JUVENILE JUSTICE
He has provided consultation to statewide juvenile justice systems in Alabama and Oregon, and to state departments of corrections in Pennsylvania, California, Hawaii, Indiana, and Michigan. In 2022, he co-founded Heroes Active Bystandership Training, which to brings active bystandership to corrections, fire & rescue, healthcare and other service professions.

BOOKS
He is co-author, with Andrew W. Kane, of Evaluation for Personal Injury Claims (2011) and the lead Editor (with Jennifer Skeem, Raymond Novaco, and Kevin Douglas) of Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending (2011), winner of the 2012 Book Award of the American Psychology-Law Society. Both books were published by the Oxford University Press. In addition, he has authored or co-authored more than 70 articles in peer-reviewed publications.