AUGUSTA -- Three psychologists who tell Maine judges whether people are mentally competent to stand trial have reached the pinnacle of their profession: diplomates in forensic psychology.

Ann LeBlanc, director of the State Forensic Service; Debra Baeder, the service's chief forensic psychologist; and Andrew Wisch, a contracted psychologist who specializes in forensics, are now fellows of the American Board of Professional Psychology who recently received diplomas in forensic psychology.

"We all studied together for about three years," LeBlanc said. "We're the first ones in Maine."

There are fewer than 300 people in the world with the designation as diplomates in forensic psychology, according to LeBlanc.

"In psychology, specialty credentials are becoming more and more important," LeBlanc said.

The process of attaining the designation included a review of credentials; a three-hour written exam; and a three-hour oral exam covering a broad range of categories, including ethics, case law and the forensic practice of psychology.

As part of their studies, the three had lessons in law from two assistant attorneys general who serve as prosecutors in murder cases.

"We know what we don't know," Baeder said. "We know the limits of our expertise. It's easy to stray outside the limits. We're psychologists; we're not lawyers."

The new diplomates, interviewed recently in a conference room at Riverview Psychiatric Center, said the lessons will be valuable in court.

"It helps us tailor our testimony to be more useful," LeBlanc said.

Forensic psychologists are called frequently as expert witnesses in criminal cases and trials.

LeBlanc said the State Forensic Service staff -- and psychologists and psychiatrists by contract -- performs about 500 evaluations a year for the court. Half of those are designed to determine whether a defendant is competent to proceed in the legal case, including the ability to waive legal rights and plead.

In other cases, forensic psychologists are asked whether a person is criminally responsible for an act; to do presentencing risk assessments for sex offenders and other defendants; and to assess whether juveniles should be handled in the adult legal system.

Last December, Wisch told a judge in Somerset County that defendant Todd Curry suffered from bipolar disease and had become extremely psychotic before shooting to death the 13-year-old son of his girlfriend.

Curry was found not criminally responsible for the act and was committed to a mental institution.

LeBlanc and Baeder testify in similar cases and in others where court-committed people seek changes in the conditions under which they are held.

The road to the official title of forensic psychologist is long: first, a bachelor's degree in psychology; then a doctorate, an internship and, most likely, a residency.

LeBlanc said many people aspiring to careers as forensic psychologists are dissuaded the years of required study.

"You have to be a good generalist first," Baeder said. "It mirrors medicine. You become a generalist and then you specialize. You have to understand mental illness before you can say how it played a role in a crime."

The information is presented in writing and, frequently, forensic psychologists testify in court about their findings.

Wisch said the field of forensic psychology is "one way of translating the world of mental health psychology for the legal system."

LeBlanc, of Augusta, and Baeder, of Mount Vernon, took the oral exams in St. Louis, Mo., in the spring; Wisch took the exam in Cleveland, Ohio, in October.

LeBlanc, who has worked in the field for 22 years, was invited to be one of the evaluators for future candidates for the diploma in forensic psychology.

The word "forensic" derives from the Latin word "forensis," meaning "of the forum," where the law courts of ancient Rome were held, the American Board of Forensic Psychology notes on its Web site.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com