TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Dr. Thomas Grisso, professor of psychiatry (clinical psychology), director of psychology, and coordinator of the Law and Psychiatry Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School will be the guest speaker for the annual Michael Dinoff Memorial Lecture at The University of Alabama on Friday, Feb. 4.

The topic will be “Adolescent Offenders with Mental Disorders: Responding to a National Crisis.” The public lecture will be held at 7 p.m. in 208 Gordon Palmer Hall.

Grisso received his doctoral degree from the University of Arizona in 1969. He has authored more than 100 journal articles in clinical, applied developmental and forensic psychology. Among his books are: “Evaluating Competencies” (1986, second edition 2003), “Forensic Evaluation of Juveniles” (1998), “Youth on Trial” (2000), and “Double Jeopardy: Adolescent Offenders with Mental Disorders” (2004).

Grisso is the executive director of the American Board of Forensic Psychology, past president of the American Psychology-Law Society, and a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.

He has received the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy (1995), the Saleem Shah Award from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (1998), and an honorary doctor of law degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (1998).

The Michael Dinoff Memorial Lecture is sponsored by the UA department of psychology in memory of Dr. Michael Dinoff, who was a professor of psychology and director of UA’s Psychological Clinic from 1963 until his death in 1982.