The first ethical decision-making model is “Identify the Problem.” It is stated in the reading that Forensic psychologists have to keep in mind that there are extensive behaviors that needs to be considered including when reviewing the work of colleagues. There are ideas that need to be discussed among ethical, legal, moral, and professional perspectives. Whereas, these ideas may need to be explain more to clarify the ethical problem at hand. Consider a request by an attorney for a psychologist report to describe the patient’s degree on disability and patient symptom in a posttraumatic stress situation. The psychologist may disagreed in writing the report, but if agreed to do so, the psychologist must look into the vast of issues to be …show more content…
Both positive and negative consequence must be measured. The potential positive and negative consequences must be measured in order to determine the best course of action that need to be applied. Forensic psychologists must take in consideration potential consequences for their actions, and weight their options, and further the highest possible option available. The seventh ethical decision-making model is “Choose and Implement a Course of Action”. To implement the most appropriate course of action, the practitioner must consider timing of the action that can lead to success in their decision making. As stated in the reading material, “depending on the issues involved and the context, the course of action may need to occur quickly or may need to be delayed.” It is also mentioned that consulting with colleagues may be important in weighting the best time to respond to situations in which timing must be taken into …show more content…
In order for a forensic psychologist to advance their knowledge on ethical decision making, the eight steps in the ethical decision making model proposed by Bush et al. (2006) is the key to success in addressing different issues at hand. There does not seem to be any weaknesses of the model in ethical decision making. As mentioned before, the eight steps in the ethical decision making models has determined to be an outstanding learning methods that could enhance a forensic psychologist in learning how to deal with different ethical issues and especially decision
Ethics is “a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of questions of right and wrong and how we ought to live” (Banks, 2013). Also it involves making moral judgments about what is right and or wrong, good or bad. In the process of everyday life, moral rules are desirable, not because they express absolute truth, but because they are generally reliable guides for normal circumstances. Ethics or moral conduct, are of major importance in the criminal justice field today. If the police force condoned unethical behavior, there would be very little, if any, justice being served. A system of rules and principles helps to guide in making difficult decisions when moral issues arise. Ethics has been shown to be a central component in decisions involving ethical dilemmas. It is “concerned with standards of conduct and with “how I ought to act”, and standards of conduct may vary among different societies” (Banks, 2013). An ethical dilemma arises only when a decision must be made that involves a conflict at the personal, interpersonal, institutional, or societal level or raises issues of moral character. Richard Hare argues that we initially use an intuitive level of moral thinking when we consider ethical dilemma. There are “six steps in analyzing an ethical dilemma and they would be as follow” (NASW, 2014):
At the onset of assessment by a staff-counseling psychologist, the woman seemed to relax and share some of her thoughts and feeling. As the assessment process continued, the psychologist was able to ascertain that the issue with depression appeared to be a relevantly recent development. Additionally, the depression appeared to be the result of heighten conflicts between the woman and her husband pertaining to alleged extra material affairs. In conversation with the psychologist, the woman claimed to feel “overwhelmed”; her husband filing for divorce triggered the feelings she inferred, which reportedly lead to her breakdown. However, the psychologist has since discovered that the husband denies the affairs and attributes this to the depression. Additionally, the husband claims that the termination of the marriage is a result of the deterioration of his wife’s mental state.
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2012). Forensic and Legal Psychology: Psychological Science Applied to Law. New York: Worth Publishers.
Therefore, under these ethical standards, prosecutors cannot file charges if there is not enough evidence to support a conviction, they also do not file if it is not in the public interest to do so. This is what makes the possibilities limitless; however, three key factors also play a part in determining which cases to prosecute. If prosecutors follow these three factors in determining cases then the contradiction of limitless discretion and high ethical standards should be remedied for others. These are factors that should be followed are as followed: the seriousness and nature of the offense, the offender’s culpability, and the likelihood of being able to obtain a conviction at a trial. “Ethical conduct, then, must be the core of the prosecutor’s role in the criminal justice system” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn, 2013). Therefore, even though prosecutors have almost limitless discretion in their decisions, they still must
Psychologist to make an evaluation. The forensic psychologist is neutral through out the evaluation. They can not have open and trusting relationship. Usually in a case where the subject committed a crime he/she might want to say what ever they think the psychologist would want to hear, to make there sentence lighter. So a forensic psychologist must remain neutral. Also the forensic psychologist has to make an accurate evaluation because he has a lot of influence on what would happen to the subject in a court case. Now ...
582). Ethical decision making is defined as “The process of choosing between actions based on a system of beliefs and values” (Black, 2014, p. 347). The nurse handling the ethical problem must first identify that there is in fact a problem. The second step is to acquire all of the required information related to the current situation. The third step is to come up with multiple choices and options to solve the ethical problem. The fourth step is to actually pick one of the choices utilizing sound ethical judgement. The fifth step would be to enact the made decision. The final step in the process is to reassess your decision and look for effectiveness and
The Ethical Decision Making Model is an ethical guideline that is useful in ethical dilemmas and what course of action to take. It’s a framework that allows professionals to analyze and make ethical decisions to the best of their ability. It gives counselors a protocol to determine the appropriate course of action when faced difficult challenge. These decisions are taking into account; reflect a concern for the interests and the well-being of all clients concerns. Counselors should keep in mind the Golden Rule: “Do onto others as you would want onto you”.
Forensic psychology is an area of psychology that has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years. Entertainment media’s fascination with the intersection of crime and psychology has fueled the growing interest in the field. According to Jane Tyler Ward, PhD, forensic psychology can be defined as psychology that “emphasizes the application of research and experimentation in other areas of psychology to the legal arena.” Although forensic psychology is popular right now, it was not until 1962 that a court case set the precedent that properly trained psychologists could provide expert testimony (Page 20). Additionally, forensic psychology was not APA (American Psychological Association) certified until 2001 (Page 16). The field of forensic
The method of ethical decision making which was developed by Dr. Cathryn A. Baird presented two components contained in all ethical decisions which are; The Four ethical Lenses and the 4+1 Decision process. The Four Ethical Lenses issue claims that different ethical theories and the means in which we tend to approach the situations which form part of our ethical traditions are looked at in four different perspectives. From each perspective there are different values on which to decide whether the action taken is either ethical or not and each lens also lays emphasis on determining whether the decision made is of ethical requirement. In the 4+1 Decision Process, people who are responsible for making final decisions in an organization do it using four specific decision making steps and eventually will end up with one extra decision which gives a chance to reflect. The 4+1 decision process allows the decision makers to give solutions when faced with complicated ethical issues (John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, 2000).
There exist a whole lot of differences between neuropsychology practice in the general clinical setting & that of the forensic setting. The major objective of the clinical neuropsychological assessment is to most often to alleviate the human suffering by improving the mental condition of a particular person. The major goal of forensic evaluation, on the other hand, is to determine whether the psychological condition of a defendant makes him criminally competent to stand the trial. The concept of ‘competency” can be broadly defined as the capacity to decide or perform a few definite functions. From a legal point of view, the principle of competency entails the concept of knowledge. It implies a persons’ understanding of issues per...
Beginning in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s forensic psychology originated when a man named James McKeen Cattell conducted a study at Columbia University. During his time learning and coming up with the idea that psychology could be used as a way to solve court cases he did many experiments with his students. In one study he allowed 56 of his students practice eye witness testimonies with a series of questions. He conducted the experiment by asking the students about trees and asked the students to rate their confidence in what they saw and recall what they saw hours later. During this experiment Cattell...
This paper is intended to examine ethical issues in Criminological research and criminal justice. This paper will analyze the multitude of ethical concerns, as well as discuss the confidentiality requirements as it pertains to criminological research.
In an article titled, What is Forensic Psychology, Anyway?, John Brigham attempts to explain the beginnings of psychology and law; Forensics Psychology. Brigham explains that, “forensic psychology involves the interaction of psychology and the legal process” (Brigham 274). Brigham further highlights a historical case and the precedent established by the House of Lords through the induction of the McNaughten Rule, which translates, “To establish a defense on the ground of insanity it must be clearly proved that, at the time of committing the act, the party accused was laboring under such defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know nature and quality of the act he was doing, or he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong” (Finkel, 1988, p21; Brigham p275). Brigham explains that the concept of introducing psychology into the field of law ...
The following five-step model can help employees make appropriate decisions when faced with an ethical dilemma. The first step is to recognize the issue. Knowing what is the root cause and the main issue can help determine what ethical issue is at hand. The next step is to get the facts of the situation. Eliminating bias opinions and knowing the information source can increase the chances of making a good decision.
There were several areas that piqued my interest and made me want to learn more such as ethics, more importantly, the need to be ethical in the collection of evidence, processing of evidence, and the testimony that is given in trial. The need to be ethical should be expected as part of a person’s character, especially when presenting something that could prove guilt or innocence, naïve as that might sound. However, we live in the real world and someone’s ethical behavior can come into question.