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Forensic psychology ethics
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Attorneys are responsible for the trust, livelihood, and lives of their clients. These clients can rest assured that the information they send to and receive from their lawyer is protected. Certain cases, can involve months of work and research, which can can end in the accumulation of many others. Some of these documents could reflect trail strategies, legal advice, and personal issues of the client.
Since clients have limited knowledge of the attorney client privilege, they may believe the documents may never be discovered. In addition, they might believe the opposing party can’t use them unless he or she expressly waives the privilege. However, the privilege could be considered waive if the attorney or client loses the possession of the documents. The opposing party would have the upper hand in a case like this.
The privilege helps attorneys gain information from their clients to properly prepare for the case. The document covers advice given by the attorney as well as information so that the attorney may render advice. “Attorney-client privilege impedes full and frank discovery of the truth and therefore, is strictly construed by the courts”. The holder of the privilege is the client, so only the representative may claim or waive the privilege.
Society
Various issues that are of concern to individuals of the
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In the mean time, forensic psychologist need to follow ethical, legal, and professional duties. Forensic psychologist who work for attorney, also must attend the law of attorney-client privilege. Despite the fact that attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine reflect important values, they are not absolute. Professional organizations, legislatures and courts limit confidences and benefits in conditions where they presume that the cost of nondisclosure is more outstanding than
In the following case, Luke is involved in a very perplexing conflict, or Ethical dilemma. This situation is an Ethical dilemma, and not just a regular “everyday” problem, because to Luke there might not be an obvious answer. He can also be thinking that both choices, keeping his commitments of confidentiality and telling his brother, Owen, are both correct things to do. If Luke tells his brother about the project, then he might concur with a theory known as Breach of confidentiality. “Breach of confidentiality occurs when someone gives away information that was supposed to be kept private.” (GENB4350 Online Lecture, Ethical Reasoning 1). By Luke breaching information that is supposed to be kept secret, he will betray the trust of his company
" 2. The court said that it was difficult decide with the argument of executive privilege because there was no real claim to protect military, diplomatic, or sensitive national security secrets. 3. The court stated: "We conclude that when the ground for asserting privilege as to subpoenaed materials sought for use in criminal trial is based only on the generalized interest in confidentiality, it cannot prevail over the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of justice. The generalized assertion of privilege must yield to the demonstrated, specific need for evidence in a pending criminal trial.
In one of Law & Order’s “ripped from the headlines” episodes titled “House Counsel,” a juror in a mob trial is found dead. Law enforcement investigates and learns that the mobster tampered with the juror in order to avoid a conviction and then killed him to keep him quiet. The lawyer defending the mobster is a good friend of Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy. Later in the investigation, McCoy discovers that his friend may have played a role in the jury tampering. When he suspects his friend is involved, McCoy sees an opportunity to get the mobster and prosecutes the attorney for the murder to leverage information about the mobster. In the end, the lawyer is convicted and the attorney-client privilege between the lawyer and the mobster is dissolved.
The Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct, published by the American Psychological Association are the standard guidelines for all Psychologists. Forensic Psychologists are also informed by Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologist. Psychologists practicing forensic psychology can use these two documents to help clarify ethical questions. This paper will focus on role conflicts specifically in the area of Sex Offender Management and the ethical conflicts that may arise as a result and how to best handle this situation when faced with it. When an individual chooses to practice psychology within the legal system, they must be aware that this can at any point in their career lead to ethical conflicts. Just the possibility alone of ethical dilemmas, are or should be a concern for forensic psychologists.
Communication between an attorney and its client is crucial during a trial. The attorney - client privilege is a legal privilege between the client the and the attorney assuring the privacy of the client. There have been many cases where the attorney and client privilege has become an issue and most people believe that an attorney should break his/her privilege when the client confesses of harming more than one victim. When it comes to an attorney and a client it is important for both parties to understand each other, and assure that each conversation such be between client and attorney only.
Paralegals are continuing to assume new responsibilities in legal offices and perform many of the same duties as attorneys. Through formal education, training and experience, paralegals have knowledge and expertise regarding the legal system and law procedures, which qualify them to work under the supervision of an attorney. Along with preparing legal documents, contracts and other legal materials, a paralegal can also interview witnesses, and conducting legal research. The most important task a paralegal may have is helping an attorney prepare for hearings, trials, and meetings. Although a paralegal is trained to perform the same tasks as attorneys, they are explicitly prohibited from carrying out duties considered to be within the scope of the practice of law, such as setting legal fees, giving legal advice, submitting signed documents to court, and presenting cases in court. Paralegals are an essential part of today’s legal practice; furthermore, a competent paralegal can improve a law office’s profitability and the delivery of legal services. With these new responsibilities comes a higher level of demand and respect. In turn...
The scene where he decides to pursue to be king helps conclude that somethings can't be yours just because you want them. After being told by three evil witches that one day he will become king and to do this he would need to do something that no man should do. To pursue his now known fate he believes that he can so easily take this title without any consequence.
I have been involved in conducting forensic psychological and neuropsychological evaluations for the Department of Child and Families (formally DYFS) for over four years. I was providing these services through Forensic Psychology and Neuropsychology Services (FPNS), a company based out of Hamilton, NJ. I am on the FPNS contract with DCPP to provide forensic evaluations as a psychologist. I worked in an assistive capacity for the first three years under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan Mack, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist and subsequently worked independently on cases conducting forensic evaluations for DCPP through FPNS. I also have training and experience in conducting other forensic evaluations involving both civil and criminal matters. I have a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from APA credentialed Suffolk University, Boston, MA. During my doctoral training, I completed course work in human development theory including child development; assessment of adults and children; psychopathology; multicultural issues and individual differences; ethics; and empirically
Forensic Psychology is a specialized practice by psychologists in areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, and neuropsychology. You will be engaged regularly as an expert and primarily proposed to offer professional psychological expertise to the judicial system.
However, there are some cases that professionals have to rely on the Law. The Law is different from moral principles and Code of Ethics and its focus is on the legal perspective to protect the professional. The Law is defined by Remley and Herlihy (2010) as “general or specific regarding both what is required and what is allowed of individuals who from a governmental entity” (p.4). One major example is the Tarasoff and the Duty to Protect which is a law that was created after the case that happened with a university student, Tatiana Tarasoff and her boyfriend. Tarasoff’s parents sue the psychotherapists alleging that the professionals should have warned the student. Because of this case, the law raised a major concern that the confidentiality that professionals should follow according to the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics has to be broken when there is an issue that can affect a third party in the situation. Like the AMHCA refers to confidentiality as “a right granted to all clients of mental health counseling services. From the onset of the counseling relationship, mental health counselors inform clients of these rights inclu...
The duty of confidentiality refers to attorneys and their duty to keep their clients confidential information confidential. Clients must have some guarantee that lawyers will not divulge any of their confidential information so that they are able to seek early legal assistance and the duty of confidentiality allows them to do so. This duty also allows the client to feel secure when consulting with an attorney so that the attorney is able to gather all the necessary information needed to provide effective representation. Confidential information is all information that relates to the representation of a client no matter where the information comes from (Orlik, D. Ethics for the Legal Professional. Pp. 80). Even if the information is known publicly it is considered confidential to the attorney and their agents if it is information that relates to the representation of their client.
The professional role of a forensic psychologist I am interested in is working as a prison psychologist. The reason it interests me is because prison psychologists are a big part in the function of today’s society. The prison psychologist play an important role in the rehabilitation with those who we would call the common criminal as well as working with criminals who are clinically insane. There are many roles that the prison psychologists do in the prison system such as treating all different criminals from murderers, sex offenders, violent offender and even those who have committed white collar crimes. The prison psychologist tend to work in many different types of facilities from maximum prisons, minimum security prisons, and mental health facilities that hold
The United States Constitution gives us the right of due process under the Fifth Amendment. The right to an attorney is something that should never be taken away. So how do attorneys help their clients? What standards are set to protect them? There are strict guidelines that attorneys must follow to avoid legal misconduct. These standards are stated by the American Bar Association in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. It is very important that attorneys decide carefully before taking on a case for many reasons. They must remember that they have to carefully consider the needs and problems of their clients and uphold their ethical responsibilities to their profession and the criminal justice system. It is when a lawyer does not balance the needs of the client with the ethical aspects of his or her profession that misconduct can occur.
Criminal Justice professionals make decisions everyday and they have to be able to recognize when an issue involves ethical considerations. Therefore, in order to recognize these issues and make appropriate and correct decisions, it is important that the criminal justice professional study ethics. In order to make a good ethical decision the professional will have to have the ability to apply knowledge of ethics, know the ethical terminology and the concepts needed in making a good ethical decision.
In this case, the psychologist is presented with several ethical issues which could cause harm to the client. The first ethical issue that arose in this case is the potential for a role conflict. The psychologist and Mr. Hartwig had contact prior to the development of a therapeutic relationship when the psychologist bought a car from Mr. Hartwig. It may not be enough that the brief, informal relationship ended. The psychologist must assess the dimensions of the previous relationship from the viewpoint of the client as well as his/her own personal feelings (Koocher & Keith-Spiegel, 2008). For example, the client could feel that he gave the psychologist a good deal and that the psychologist was indebted to him. This could leave the psychologist vulnerable to being manipulated by the client. Or, what if the car broke down? This could leave the psychologist feeling cheated and resulted in hostile feelings toward the client. The psychologist has an ethical responsibility to examine both relationships for role incompatibility prior to forming a therapeutic relationship. The psychologist seemed to be aware that there was the potential role conflict resulting from their initial meeting, and he acted ethically by attempting to refer Mr. Hartwig to a Psychology Registry.