week 7 dis legal

Samantha

Hello Class,

The death penalty is a highly debated subject. The capital punishment debate is highly diverse in legal, ethical, and moral ways and people often have strong opinions to support or not support it (Neal, 2016). When considering the diverse nature of Forensic Psychologists, the matter of the death penalty becomes more complex. The death penalty is the most studied aspect of the criminal justice system though it effects a small number of those in the system (Haney, et al., 2015).

Opinion Regarding Professionals and Death Penalty

It is my belief that Forensic Psychology professionals should be able to maintain ethics when conducting work relating the death penalty. Forensic psychologists receive special training in conducting psychological evaluations and treatment as it relates to legal proceedings (Fisher, 2013). The death penalty is not utilized often, but professionals do receive proper training for these instances. The death penalty is reserved for the “worst of the worst” (Haney, et al., 2015). However, professionals must ensure that they are conducting themselves legally and ethically as they would with any other client.

Opinion Changes

My opinion on the death penalty and the ability for Forensic Psychologists to perform their duties does not change based on what type of task the professional is conducting. The only aspect that would change my opinion is if the professional does not manage to remain unbiased. A study was conducted to determine if Forensic Psychologists would accept cases only from the defense or prosecution, or if they would accept them from all sides. Research shows that 68% of professionals would accept referrals from any source and 20% would refuse all capital referrals regardless of the department (Neal, 2016). The study was conducted to see if professionals who supported the death penalty would only accept from the department they were biased towards. If a professional can remain unbiased then they should be able to engage in tasks that are assigned to them if they can remain legally and ethically moral.

Ethical Guidelines

There are multiple ethical guidelines to consider when working with clients, especially those who have received the death penalty. Ethical guidelines 1.01 Integrity and 1.03 Avoiding Conflicts of Interest are especially important as they highlight the importance of honesty and accuracy while remaining impartial (American Psychological-Law Society, n.d.). Ethical codes that highlight the importance of competence and knowledge are essential to consider as they dictate how the professional conducts themselves. Without proper knowledge of the skills the professional has and the legal system, the professional cannot operate in an ethical and legal manner. Ethical guidelines under the umbrella of code 6: Informed consent, notification and assent refers to the communication that is essential between the practitioner and client in reference to the services offered to the client (American Psychological-Law Society, n.d.). Multiple ethical guidelines intersect with each other to ensure the professional is operating efficiently. It is important to know all ethical guidelines as they will pertain to each client in one way or another. It is ethically possible to conduct tasks for a client who has received the death penalty. However, it is important to keep in mind that certain ethical codes could dissuade a professional from accepting these clients.

References

American Psychological-Law Society. (n.d.). Specialty guidelines for forensic psychology. Retrieved November 18, 2016, from http://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/about/specialty/

Fisher, C. B. (2013). Human rights and psychologists’ involvement in assessments related to death penalty cases. Ethics & Behavior, 23(1), 58-61. doi:10.1080/10508422.2013.749761

Haney, C., Weill, J., & Lynch, M. (2015). The death penalty. In B. L. Cutler & P. A. Zapf (Eds.), APA handbook of forensic psychology, Vol. 2: Criminal investigation, adjudication, and sentencing outcomes (pp. 452-456). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Doi:10.1037/14462-017

Neal, T. M. S. (2016). Are forensic experts already biased before adversarial legal parties hire them? PLOS ONE, 11(4), e0154434. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154434

Tamara

Forensic psychology professionals cannot ethically perform death penalty-related work. Although the American Psychological Association acknowledges ethical conflicts between the psychologist’s and the government’s goals, such recognition does not guarantee ethical conduct. The A.P.A. requires psychologists to "take reasonable steps to resolve those (ethical) conflicts” without explicitly saying how they should do it (A.P.A., 2010). Besides, the psychologist’s work scope does not involve defining insanity, which is a severe setback to work.

The question on insanity is legal and not psychological, with the psychologist’s role limited to the defendant’s mental state when the crime occurred (Ward, 2013). Therefore, psychologists may not act in good faith but merely aid the prosecution. Secondly, the death penalty accompanies various ethical dilemmas, leading to bias on the psychologist’s part. The impacts extend beyond the plaintiff and the defendant to their families and society, including the children’s urge to revenge and financial and emotional problems (Mbah et al., 2019). Mitigation and other evaluations bring the psychologist into direct interactions with the defendant’s and the plaintiff’s families, which may compromise their work. Among other things, the psychologist may sympathize with the victims, tilting their analysis.

If the psychologist confirms that the defendant is culpable and faces the death penalty, one might argue that the involvement contradicts the psychologist’s mission of saving a life (Boehnlein, 2013). Since the psychologist will try to protect life and not kill, they could give a favorable examination, which brings a new ethical challenge of dishonesty. The psychologist will have a justifiable involvement if their work scope changes. For example, if the role of defining insanity shifts from the state to psychologists, the psychologist would have more independence in guiding the investigation, which would reduce concerns of having the abetted killing. It would also be more satisfying to the psychologist if there were better ways of ensuring anonymity without connecting the killing directly to the psychologist’s assessment.

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). 2010 Amendments to the 2002 “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct” (p. 493). American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/ethics/code.

Boehnlein, J. K. (2013). Should physicians participate in state-ordered executions?. A.M.A. Journal of Ethics, 15(3), 240-243.

Mbah, R. E., Pruitt, T., & Wasum, D. F. (2019). Cruel choice: the ethics and morality of the death penalty. Research on humanities and social sciences, 9(24), 14-22.

Ward, J. (2013). What is forensic psychology? American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2013/09/forensic-psychology#.