Complex Ethical Dilemmas in Working with Forensic Populations

Description of Event and Learning Objectives:

Most ethical dilemmas in a psychologist’s work reflect the broader concerns of the field: alleviating distress, protecting confidentiality, promoting self-improvement, and maintaining integrity in one’s work. Such issues are frequent and potentially straightforward. But sometimes what happens on the fringes of clinical forensic psychology elicits the “textbook” dilemmas that seemingly only exist in suspense thrillers or medical dramas. 

• What if you – quite literally – know      where the bodies are buried?

• Is a person on death row who declines      chemotherapy for a treatable cancer making a rational decision?

• What if your client is low risk, but a      high-ranking politician (who funds your position) publicly declares that      your client will never be released?