Consequences of Immoral Behaviors - Assignment Example

Consequences of immoral behaviors Consequences of immoral behaviors Question According to Pinter , forensic psychology is an application of all aspects of law and management of crime and criminals through a professional practice of principles, theories and methods derived from the scientific and clinical studies of human actions and experience. In this case, the inmate has placed his trust on the forensic psychologist and hence has to consider ethics related concerns involved in the situation.

Disclosing of the information to the judge would result in to benefit to the authorities and harm the inmate since he is already eligible for release since he has show good behavior.Question 2According to Donner (2007), American Psychological Association ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct requires all information given to a psychologist in the cause of his or her professional work be kept in private. As a professional, a forensic psychologist should be able to protect information provided in a professional relationship.

It is wrong for a psychologist to allow private information relayed to them to be disclosed to a legal system. A forensic psychologist would have to weigh their decision and consider whether this would harm the prisoner. The inmate gives much trust to the psychologist by admitting to him that he took the blame for his son’s assault to a 17 year old friend. Under no circumstances should the psychologist give this information to a third party. The plaintiff did not protest against the father’s decision to own up his son’s mistake.

The process of decision-making is to a large extent based on ethics. A psychologist should be aware of ethics related concerns in a given situation. An informed decision can be arrived at only if there is a clear understanding of these concerns. The psychologist should be able to determine ethics based priorities. Self-honesty is fundamental for the purposes of decision-making. Priorities should be determined on the best interest of the inmate, professional code of ethics and the benefit to society.

For example, in a case Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, the court held that the protection privileges ends where public peril begins (Buckner & Firestone, 2000). Period of deliberation also comes in hand when dealing with the question on ethics and confidentiality since they are not easily answered. A forensic psychologist should be able to make any ethical decision and take responsibility for that choice.Question 3There may be consequences likely to occur as a result of the verdict taken.

In this case, the person who committed the assault was never convicted hence the plaintiff may seek justice. This can lead to the unfolding of another case of false pretext by the father which can lead to filing of another suit. The psychologist being aware of the scenario surrounding the case violates the code of conduct. A psychologist must give extremely discrete information in case it affects a third party. On the other hand, information relayed to the psychologist by the inmate should be confidential.

In this matter then the psychologist can only be at risk in case the complainant demands that the son who in this case perpetrated the assault be sued. This would implicate the psychologist deeming him incompetent hence losing credibility. ReferencesBuckner, F., & Firestone, M. (2000). "Where the public peril begins": 25 years after Tarasoff. Journal of Legal Medicine, 21(2). Retrieved April 16, 2005, from http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/Donner, M. (2007). Managing risk by practicing clinically.

The application of ethics and law in psychotherapy. Pinta, E. R. (2009). Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.