Describe at least three ways for forensic psychologist to avoid ethical violations.

One of the best ways to avoid ethical violations involves documentation. Like many other subspecialties
documentation can be one of the best allies a psychologist can have and it can also be extremely
detrimental. Without the right type of documentation, whether it’s documenting simple interactions
between therapist and client or dates of services, the psychologist has the responsibility to ensure that
any data obtained follows the ethical considerations as put forth in the APA guidelines. The book notes
an example where a practitioner deliberately obtains data that benefits the defense; this is a clear
violation as the practitioner is clearly choosing the wrong type of test therefore making an error in the
documentation process. (Harmening, 2016)

The second way to avoid ethical violations is regarding confidentiality, it is the practitioner’s
responsibility to protect the confidentiality of the client and it can also be one of the easiest ethical
considerations to violate. Section 8.02 of the Specialty guideline for Forensic Psychology states that
forensic practitioners can provide the retaining party access to pertinent information as long as it is
consistent with the relevant law, applicable codes of ethics and professional standards and institutional
rules and regulations. Providing access to records or documentation without the proper clearance is a
clear violation that can easily be overlooked as if the retaining party is not asking for access the
requested needs to be granted access through a subpoena, court order or consent of the retaining
party(APA,2019 ). Making sure that the correct rout has been taken to be granted access to such
records is extremely important as not following correct procedure can cause issues for the practitioner
further down the road.

The third way to avoid ethical violations is making sure that as a practitioner, you are able to
demonstrate a level of competence specific to the criteria of a Forensic Psychologist. Practitioners
should only practice where they are competent, overstepping their expertise can cause issues if the
practitioner does not fully understand the necessary counterparts relevant to the case. Although
competence encompasses many other aspects such as individual and group differences, personal
beliefs, experience etc. the academic and training competence level of a practitioner is highly beneficial
when avoiding ethical violations in regards to competence (APA, 2019).

Imagine that you have performed a court ordered evaluation on a pretrial defendant. Now the
defendant would like a copy of their completed report. How should you manage the situation?

In this situation as I am not able to provide the defendant with a copy of their completed report as the
defendant is not my client and it is up to the defendants counsel to secure the report. To obtain this
report the defendant would need to go through the proper channels to acquire it whether it is by
requesting it himself with the courts or having the counsel request it.

American Psychological Association. (2019). Specialty guidelines for forensic psychology. Retrieved from
https://www.apa.org/practice/guidelines/forensic psychology?
_ga=1.30122047.1247464571.1467998929

Harmening, W.H., & Gamez, A.M. (2016). Forensic psychology. Boston, M.A.: Pearson.