Involuntary medication, trial competence, and clinical dilemmas: Implications of Sell v. United States for psychological practice.

The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sell v. United States (2003) raises a number of challenging issues for mental health professionals regarding the involuntary medication of individuals who are incompetent to stand trial. The authors examine the Sell decision, other relevant legal decisions, and research findings on coercion and procedural justice, and discuss the implications for mental health professionals involved in the treatment and assessment (both clinical and forensic) of defendants who may be affected by Sell. The authors conclude by proposing recommendations for mental health professionals working with defendants in Sell contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The need for training in forensic child psychology.

Discusses the history and philosophy of law as it relates to children and families, the language of the legal arena, the major components of the legal system, clinical assessment in the forensic setting, and the need for training in forensic child psychology. A special model for child forensic training is proposed that would promote an understanding of the legal system and issues, the referral process and treatment and placement options, and the integration of developmental and clinical child research with assessment and treatment of children and adolescents in forensic settings. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategies for private practitioners coping with subpoenas or compelled testimony fro client records or test data.

Psychologists have numerous ethical, professional, and legal obligations regarding the release of client records, test data, and other information in the legal context. The demands of the legal system sometimes conflict with psychologists' ethical obligations to maintain confidentiality of client records, to protect the integrity and security of test materials, and to avoid misuse of assessment techniques and data. This article identifies legal issues that may arise when private practitioners are faced with subpoenas or compelled court testimony for client records or test data and suggests strategies that might be considered in the event such a subpoena or demand is received. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategies for private practitioners coping with subpoenas or compelled testimony for client records or test data.

Psychologists have numerous ethical, professional, and legal obligations regarding the release of client records, test data, and other information in the legal context. The demands of the legal system sometimes conflict with psychologists' ethical obligations to maintain confidentiality of client records, to protect the integrity and security of test materials, and to avoid misuse of assessment techniques and data. This article identifies legal issues that may arise when private practitioners are faced with subpoenas or compelled court testimony for client records or test data and suggests strategies that might be considered in the event such a subpoena or demand is received. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and biochemical screening for endocrine disease: II. Ethical issues

The ability to test for specific genes conferring susceptibility to a variety of diseases has profound ethical implications for the way in which we care for patients. Legislators and health care insurers are scrambling to address the aspects of genetic screening that they believe fall within their purview. Critical to the development of appropriate societal regulations regarding genetic screening is a fundamental understanding of the ethical issues involved. A review of those concerns and the areas in which they interface with legal and insurance issues is the topic of this paper.     

Dangerousness, Risk Assessment, and Capital Sentencing.

Judges, jurors, police officers, and others are sometimes asked to make a variety of decisions based on judgments of dangerousness. Reliance on judgments of dangerousness in a variety of legal contexts has led to considerable debate and has been the focus of numerous publications. However, a substantial portion of the debate has centered on the accuracy and improvement of risk assessments rather than the issues concerning the use of dangerousness as a legal criterion. This article focuses on whether dangerousness judgments can play a useful role in capital sentencing decisions within the framework of "guided discretion" and "individualized assessment" set forth by the Supreme Court of the United States. It examines the relationship between these legal doctrines and contemporary approaches to risk assessment, and it discusses the potential tension between these approaches to risk assessment and these legal doctrines. The analysis suggests that expert testimony has the potential to undermine rather than assist the sentencer's efforts to make capital sentencing decisions in a manner consistent with Supreme Court doctrine. This analysis includes a discussion of the advances and limitations of current approaches to risk assessment in the context of capital sentencing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accepting forensic case referrals: Ethical and professional considerations.

As psychologists serve the legal system with increasing frequency, it is important to consider a number of critical issues at a case's inception, including the following: Who calls the psychologist? Who is the referral source? Who is the attorney? Who are the various parties involved in the case? What are the facts of the case? Does the psychologist have the expertise to clarify and develop technical issues of the case? Will the psychologist be expected to play an expert role or a consultant role? Who pays the psychologist? How are fees determined? What records should be kept? Answering these questions will help the psychologist avoid ethical, legal, and professional dilemmas and will allow the psychologist to perform an important service in helping the court to understand technical issues in reaching just decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Involuntary commitments to public mental institutions: Issues involving the overrepresentation of Blacks and assessment of relevant functioning.

This article contributes to the debate in the mental health and legal systems concerning involuntary commitments to mental hospitals. The focus is on issues involving the overrepresentation of Black people among adults committed to U.S. public mental institutions and issues involving the assessment of relevant behavioral functioning in particular. Empirical findings, legal principles and procedures, and methodological limitations are reviewed to identify problems in current practice and relevant evidence bearing on those problems. Special emphasis is placed on the possible explanations for the overrepresentation of Blacks and on dependable assessments of relevant functioning that are needed to justify the state's coercive power to involuntarily confine people, regardless of race. The article concludes with a summary and recommendations for research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On being ethical in legal places.

Comments that many ethical pitfalls may await psychologists who participate as expert witnesses in the legal process. This article describes the ethical problems and examines their origin in light of important differences in purpose between psychological practice and legal process. Special attention is given to problems of objectivity in the assessment process, ethical issues in the interpretation of data in the courtroom, and the client's psychological welfare. Suggestions for maintaining ethical practice in the role of expert witness are provided. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The psychoeducational assessment of preschool children.

Reviews the book, The psychoeducational assessment of preschool children edited by Kathleen D. Paget and Bruce A. Bracken (1983). This is is a multidisciplinary text that covers a wide variety of components of preschool assessment. As indicated in the preface, the intent of the editors was to provide a comprehensive book that would reflect the diversity of professions involved with assessment of preschoolers. To achieve this purpose, Paget and Bracken compiled a text that is comprehensive in both breadth and depth. The ambitious range of topics includes history of preschool assessment, legal issues, and the assessment of special preschool groups, such as the mentally handicapped, physically handicapped, gifted, creative, and culturally different. In addition, the assessment of a wide variety of domains of functioning such as cognitive, perceptual-motor, fine and gross motor, and social-emotional, are addressed. The editors intended for the book to be used by advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as by current practitioners in such diverse areas of practice as psychology, education, social work, and medicine. We concur that the text offers new information for established practitioners and provides extensive background for those new to the field of assessment of preschool children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

State-level legislative and policy advocacy: An introduction and systemic review.

Reviews the history and current structure of the organization of psychology at the state level and discusses the development of a state-level advocacy capacity for psychology. Because state laws that govern the practice of psychology vary significantly, and because it is the state's responsibility to regulate professional activity, the preponderance of legal issues affecting the practice of psychology are issues of state, not federal, law. Psychologists have become aware of the needs for systematic organization and advocacy at the state level on behalf of their profession. This has involved an expansion in the scope of the state psychological associations' (SPA's) activity to provide advocacy in the legislative and policymaking arenas. Presently, the mission of the American Psychological Association's State Associations Program has expanded to provide consultations and technical assistance to the SPAs about a wide range of organization, administrative, governance, legislative, and policy advocacy issues. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Engineer’s Legal Exposure for Facilities Built on Expansive Soils

This paper will focus on the legal liability issues facing the professional engineer engaged in the design and construction administration of facilities built on expansive soils. These legal liability issues will be discussed from the perspectives of the geotechnical, civil, and structural engineer to alert those professionals to the legal ramifications of their daily activities. By focusing on these legal aspects facing the engineers that are involved in the process of building on expansive soils, hopefully litigation can be avoided or successfully defended. Attention to the legal ramifications of engineering is mandated by today’s litigious environment in the construction industry, especially when designing and administering the construction of facilities built on expansive soils.     

Duty to warn and intervention with HIV-positive clients.

Complex ethical and legal issues are involved when an HIV-positive client presents a danger to others as a result of engaging in unprotected sex or needle sharing. This article presents a detailed assessment-and-intervention model that is based on the integration of ethical and legal principles with information about the level of risk associated with a client's behavior, the HIV status of the client, and the sexual or needle-sharing partner's awareness of the client's HIV status. Appropriate interventions, including the duty to warn, are identified for each of the risk levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical risk management of the rapid-cycling bipolar patient

Important clinical-legal issues surround the management of patients with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder (RCBD). An increased risk of liability exposure may exist for improper diagnosis and treatment, lack of informed consent, inadequate assessment of the risk of violence toward self and others, and failure to monitor the patient. Practice guidelines may facilitate defensive practices by psychiatrists, which can increase the risk of liability. Clinical risk management combines professional expertise and knowledge of the patient with an understanding of the legal issues governing clinical practice to provide good care to patients and only secondarily to limit legal liability. A working understanding of the legal issues surrounding patient care in general and the RCBD patient in particular should provide more comfort and wider latitude in helping these difficult-to-treat patients.     

A therapeutic jurisprudence approach to the legal processing of domestic violence cases.

Ample research indicates that the laws, policies, and legal actors involved in domestic violence cases can achieve iatrogenic or therapeutic effects on both offenders and victims. This article explores the ways in which the legal system reinforces maladaptive behavior by offenders and victims and how it can influence changes in such behavior through legal mechanisms. The therapeutic jurisprudence perspective is used to examine the psychology of offenders who commit domestic violence crimes in Part I. Part II explores the psychology of domestic violence victims. Part III covers the impact of the arrest and prosecution stages of the criminal justice system. Trials, plea bargains, and sentencing issues are explored in Part IV, and the use of restraining orders is explored in Part V. These issues and the therapeutic jurisprudence perspective can inform law reform efforts, criminal justice policy, and mental health policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)

In the form of a case study that illustrates the procedure of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), this article examines the implications of feeding patients by identifying the professional, legal, and moral issues that are involved.     

Evaluations of trial competency and mental state at time of offense: Report characteristics.

Despite the dramatic increase in conceptual and empirical attention to forensic mental health assessment that has occurred within the last 10 yrs, there is little published research on the normative characteristics of such evaluations. In the present study, a total of 277 reports describing evaluations of competency to stand trial and/or mental state at the time of the offense, based on evaluations performed in either a Florida forensic hospital (n?=?167) or in various communities in Florida (n?=?110), were rated to determine relevant characteristics of examiners and evaluation procedures. Comparisons between reports are made by site (hospital vs community), discipline (psychiatrists vs psychologists), and legal issues (trial competency vs mental state at the time of the offense vs both issues). Implications for the practice of forensic mental health assessment and further research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The next generation: How are clinical child psychologists being trained?

A survey of doctoral programs in psychology examined the extent to which 17 key program components, derived from Roberts et al. (1998), are integrated into graduate training programs in clinical child psychology. Results from 29 programs indicate that training is comprehensive and addresses a variety of components related to development, assessment, intervention, context and community, diversity, and ethical and legal issues. In addition, 93% of the programs require exposure to, experience with, or expertise in evidence-based interventions, suggesting a robust focus on this issue. Programs vary in number of students admitted, number of faculty, and number of child-oriented practicum placements available; more than 80% offer practicum at program-administered clinics or centers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing mental retardation in death penalty cases: Critical issues for psychology and psychological practice.

In 2002, the United States Supreme Court decided the Atkins case, which held that mentally retarded defendants could not be executed. The opinion gave no guidance on the definition of mental retardation, preferring to leave to individual states the task of determining not only the definition of mental retardation but also the assessment procedures to be used in making the diagnosis. This lack of guidance has resulted in many issues, including varying definitions of what constitutes mental retardation across states, use of different assessment procedures to make the determination that a person has mental retardation, and numerous psychometric concerns regarding the provision of psychological assessment services to the courts in capital cases that involve a defendant who may have mental retardation. This article examines these latter issues in detail from both psychological and legal perspectives and makes recommendations for practicing psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Legal Issues of Integrated Network for Construction and Real Estate Sector

In Singapore, one of the most important steps in the overall information technology strategy for the construction and real estate sector is the development of an integrated network for the sector to cover the entire life cycle of any development. It is the first of its kind in the world. The productivity and competitiveness of the construction and real estate sector have been greatly enhanced through the introduction and implementation of the adopted integrated network since 2002. Some of the legal issues related to the integrated network are global trading, contract enforceability, liability risks, security breaches, and intellectual properties protection, a lack of alignment in jurisdictions, confidentiality, legal liability, and service dependency risks. The paper addresses online security and legal issues related to the integrated network for the sector to establish trust and confidence among the end users of the system. Some of the legal issues encountered during the implementation and lessons learnt will also be briefly discussed.