Ethics in Correctional and Forensic Psychology: Getting the Balance Right

Abstract

Compared to their peers, correctional and forensic psychologists are more likely to encounter legal‐ethical problems and have complaints lodged against them. The problems that confront them are often novel compared to those their peers deal with. They therefore often feel unsupported and disheartened. Further, they may drift away from the norms that govern the profession and behave in a manner that erodes the trust of the public in the profession and leads to division within the profession. To meet their legal‐ethical responsibilities, it is essential that correctional and forensic psychologists should have a good knowledge and understanding of the norms that regulate them. In this article, I will identify the norm systems that guide the professional behaviour of psychologists and examine their content and the manner in which they are related, interact, influence each other, and impact on the professional behaviour of correctional and forensic psychologists. I will pay special attention to the psychology profession's ethical principles that underlie the profession's codes of ethics and examine how the other norm systems influence the interpretation of codes and these ethical principles.

Key words:

• corrections
• ethics
• forensic
• law
• morality
• norms

Notes

1. Some other psychologists, notably industrial and organisational psychologists, feel the same (Behnke, 2006a; Bordow, 1971).

2. The word norm is derived from the Latin word norma which means “a carpenter's square for measuring right angles” and in a transferred sense it is used to refer to a standard or rule (Simpson, 1971, p. 396). In this article, I define a norm as a principle or rule that governs conduct, action, or procedure, in other words, it tells people what they ought and ought not to do.

3. The American Psychology and Law Society (2011) recently published a revision of its guidelines which were first published in 1991.

4. Religion informs public morality and, in some societies, there may be very little distinction between religious and public mores.

5. Ordinary persons also create legal obligations and duties, e.g., by concluding contracts.

6. For ease of communication, I distinguish eight not mutually exclusive principles, but they could be collapsed into fewer principles, and the nomenclature I use is not universal either.

7. As codes of ethics, declarations of the UN and law are all products of their time; it is probably no coincidence that the first national codes of ethics in psychology, the UN declarations of human rights and legal reform aimed at making it easier for people to protect their dignity and human rights, all appeared in the middle of the 20th century in the wake of the total disregard for human dignity during the Second World War.

8. There are other philosophers whose work could also provide valuable guidance to psychologists, but I will limit this discussion to Kant's (1785/2001) work because it has such a major impact on ethical thinking generally and forms the basis of the ethical principles of psychologists.

9. There is an abundance of research that demonstrates the psychological importance of procedural justice, see for instance Tyler (1984) and Lind and Tyler (1988).

10. This principle provides the moral foundation for the legal rule that prohibits people from harming other people.

11. While it is beyond the scope of this article to explore the topic further, this demonstrates how important it is for psychologists to use an effective decision‐making process when they are confronted by legal‐ethical problems. See Allan (2011b) for an overview of the different decision‐making approaches that are available.