Ethical Practice in Sex Offender Assessment

Sexual Abuse ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Vess
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Professional Literature ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
The Individual

The current generation of community protection laws represents a shift in priorities that may see the individual rights of sex offenders compromised for the goal of public safety. At the center of many judicial decisions under these laws are the risk assessment reports provided by mental health practitioners. The widespread enactment of laws allowing for additional sanctions for sex offenders, and a burgeoning research literature regarding the methods used to assess risk have served to heighten rather than resolve the ethical concerns associated with professional practice in this area. This article examines ethical issues inherent in the use of two assessment methods commonly used with sex offenders in the correctional context, focusing on actuarial measures and polygraph tests. Properly conducted and adequately reported actuarial findings are considered to provide useful information of sufficient accuracy to inform rather than mislead judicial decision makers, although careful consideration must be given to the limitations of current measures in each individual case. Despite its increasing use, polygraph testing is considered controversial, with little consensus regarding its accuracy or appropriate applications. On the basis of the current state of the professional literature regarding the polygraph, its use with sex offenders raises unresolved ethical concerns.

scholarly journals Ethical issues in optometric practice

2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. L. Sithole
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Unethical Behavior ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Health Care Practitioner ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Legal Constraints

Ethics as a discipline is the study and analysis of values and standards related to duty, responsibility, and right and wrong behavior. The ethical obligations of optometry toward patients are similar to those of other health professionals. These obligations generally require optometrists to recognize, respect, and protect the rights of their patients. This approach encourages patients to participate actively in their care and allows them to develop arelationship with their optometrist based on trust. The ethical codes which contain guiding principles serve to help practitioners in their decisions and in practicing in accordance with a set of standards that are expected of a health care practitioner. There are four major ethical principles in health care, namely; beneficence, non-maleficence, and respect for autonomy and justice. Because these principles are easily recognized as being among the primary ethical goals of health care, using them as the basis for ethical analysis may help to explain the moral justification for certain professional actions as well as to identify unethical behavior. However, in clinical practice, the specific demands and rationales of these broad principles may be difficult to apply. This illustrates the paradox that whilst these principles are essential tools for ethical practice, if applied too rigidly, they can be problematic. How-ever, the goal of ethical decision making in optometry should be to identify one or more courses of action that will honor the profession’s essential values while minimizing conflict with other values and professional standards. Every profession, every practice and every practitioner is governed by not only legal constraints, but also by the ethical concerns of ensuring that the patient is properly served. Considering our practices from a patient’s perspective can help optometrists understand the multiple responsibilities of clinical practice. (S Afr Optom 2010 69(2) 93-99)

Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Dangerous Psychiatric Patients

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Nyquist Potter ◽  
Jay Englehart
Keyword(s):  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Antisocial Personality ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Physical Danger ◽  
Danger To Others

This chapter examines ethical issues that arise when diagnosing and treating dangerous and self-destructive patients. In particular, we look at sex offenders and those diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), who primarily present a danger to others, and those with borderline personality disorder (BPD), who primarily present a physical danger to self. We identify four questions that arise within this population: (1) when should patients be restrained and secluded; (2) what ethical justifications can be employed to analyze the use of restraint and seclusion in these populations; (3) what special considerations need to be taken into account in the use of restraint and seclusion; and (4) what metaphysical and epistemological challenges are involved with this population? Each of these questions is linked to ethical concerns and responsibilities in the use of confinement measures when patients are dangerous to themselves or others.

Decision-Making

Diagnosis ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 46-63
Author(s):  
Ashley Graham Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Diagnostic Decision ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Diagnostic Decision Making

The process of diagnostic decision-making (DDM) can be very complex, and in all instances, it involves considerations of epistemology, ethics, probability, and economics. Furthermore, the process of DDM is patient-specific both in terms of qualitative evidence toward a diagnosis (e.g., information from the medical history) and in terms of quantitative evidence (e.g., pre- and post-test probabilities). Thus, learning to make diagnostic decisions requires at least a basic understanding of concepts in each of these fields as well as careful consideration on the part of both the physician and the patient as to how these considerations bear on the individual case at hand. In addition, it requires a commitment on the part of each to shared decision-making in the clinical context.

scholarly journals Female Sex Offenders: An Analysis of Crime Scene Behaviors

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (24) ◽  
pp. 3839-3860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Almond ◽  
Michelle A. McManus ◽  
Susan Giles ◽  
Elisabeth Houston
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Crime Scene ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Multidimensional Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
The Social ◽  
Law Reports

The concept of the female sex offender (FSO) is a relatively new phenomenon within the social research literature. Studies of female rape, male rape, pedophilia, and juvenile sex offenders have suggested that different styles of offending are reflected in the different types of behaviors committed by offenders at the crime scene. These studies suggest that there are three distinct themes of behavior: Hostility, Impersonal, and Involvement. Multidimensional analysis is carried out on 35 crime scene behaviors of 73 FSOs from U.K. and U.S. law reports. The proposed framework was found to be a useful way of classifying FSOs with 84% displaying a dominant theme. These resulted in 52% classified as displaying Involvement, 17% as Control, and 15% as Hostility. Finally, the implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

A comparative analysis of Australian sex offender legislation for sex offender registries

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Vess ◽  
Brooke Langskaill ◽  
Andrew Day ◽  
Martine Powell ◽  
Joe Graffam
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
English Speaking

Australia has followed the course taken by other English-speaking countries in recent years of enacting legislation that requires convicted sexual offenders to register personal details with law enforcement agencies. These laws have been enacted to protect the public from the perceived threat posed by sex offenders, but have been written with little apparent reference to the available research literature about the nature and extent of this threat. In addition, there is no empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of legislatively based sex offender registries to either reduce sexual offending or to enable the police to investigate sex crimes and apprehend offenders. This article compares and contrasts the current laws governing sex offender registration enacted by the various states and territories in Australia, and offers a critical analysis of their provisions in light of the research literature on sexual offending.

Characteristics of adolescent sex offenders in New South Wales

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-82
Author(s):  
Ian Nisbet ◽  
Katie Seidler
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Social Risk Factors ◽  
Adolescent Sex Offenders ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Offending Behaviour

AbstractCharacteristics of adolescents who sexually offend, their patterns of their offending behaviour and the defining features of their victims are firmly established in the overseas literature. The research literature in Australia, however, is less developed. This study describes the characteristics of a sample of clients of the Sex Offender Program of the New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice and examines patterns of offence behaviours and related descriptions of victims. Adolescents who sexually offend in NSW have backgrounds of low educational attainment and abuse and a range of other social risk factors, and they are most likely to victimise female children. A typology of adolescent sex offenders based on their offending behaviour is offered.

Child molesters and other sex offenders

2012 ◽  
pp. 1960-1965
Author(s):  
Stephen Hucker
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Child Molesters ◽  
Sexual Offender ◽  
Sexually Violent ◽  
Risk Treatment ◽  
Offender Assessment

In most Western societies sexual offenders are more reviled than almost any other type of offender. On both sides of the Atlantic this is reflected in the sanctions that specifically address this group such as Sexually Violent Predator laws in the United States, Dangerous and Long-Term Offender legislation in Canada, and Sex Offender Orders in the UK. Related approaches include the introduction of sex offender registries and the widespread requirement that children at risk from sexual predators be reported by professionals and others. Although prone to find reasons to delegate the assessment and management of sex offenders to specialized forensic services, the general psychiatrist will find it impossible to avoid them entirely. It is important, therefore, for the general psychiatrist to have some understanding of this area in order to make appropriate decisions and recommendations. This chapter looks at definitions of sexual offending, types of sexual offender, assessment of sex offenders, assessment of risk, treatment issues, and ethical issues.

Teleassessment with Children and Adolescents During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and Beyond: Practice and Policy Implications

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan L. Farmer ◽  
Ryan J. McGill ◽  
Stefan C. Dombrowski ◽  
Maryellen Brunson McClain ◽  
Bryn Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Psychological Services ◽  
Intelligence Tests ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Case Basis

Due to physical distancing guidelines, the closure of non-essential businesses, and the closure of public schools, the role of telehealth for the delivery of psychological services for children has never been more debated. However, the transition to teleassessment is more complicated for some types of assessment than others. For instance, the remote administration of achievement and intelligence tests is a relatively recent adaptation of telehealth, and despite recommendations for rapid adoption by some policy makers and publishing companies, caution and careful consideration of individual and contextual variables, the existing research literature as well as measurement, cultural and linguistic, and legal and ethical issues is warranted. The decision to use remotely administered achievement and intelligence tests is best made on a case-by-case basis after consideration of these factors. We discuss each of these issues as well as implications for practice, policy, and as well as issue provisional guidance for consideration for publishing companies interested in these endeavors moving forward.

scholarly journals How precision medicine changes medical epistemology: A formative case from Norway

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Vogt ◽  
Bjørn Hofmann
Keyword(s):  
Precision Medicine ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
What Works ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Individual

Rationale and aims: Precision medicine (PM) raises a key question: How can we know what works when the number of people with a health problem becomes small or one (n=1)? We here present a formative case from Norway. The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision was faced with a cancer patient, who had improved after treatment with a drug in the private health sector but was refused continued treatment in the public health service due to lack of clinical trial evidence. The Board overturned this decision, arguing that the drug had been unambiguously documented to work in the individual case. We aim to provide an in-depth analysis of this case and The Board´s decision and thereby to illustrate and elucidate key epistemological and ethical issues and developments in PM. Method: We provide our analysis and discussion using tools of critical thinking and concepts from philosophy of science and medicine such as uncertainty, evidence, forms of inference and causation. We also examine the case in the light of the history of evidence-based medicine (EBM). Results and discussion: The case reflects an epistemological shift in medicine where PM puts greater emphasis on evidence that arises in individual patients after the treatment is provided over preexisting population-based evidence. PM may rely more heavily on abduction to decide what works and qualitative, rather than quantitative judgments. The case also illustrates a possible shift in the concept of causation from regularity accounts to mechanistic and process accounts. We discuss ethical implications of a shift from more “traditional” to “personalized EBM”. Conclusion: A framework that is more based on abductions and evidence arising in the individual case has problems in creating quantifiable, reliable, and generalizable evidence, and in promoting transparency and accountability. PM currently lacks clear criteria for deciding what works in an individual, posing ethical challenges.

The elephant in the room: Tensions between normative research and an ethics of care for digital storytelling in higher education

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Gachago ◽  
Candice Livingston
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Digital Storytelling ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Ethical Concerns

Background: Digital storytelling (DST) has been embraced in classrooms around the world as a way to unpack issues of identity and positionality which are critical for any pedagogy concerned with social justice. However, adopting this process-orientated practice into higher education raises ethical concerns especially in relation to the normative approach to traditional research.Objectives: The objective of this article was to explore the ethical concerns surrounding DST when used as a pedagogy and to determine if an ‘ethics of care’ approach could help to mitigate the ethical dilemmas experienced by teachers and researchers alike.Method: A single case study, narratives, illustrations and reflections from a final-year arts education project were used to explore some of the ethical issues we encountered when employing DST as a pedagogy and in educational research.Results: The results of this reflection show that special attention needs to be paid to the following issues: the collection and interpretation of data, how anonymity and confidentiality are ensured in DST, who owns the stories, how sampling is conducted and how consent is sought and, finally, how the tenant of ‘do no harm’ is adhered to in DST.Conclusion: We argue that traditional deontological approaches to ethics are not able to fully respond to the complex, nuanced and ongoing concerns posed by DST projects. We adopt Joan Tronto’s Ethic of Care to argue that ethical practice cannot be contained in codes of conduct alone and cannot simply be signed off on by institutional review boards, but is rather a matter of a daily personal, professional and political caring practice.

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