Problems of Forensic Sciences 2013 Vol. 94 (XCIV) 550-563
THE ETHICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS IN FORENSIC EVALUATION
Małgorzata TOEPLITZ-WINIEWSKA
The University of Warsaw Faculty of Psychology, Warsaw, Poland
The Polish Psychological Association, Warsaw, Poland
Streszczenie
This article discusses the basic professional and ethical standards important to psychological evaluation for court purposes. The fundamental phases of the diagnostic process are described: establishing a contract with the examinee, choosing the proper diagnostic methods, providing feedback and preparing the text of an opinion for the court. The dilemmas and difficulties involved in meeting the general ethical requirements are discussed. In the section of the article on conducting the psychological examination and choosing the diagnostic methods the author concentrates on the psychometric properties of the tools used, the doubts concerning the use of projective methods in the forensic evaluation of adult perpetrators of crime and the usefulness of these methods in diagnosing children in family cases. In addition to providing feedback, it is important in the final phase of the diagnosis to observe the formal and substantive requirements for describing an examination and for drawing conclusions from the materials used. In this way the court’s questions can be answered thoroughly.
Słowa kluczowe
Psychological diagnosis; Ethical standards; Dilemmas.