- What is the forensic psychological service being
requested? - What is the risk-benefit analysisfor any recipient or
client receiving or not receiving the service? - What is the productof this service?
- Who is the direct recipientof provision of this service?
- Who is the retaining clientfor this service?
- Who is the ultimate beneficiaryof this service?
Forensic psychological service most commonly
refers to any service that is undertaken for the purpose
of, or with the anticipation of, assisting a third-party
decision maker or trier of fact. This may refer to ser-
vices provided at the request of an attorney, judge, or
court order, as well as other third parties such as an
insurance company, licensing board, employer, parole
board, or other administrative body, or pursuant to
applicable law, statute, or contract. Forensic psycho-
logical services may include multiple elements, such
as a record review, psychological testing, clinical inter-
views, collateral interviews, and a review of current
professional literature. Or such services may be nar-
rower in scope, such as providing consultation to an
attorney by reviewing relevant records and summariz-
ing applicable professional literature. What usually
defines a service as forensic is the fact that it is under-
taken for the purpose of providing psychological infor-
mation about a party to a third party, generally in the
context of an adjudicative decision-making process.
It is important to note that a service that was not
originally intended for the purpose of assisting a third-
party decision maker is not usually considered a
forensic psychological service, even if it is eventually
used as evidence in a decision-making process. For
example, a psychologist who has provided treatment
to a criminal offender may be called on to testify at the
parole board hearing; but in doing so, the psychologist
is not providing a forensic service (as the primary pur-
pose of therapy is to help the offender and not to assist
a third-party decision maker), and the psychological
testimony would be provided within the role of thera-
pist-expert as opposed to a forensic expert. Whether
or not such information is ultimately of use to a third-
party decision maker is a separate issue from whether
the work was undertaken for that purpose.
Unlike other types of psychological services, the
beneficiary of forensic psychological servicesis not
the party who is being evaluated. On the contrary, the
services undertaken by the forensic practitioner may
be harmful to the offender, either directly (e.g., if theevaluation portrays the examinee in a negative light) or
indirectly (e.g., if the evaluation harms the examinee’s
legal case). Similarly, although psychologists are tradi-
tionally regarded as serving in a helping capacity, the
product of a forensic psychologist may be seen as
directly or indirectly harmful to other parties involved
in the legal matter (e.g., providing consultation to an
attorney that helps exonerate an alleged perpetrator
may be perceived by some as harming the alleged vic-
tim). Therefore, in the forensic context, psychologists
are still “helping professionals,” but the role of the
forensic psychologist is to be helpful to the courtand
only incidentally to any other party or counsel.
What each of these scenarios has in common is the
fact that the direct beneficiary of the forensic psycho-
logical service is not any one individual but, rather, the
court or other tribunal in which the forensic psycho-
logical service is being used. That is, the forensic prac-
titioner is trying to help the third-party decision maker
by applying his or her scientific, technical, expert
knowledge to the psycholegal issue. Regardless of the
outcome of the matter, the forensic psychologist has
helped by participating in the process. Accordingly, the
indirect beneficiary of forensic psychological services
is society itself, as we all benefit from the appropriate
use of expert knowledge to facilitate a fair and accurate
judicial process.
A separate issue from who is the beneficiary of
forensic psychological services is the question of who
is the clientof the forensic psychologist on any par-
ticular matter. Typically, the client is the referring
party; that is, the party requesting forensic psycholog-
ical services—usually an attorney, judge, or adminis-
trative body. The client may also be another individual
professional, such as when a psychologist is asked by
a forensic psychiatrist or master’s-level forensic
examiner to conduct psychological testing. In most
cases, the client of the forensic practitioner is some-
one other than the party who is being examined.Beneficence and Nonmalfeasance
For all psychologists, a governing ethical standard is
“to produce good” (beneficence) and “to do no harm”
(nonmalfeasance). This is a critical aspect of forensic
psychological practice as well. However, unlike most
psychological practice, the commitment of benefi-
cence/nonmalfeasance is not to the party who is being
examined by the forensic practitioner but, rather, to the
client of the forensic services. Indeed, the party beingEthical Guidelines and Principles——— 259E-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:42 PM Page 259