“Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison”: A human rights perspective on therapeutic jurisprudence and the role of forensic psychologists in correctional settings

Abstract

The roles of forensic psychologists in coerced environments such as corrections include that of treatment provider (for the offender) and that of organizational consultant (for the community). This dual role raises ethical issues between offender rights and community rights; an imbalance results in the violation of human rights. A timely reminder of a slippery ethical slope that can arise is the failure of the American Psychological Association to manage this balance regarding interrogation and torture of detainees under the Bush administration. To establish a "bright-line position" regarding ethical practice, forensic psychologists need to be cognizant of international human rights law. In this endeavor, international covenants and a universal ethical code ought to guide practice, although seemingly unresolveable conflicts between the law and ethics codes may arise. A solution to this problem is to devise an ethical framework that is based on enforceable universally shared human values regarding dignity and rights. To this end, the legal theory of therapeutic jurisprudence can assist psychologists to understand the law, the legal system, and their role in applying the law therapeutically to support offender dignity, freedom, and well-being. In this way, a moral stance is taken and the forensic role of treatment provider and/or organizational consultant is not expected to trump the prescriptions and the proscriptions of the law.

Women parolees’ mental health in the context of reintegration

“…In therapeutic and supervisory relationships, there is a tension between treatment/social service and supervision/control (Birgden & Perlin, 2009; Gannon & Ward, 2014). For instance, mental health professionals working in correctional contexts, Gannon and Ward (2014) note, experience tension based on the ‘dual relationship’ problem, whereby practitioners experience conflicting loyalties to psychological practice on the one hand, and risk and security mandates on the other.…”

“…For instance, mental health professionals working in correctional contexts, Gannon and Ward (2014) note, experience tension based on the ‘dual relationship’ problem, whereby practitioners experience conflicting loyalties to psychological practice on the one hand, and risk and security mandates on the other. ‘Forensic psychologists work with the offender but for corrections’ (Birgden & Perlin, 2009, p. 257, emphasis in original), a dynamic that can raise concerns for the principles of ethical practice (Haag, 2006).…”

Neo-Liberal Governmentality and Babies in Prison

“…Human Rights are applicable to all individuals who live in a prison. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action (1993), states that the foundation of freedom, justice and peace means recognising the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all individuals (Birgden & Perlin, 2009). International human rights for all prisoners are safeguarded through covenants such as the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987) which gives freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.…”

“Life's hurried tangled road”: A therapeutic jurisprudence analysis of why dedicated counsel must be assigned to represent persons with mental disabilities in community settings

“…The right to dignity is memorialized in many state constitutions (see Castiglione, 2008), in multiple international human rights documents (Birgden & Perlin, 2009;Perlin, 2011a;Perlin & Dlugacz, 2009), in judicial opinions (see Daly, 2011;Rao, 2008), and in the constitutions of other nations (Chaskalson, 2011). Fair process norms such as the right to counsel "operate as substantive and procedural restraints on state power to ensure that the individual suspect is LYNCH AND PERLIN WI LEY -J 359 treated with dignity and respect" (Arenella, 1983, p. 200).…”