Are Forensic Experts Biased by the Side that Retained Them?

Are Forensic Experts Biased by the Side that Retained Them?

Forensic psychiatrists and psychologists are ethically bound to perform evaluations and give their expert opinions without partiality in court. Nevertheless, the study by Murrie et al. (2013) established that expert evaluations provided in court by the sides that retain forensic experts. The researchers established during their study that forensic experts assign risk scores depending on whether they are working for prosecution or for the defense; while defense experts assigned lower risk scores, those hired by prosecution assigned higher risk scores (Murrie et al., 2013).  This clearly proves that forensic experts are biased, depending on the side they believe is paying them. In other words, forensic psychologists are also vulnerable to biases that make them less objective; they are swayed by sides that retain them. The cognitive bias can, according to Murrie et al. (2013), be minimized by paying close attention to the way in which forensic experts practice their professions and how they are trained.

Exploitation and confidentiality are examples of ethical concerns in forensic psychology. The code of ethics in forensic psychology forbids experts from exploiting their clients. Exploitation may come in the form of asking for sexual favors, soliciting clients frightening them so that they can accept your services (Yadav, 2017). Forensic experts are also required to take precautions in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of their clients, and any disclosure must be made after getting consent or by legal authorization. Negative diagnoses also have negative implications because of their potential to cause harm to individuals. While forensic psychologists may never intend to cause harm to their clients through negative diagnoses, situations may arise when they unintentionally do so. Precautions must always be taken to ensure that negative diagnoses do not emerge because besides harming people, they also have legal implications (Yadav, 2017).

References

Murrie, Daniel & Boccaccini, Marcus & Guarnera, Lucy & Rufino, Katrina. (2013). Are Forensic Experts Biased by the Side That Retained Them?. Psychological science. 24. 10.1177/0956797613481812.

Yadav, Praveen. (2017). Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science. Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences. 7. 10.1186/s41935-017-0010-1.