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Forensic Psychology Overview
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0:03
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Hi everyone This week we are looking at chapter 16; our last chapter of the Semester! We're looking at the law psychology and society in the mental health profession so we're looking at forensic psychology here for this chapter. Elisa Setmire (she/her): How the legal system influences psychologists and how psychologists can influence the legal system.
0:25
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So we will talk about both sides of that coin again in the realm of forensic psychology So this is the branch of psychology concerned with the intersections. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Between practicing psychology and research and the judicial system or the law, and so, as I mentioned, there are kind of two sides to this coin, there is how psychology affects the law.
0:46
Elisa Setmire (she/her): And then, how the law effects psychology and we'll look at both of them, I just want to put off right. Elisa Setmire (she/her): put out there right off the BAT and I am not a lawyer don't have a law related background, this can get very, very tricky in legal proceedings so i'm going to give you kind of some of the general.
1:03
Elisa Setmire (she/her): verdicts that we can get in some of those situations, but this can obviously get very, very involved in oftentimes when people have cases involving the law. Elisa Setmire (she/her): You find that they have multiple verdicts and multiple. Elisa Setmire (she/her): You know cases and trials, over time, especially in some of those bigger legal proceedings are some of the bigger cases that happen so just to.
1:23
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Just to put that out there, but we will talk about some of the general things that we can see within this branch, which is a very popular and interesting branch of psychology.
1:33
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So when somebody commits a crime in order to arrive adjust punishments the courts and the legal system need to know if people are responsible for the crimes they committed. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And also, if they can defend themselves in court right, and if they aren't able to defend themselves, or they aren't responsible or aware of what they committed.
1:55
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Then it doesn't feel like it would be appropriate to try them in the usual way or to punish them in the usual way. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And so what happens is when people are judged to be mentally unstable they're oftentimes sent. Elisa Setmire (she/her): To a psychiatric institution or a psychiatric hospital in order to get themselves, maybe back under balance or medication or whatever it is to get them stable.
2:18
Elisa Setmire (she/her): And then they're able to stand trial now when we're talking about altering. Elisa Setmire (she/her): verdicts in order to make sure that were arriving adjust punishments were in the realm of something we can call criminal commitment. Elisa Setmire (she/her): A legal process by which people accused of a crime are instead judged as mentally unstable and sent to a mental health facility for treatment, so if somebody comes in.
2:41
Elisa Setmire (she/her): And to court right and they've committed a crime in this case let's go with that let's go with murder right let's go with a that they committed murder. Elisa Setmire (she/her): We are going to first try and assess can they appreciate the crime that they committed and then also the other part of that is are they able to defend themselves and understand the charges against them.
3:00
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now there are quite a few different verdicts that can come up when somebody has psychological circumstances that need to be considered. Elisa Setmire (she/her): One of the ones that most people know about as probably the most popularly known is a verdict called not guilty by reason of insanity.
3:17
Elisa Setmire (she/her): How a person can plead insanity right they can say that at the time of committing a crime because of a mental disorder, they did not know right from wrong or could not resist an uncontrollable impulse to act. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now insanity is not a mental illness it's a legal term it's a legal term stipulating that somebody at the time of committing the crime.
3:40
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Had a mental illness which caused them to not know right from wrong or they couldn't resist some kind of uncontrollable impulse maybe a voice was telling them to do something or. Elisa Setmire (she/her): They were hallucinating or having delusions and couldn't tell what was real from what wasn't real, this is very commonly linked to people who have schizophrenia.
4:01
Elisa Setmire (she/her): or past history of hospitalization extreme abuse oftentimes people who are not able to tell reality, apart from fiction, so a lot of psychotic features and disorders tend to be. Elisa Setmire (she/her): The ones that show up here, this is not a very commonly granted verdict less than 1% of the time, people are actually granted this not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.
4:26
Elisa Setmire (she/her): But a lot of people will plead it, and so what has to happen is there's a whole panel usually of psychologists or psychiatrists or expert witnesses. Elisa Setmire (she/her): who are going to try and decide if this person was seen or insane now somebody is deemed to be insane and we're going to. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Try them in a different way or arrive at a different vertical then if they could appreciate what they did, and could defend themselves and and so on.
4:52
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So a lot of people criticize this for saying it's not fair that people are getting off easy. Elisa Setmire (she/her): But oftentimes if somebody is found not guilty by reason of insanity they are sent to a mental health facility there criminally committed.
5:05
Elisa Setmire (she/her): And sometimes people are committed for years and years and years or even life as they're trying to receive treatment to get back to into a stable position so again, this is granted very rarely less than 1% of the time, but people often criticize it for not being fair.
5:23
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Some other common verdicts that we might see in these are often a little more commonly granted guilty, but mentally ill, so somebody might. Elisa Setmire (she/her): be found guilty of murder right you committed the murder, we believe that you were aware of what you were doing you were able to appreciate right from wrong and understand your actions in the moment.
5:46
Elisa Setmire (she/her): But you do have a mental illness and we feel that you should be treated during your imprisonment so someone who is guilty, but mentally ill goes to jail. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And they will oftentimes will receive mental health treatment while they are imprisoned in jail. Elisa Setmire (she/her): That one's pretty commonly granted verdict, we can also have something called guilty with diminished capacity, again we find you guilty.
6:06
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Your but your mental dysfunction is viewed as an extenuating circumstance that the Court should take into consideration. Elisa Setmire (she/her): When they're trying to determine the precise crime, of which you are guilty and the sentencing that they're going to give you. Elisa Setmire (she/her): So instead of maybe finding you guilty of first degree murder, maybe they find you guilty of manslaughter so.
6:27
Elisa Setmire (she/her): you're guilty, but because of that mental illness, he wants to take that into account we're going to give you a lesser verdict a lesser sentence or lesser charges. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And because we do believe that it played a role and so these are ones that we see quite a bit maybe more commonly the not guilty by reason of insanity. Elisa Setmire (she/her): One other thing that we might find here is that somebody is found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
6:53
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So, if this happens, maybe something happened between the crime, they committed and the legal proceedings legal proceedings and court trials can take a long time to get going. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And so maybe the crime itself caused them to snap or have a psychotic break something happened in between, and a person is in a mentally unstable state.
7:13
Elisa Setmire (she/her): they're not able to understand the charges being brought up against them they're not able to prepare an adequate Defense with their attorney. Elisa Setmire (she/her): When people are found mentally and competent to stand trial they go to a psychiatric facility and mental health facility and the oftentimes are there for weeks to months to years.
7:32
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Depending on how long it takes to get them competent to go back and then go through the legal proceedings as usual. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And so, sometimes, this can be a very quick process of getting them, you know regulated on their medication or getting some treatment. Elisa Setmire (she/her): and other times this can be a lifelong thing where someone never hits the point of being competent enough to stand truck.
7:54
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So, in all of these situations that we're talking about here psychology is influencing the law. Elisa Setmire (she/her): we're seeing that because somebody has a mental illness, because somebody wasn't able to appreciate right from wrong because they were insane at the time of the crime. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Right, we should view them a little bit differently and take those circumstances into consideration, now there been some very, very famous trials.
8:19
Elisa Setmire (she/her): really well known cases of people with some of these verdicts that have come up you'll be looking at it, this this week, for your discussion. Elisa Setmire (she/her): But just a few of them just to give you a little preview and and again, you will be focusing on this, for your discussion this week.
8:35
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Some of the very famous names and I don't want to say too much, because this is what you will be doing but gypsy rose blanchard in and Nicholas go to john right a very famous example the gypsy rose case. Elisa Setmire (she/her): A few more here, Andrea Yeats, who was a the woman who drowned her five children suffering from postpartum psychosis Jeffrey dahmer another very famous case involving insanity again Wisconsin grave robber.
9:07
Elisa Setmire (she/her): john Wayne gacy the clown killer we have john Hinckley jr Kenneth beyond key Francine Hughes, who said her husband on fire, while he was sleeping as a result of years of abuse. Elisa Setmire (she/her): David berkowitz few more here and nisa where and Morgan geyser these were the slender man stabbings this one was pretty recent, just like the gypsy rose example mark David Chapman lorena bobbitt probably one of the most famous names for cutting something off.
9:41
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Then we have the unabomber Ted Kaczynski and James Holmes, the the Colorado joker killer So these are all very big names and famous. Elisa Setmire (she/her): cases involving some form of insanity verdict or extenuating circumstances and what you'll be doing in the discussion this week is you'll be picking one of these individuals.
10:04
Elisa Setmire (she/her): and talking a little bit about their background their crimes and their verdict, so I hope you enjoy the chance to do that a lot of people are very fascinated. Elisa Setmire (she/her): By serial killers and insanity plea cases so you'll have a chance to play around with that a little bit this week, but this is a fairly scary slide of folks staring at me here, you know definitely a lot of very brutal things that were committed by the people on this page.
10:32
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So there's one other one other side to this coin, and that is how the law effects psychology so we talked about criminal commitment, we can also have something called civil commitment. Elisa Setmire (she/her): A legal process where an individual can be forced to undergo some kind of mental health treatment.
10:50
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now if somebody is a danger to themselves or a danger to others, and they meet a couple of those criteria, people can actually be forced into at least a very short stint of mental health treatment, and so, if you've ever heard the term.
11:06
Elisa Setmire (she/her): that's the police code for somebody being held or detained against their will, because they were a danger to themselves or others, and you can hold someone for up to 72 hours. Elisa Setmire (she/her): If they meet that criteria, along with a few others which we'll talk about in a moment. Elisa Setmire (she/her): But this side of the coin is protecting patients rights So these are things that are being exerted or influenced on therapists and clinicians.
11:31
Elisa Setmire (she/her): People practicing psychology to make sure that they aren't violating the rights of their patients or clients. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now, this can be a very fine line patients have a right to treatment, but they have a right to refuse treatment, so you can't force somebody to do something against their will, but you also can't not treat them.
11:52
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So this is a very delicate balance, you have the right to treatment patients have the right to receive adequate treatment. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now, for many, many years, people were locked up in asylums and state hospitals, where they didn't receive adequate treatment and they couldn't release themselves. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And that's not something that can happen anymore if you're committed in voluntarily it's typically for a short time.
12:15
Elisa Setmire (she/her): And because you don't have the capacity to make those decisions for yourself, but you do have the right to adequate treatment they need to help you and help you and adequately and sufficient in ways that are appropriate for what you're experiencing.
12:30
Elisa Setmire (she/her): You do on the flip side of that they'll have the right to refuse treatment so let's say that you are. Elisa Setmire (she/her): hospitalized and they would like to give you medication, you have the right to say you don't want that medication, or you don't want electroconvulsive therapy.
12:43
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now, this could be overwritten by a family member or a doctor, if you aren't of sound mind or judgment to make these decisions for yourself, so this is a really difficult balance of trying to protect patients rights. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Without can you don't want to deprive people of opportunities for recovery, but you don't want to force things on them either so just trying to make sure that people get adequate care.
13:08
Elisa Setmire (she/her): You can't there's so many movies, I see this in shows all the time if you've ever seen the movie unseen was a really interesting show about being. Elisa Setmire (she/her): committed against your will kind of being tricked into being committed and then not being able to be released.
13:22
Elisa Setmire (she/her): You know a lot of these things are very fictional you do have a lot of rights as a patient, especially if you have checked yourself into a facility you typically have the ability to check yourself out as well.
13:34
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now, on the last slide last slide of the Semester wild I can't believe that we're here right at, but there are a lot of ethical guidelines for people who practice. Elisa Setmire (she/her): therapy or counseling services any kind of mental health profession and we call these the code of ethics and if you go on to graduate school to become a counselor or therapist or.
13:57
Elisa Setmire (she/her): A social worker or school psychologist you will learn all about these different ethical guidelines these principles and rules of ethical behavior. Elisa Setmire (she/her): designed to guide your decisions and actions and protect the rights of your clients. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now, this is a difficult to often a lot of Gray area in here, so, in general, as long as you are making your best faith effort to not harm someone you are.
14:22
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Discussing and collaborating and you know, trying to get the opinion of other people, and you report things when they need to be reported you're generally in a good spot. Elisa Setmire (she/her): But there are definitely things you can do as a mental health professional that violate the code of ethics and they can have intense consequences such as losing your license being fined going to jail.
14:47
Elisa Setmire (she/her): The a range is quite a bit depending on on what you have done, but some of the different ethical guidelines, I have a list of them here. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And there are of course way more psychologists are permitted to offer advice. Elisa Setmire (she/her): seems super basic right that's what you go to a psychologist for but psychologists are permitted to give you their opinion offer advice, they can go on TV.
15:09
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Or the radio or whatever, and offer advice to other people that is permitted. Elisa Setmire (she/her): As long as they acknowledge their limitations and stay within their knowledge base so if you don't know the answer you need to acknowledge that if you're not comfortable working with someone.
15:23
Elisa Setmire (she/her): You need to acknowledge that, but you are able to offer your advice and opinion, you cannot conduct fraudulent research or publish false data, so you can't. Elisa Setmire (she/her): publish things and manipulate the data, you could lose your license or just be shamed and kind of shunned in the professional community. Elisa Setmire (she/her): psychologists, to make evaluations and testifying in legal cases must base their assessments on sufficient information.
15:48
Elisa Setmire (she/her): And substantiate their findings appropriately So if you are being an expert witness, you have to have sufficient information. Elisa Setmire (she/her): You need to make sure that you are unbiased and performing these assessments in an appropriate and professional manner, psychologists may not take advantage of clients or students sexually or otherwise a lot of rules about what we call dual boundaries oh Hello.
16:15
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Oh, like the the fun of of teaching from home i've got i've got a cat ladies, if you lay down, you can stay all right um.
16:25
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Hopefully you can still take me seriously with my absolutely adorable cat right.
16:31
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So uh there are a lot of rules, as I was saying about dual boundaries, so you can't have a dual relationship with a client or a student so.
16:43
Elisa Setmire (she/her): it's totally distracting me right i'll try and go in so, for example, if I were still a therapist I couldn't be your therapist. Elisa Setmire (she/her): and your teacher right, that would be a dual boundary I would have too much power too many dynamics with you. Elisa Setmire (she/her): You can't be in a relationship with a therapist or a relationship with a professor or somebody who has that power dynamic over you.
17:05
Elisa Setmire (she/her): And there are a lot of rules about relationships between clients and therapists and there are a lot of rules in general, but about relationships specifically. Elisa Setmire (she/her): If you are encouraged to avoid dual power dynamics or rules as much as possible, so if you live in a small town, this might be a little bit tricky but you shouldn't be. Elisa Setmire (she/her): Having someone who's your client and they're also your dentist right or.
17:32
Elisa Setmire (she/her): For example, when I was becoming a counselor I was in a small town, and I was still in college, I was working at starbucks. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And I started having some of my clients come into starbucks and there was like this really awkward power dynamic. Elisa Setmire (she/her): That I needed to shift, and so I had to stop working there to try and avoid those circumstances, but you need to try and not have power dynamics with other people.
17:56
Elisa Setmire (she/her): There is actually a rule that you have to wait three years between when you saw a client and entering into a romantic or sexual relationship with them, so a mark your calendar. Elisa Setmire (she/her): You have to wait a period of time to make sure that you no longer have that connection, and that power dynamic over them so just something to.
18:18
Elisa Setmire (she/her): To take very seriously the media loves to portray therapist breaking this boundary, but it is something that could cost you your license and more right so it's very, very serious. Elisa Setmire (she/her): The other really big one on here is confidentiality, you have a ethical obligation to not divulge information that you obtained from a client.
18:40
Elisa Setmire (she/her): So if a client tells you things that stuff is told to you in confidence you're not allowed to share that with anybody else the exception is you could share that with another therapist. Elisa Setmire (she/her): therapists oftentimes will confer and collaborate with other therapists they they will sit down and debrief talk about diagnoses and kind of go through their cases with other therapists.
19:04
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Because those therapists are also bound by confidentiality very common for therapists to go to therapy themselves. Elisa Setmire (she/her): For this reason, and to have a chance to process things because they're not allowed to share with other people. Elisa Setmire (she/her): And I have to tell you personally, this was something that was always so hard for me, I would want to come home and tell my partner all about my day.
19:23
Elisa Setmire (she/her): But I couldn't because those things are bound by confidentiality they can't be shared, now there are some exceptions to that as a therapist you have a duty to protect. Elisa Setmire (she/her): So you have to break confidentiality, under certain conditions, if somebody is a danger to themselves or a danger to others, you have a duty to protect them and to tell someone so you have a duty to make sure that they get help.
19:48
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Or to contact on someone to let them know that they're in danger, so somebody has like an active desire to harm someone else you have a duty to warn that. Elisa Setmire (she/her): The other examples that you might hear of here are if there are cases of child or elder abuse, you also have a duty to step in and protect.
20:07
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now really wild and this is such an interesting example your therapist let's say you tell your therapist that you murdered 20 people last week. Elisa Setmire (she/her): They legally cannot share that information with anyone you could divulge to them that you murdered multiple people and they have to keep that information confidential right it's like a confession think about it that way.
20:31
Elisa Setmire (she/her): Now if there's are there are ways around this, but if they said i'm going to murder 20 people tomorrow. Elisa Setmire (she/her): completely different situation you have a duty to warn those people and to to call protective services and take action. Elisa Setmire (she/her): So this can get really, really tricky, which is why therapists oftentimes confer and discuss with other therapists to make sure that they're following the guidelines and rules.
20:54
Elisa Setmire (she/her): But you have a duty to protect that information so that people feel safe in telling you it if they knew that you were going to share it, it may make it much harder for them to want you to open up so a lots of cases of. Elisa Setmire (she/her): circumstances where these things have to be kind of altered, or you have to take that into consideration, but for the most part the things that you share with the therapists stay between you and them.
21:18
Elisa Setmire (she/her): As long as it doesn't violate that that duty to protect so that is it for for this chapter, that is the last chapter in our class. Elisa Setmire (she/her): rowley has made himself very comfortable so sorry about that, but hopefully it was it was cute and not too distracting.
21:37
Elisa Setmire (she/her): For me, as well as my favorite cat, but please make sure that you get going on all the other required weekly materials and get everything done before the Posted deadlines have a wonderful break and I hope all of you. Elisa Setmire (she/her): just have a great break take care of yourselves, and I hope I see you in the in the future.
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