Choosing the Lesser of Two Evils: A Framework for Considering the Ethics of Competency-for-Execution Evaluations

摘要

Prisoners sentenced to death must be competent for execution before they can actually be executed (Ford v. Wainwright, 1986). The decision for many mental health professionals whether to conduct competence-for-execution evaluations may be fraught with complex ethical issues. Mental health professionals who do not personally support capital punishment may have a particularly difficult decision to make in this regard but should seriously consider the consequences of their decisions. This article applies Bush, Connell, and Denney's (200615. Bush , S. S. , Connell , M. A. and Denney , R. L. 2006 . Ethical practice in forensic psychology: A systematic model for decision making , Washington, DC : American Psychological Association . [CrossRef]View all references) eight-step ethical decision-making model to the ethicality of deciding on or abstaining from conducting competence for execution evaluations. This article does not propose what decisions an individual evaluator should make regarding this work but rather presents a systematic guide for mental health professionals (particularly those who do not support capital punishment) to consider.View full textDownload full textKEYWORDScompetence, competency for execution, objectivity, ethical decision making, forensic evaluation, death penalty attitudes, capital punishmentRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15228930903446724