Submit your evaluation report of treatment programs for violent and non-violent offenders and victims. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final project. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback

Running head: LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 0

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Matthew Rosario

Southern New Hampshire University

Legal and ethical considerations

Ethics form an important part of our daily activities since they form certain thresholds that must be adhered to create a better environment for individuals who are interacting. Ethics, therefore, focus on moral concerns that are involved in a certain situation and thus dictates how activities are supposed to undertake to ensure that everyone is considered within the set moral and ethical standards. Counseling is a serious engagement, which requires significant consideration of ethical principles to guide the relationship between and counselor and the clients. There are some ethical issues, which arise in different situations during the counselling process. How these ethical challenges are handled is very important since it helps in outlining the professional level within the counselling profession. Ethical issues are moral obligations that bind a given organization to a certain code of ethics. Having ethical issues to guide an organization presents the best chance of working in harmony between the business and all the stakeholders involved. Ethical issues differ depending on daily mortality. All the ethical issues revolve around how individuals or business organizations are responsible for protecting the rights and needs of other parties who have an interest in their products and services (Pozgar, 2014).

Legal and ethical considerations

The treatment of violent, nonviolent and trauma victims has to be within the legal constraints where the process conforms to certain ethical considerations, which are put in place to ensure that the treatment process of each falls within the recommended threshold by psychological associations. The treatment process among psychologists and counselors is clearly stipulated in various psychological associations, which regulate the performance and the level of engagement between counselors and psychologists with their respective clients. Therefore, there are some ethical issues that are very important since they dictate the general engagement and how the whole process spurns out (Gunn and Taylor, 2014).

Confidentiality

In both cases, confidentiality is paramount and is key to having any successful treatment plan. For an effective treatment plan, there is significant which is shared regarding the condition of the client. In this case, the counselor or psychologist who is engaged needs to ensure that any information relating to the case at hand is highly engaged to ensure that the process remains ethical (Tribe and Morrissey, 2015).

Relationship boundary issues

The boundaries between the client and counselor need to be clearly outlined to avoid any cases of conflict of interest. An ethical procedure ensures that the relationship between a client and a psychological officer is purely defined to avoid bringing the whole process into questionable aspects whereby their conduct is questioned to have violated critical ethical points (Tribe and Morrissey, 2015).

Cultural values

It is important to understand the critical cultural values that are exhibited by a given client to avoid incorporating different treatment strategies, which are contrary to their cultural values hence it may be seen as an offensive move. Thus, it is important for a counselor to develop better engagement strategies to find such information before embarking on the general treatment plan (Pozgar, 2014).

The ethical values that are involved in treating violent offenders, nonviolent offenders and trauma victims follows a similar pattern since both of them require psychological attention and hence even though the processes may be undertaken differently. The key ethical issues remain among all the groups that are being engaged, as the key aspect is to ensure that the engagement techniques that are put in place comply with ethical standards that are outlined (Gunn and Taylor, 2014 ).

Ethical guidelines

The American Psychological Association provides significant ethical guidelines, which are very important in treating different types of clients based on their background. The ethical guidelines have been significantly developed into different standards, which the psychologists and counselors should comply with to have ethical treatment process among their different clients. These ethical guidelines are very straightforward since they focus on key aspects that are involved in treating different types of clients. The ethical principles as developed by American psychological association include beneficence and nonmaleficence, which focuses on a psychologist to offer services that benefit others (American Psychological Association, 2015).

Fidelity and Responsibility are another guidelines that inspire psychologists to cultivate a professional environment where trust is key. Other guidelines include integrity, justice, and respect for other people’s rights and dignity. These guidelines are very important since they help in shaping the relationship between psychologists and a client by considering different aspects, which can ensure that there is better engagement between the two parties for a positive outcome (American Psychological Association, 2015).

Federal laws

Different federal laws have been put in place to ensure that there is a better way where different groups of clients can be significantly treated within legal constraints. Therefore, there are different ways through which non-violent offenders, violent offenders, and trauma victims are supposed to be engaged according to federal laws considerations.

Nonviolent offenders

The law is very clear that even offenders are still protected by the same law that convicted them, however; the developments should be made to ensure that these offenders adopt a clear and a well-outlined approach that can be beneficial to them. The United States parole commission is a commission that was formed to promote public safety, strive for justice and fairness as well as release, and supervise offenders under its jurisdiction. This commission ensures that offenders are well engaged to transform them into better citizens through various psychological centers where they can transform upon implementation of a better treatment plan, which is ethically and legally binding. The prison litigation reform act is another significant federal law that is very critical in ensuring that the rights of offenders are monitored as well as ensuring that they are effectively and successfully engaged to ensure they can reform (Tribe and Morrissey, 2015).

Violent offenders

This type of offenders is relatively difficult to handle, and thus the federal laws that are put in place are very strict and are aimed to incorporate better correctional facilities so that they can be significantly engaged since most of them have psychological issues, which influence their actions thus they require more attention. Adam Walsh Protection Act is one of such federal laws that outline how clearly a violent offender should be engaged to transform their actions. The law focuses on child sex offenders who are a danger to the society thus requiring much attention (Pope, 2015 ).

Trauma victim

Trauma victims are individuals suffering from various trauma cases, which mostly include child abuse, domestic violence, and torture in general. There are various federal laws, which are in place to significantly engage such population to ensure that they are treated effectively. The protection of children from sexual predators act contains significant engagement points, which are key in providing a roadmap in helping children who are sexually abused to avoid trauma cases. The Wetterling Act is another legislation, which protects the society from a group of dangerous offenders who pose a great danger to the society while also outlining a different treatment plan that can help the victims of such cases (Pozgar, 2014).

Supreme Court Cases

Nonviolent offenders

The Supreme Court has provided a clear roadmap on how to engage nonviolent offenders in decision rulings that have been made over the years. This is treated as minor offenders who need to be integrated well back into the society. Drug traffickers and those caught in possession of illegal drugs are many individuals who are significantly engaged under nonviolent offenders. Individuals suffering from addiction need to be significantly engaged, and the Supreme Court has significantly outlined this fact through numerous cases that have been tried at the Supreme Court thus setting the precedence of engaging with such cases (Pope, 2015 ).

Violent offenders

This is a more dangerous group, which needs more attention due to their nature of the offenses committed. Violent offenders are a risk to the society, and the Supreme Court in numerous rulings has significantly outlined this aspect thus proposing that there is need to ensure that a better treatment and engagement plan is developed. This will help in ensuring that the whole process is effective and thus should not be hurried as such since everyone needs to be given a chance to reinvent his or her life (Pope, 2015).

Trauma victims

The Supreme Court has been at the forefront in promoting better engagement strategies of trauma victims. The Supreme Court is putting in place significant efforts to ensure that victims of torture or any form of violence are significantly engaged by some organizations such as Human rights organization to ensure that they are not negatively impacted by their experiences (Pope, 2015).

References

American Psychological Association. (2015). Guidelines for clinical supervision in health service psychology. The American Psychologist, 70(1), 33.

Gunn , J., & Taylor, P. (2014). Forensic psychiatry: clinical, legal and ethical issues. CRC Press.

Pope, K. S. (2015). Are the American Psychological Association’s Detainee Interrogation Policies Ethical and Effective?. Zeitschrift für Psychologie.

Pozgar, G. D. (2014). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Tribe, R., & Morrissey, J. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook of professional and ethical practice for psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists. Routledge.