Review this week’s Learning Resources to familiarize yourself with the roles and responsibilities of forensic psychology professionals in the civil court.
Based on your professional interests, choose one of the following topics that pertains to the civil court:
Civil Commitment
Note: Choose either civil commitment for dangerousness to self/others or civil commitment for dangerousness to the community of a sex offender. Also, you must choose a case that occurred within your state (or choose a state of interest if you live outside of the U.S.) and be prepared to comment on the specific state laws in reference to the case.
Psychological Autopsies
Sexual Harassment
Workers Compensation/Disability
Identify a well-known case that is applicable to the topic you selected and research it on the internet.
Post the following:
Description of the topic and case you selected and a brief explanation of why you chose them
Response to the prompt for the topic you selected (below)
Note: Use information about the case you selected to illustrate your points.
Civil Commitment
What are the roles and responsibilities of the forensic psychology professionals in a civil commitment case?
Psychological Autopsies
What are the roles and responsibilities of forensic psychology professionals in a psychological autopsy?
Sexual Harassment
What are the roles and responsibilities of the forensic psychology professionals in a sexual harassment case?
Workers Compensation/Disability
What are the roles and responsibilities of forensic psychology professionals in an evaluation of a workman’s compensation or disability case? List the psychological issues that are assessed as part of this evaluation, including examining possible secondary gains (e.g., money, time off from work).
Note: Your posts should be substantial (2–4 paragraphs), supported with scholarly evidence from your research and/or the Learning Resources, and properly cited using APA style. Personal anecdotes are acceptable within meaningful responses but cannot stand alone as a response.
Reading-
Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2022). Introduction to forensic psychology: Research and application (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Chapter 4, “Consulting and Testifying”
“Trial and Litigation Consultation”
“Expert Testimony”
Chapter 5, “Consulting with Criminal Courts”
“Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators”
Chapter 6, “Family Law and Other Forms of Civil Litigation”
Discussion Topics
Although you are welcome to read all of the articles below, you are only required to read the article(s) listed under the topic you have selected for this week’s Discussion.
Civil Commitment
Testa, M., & West, S. G. (2010). Civil commitment in the United States.Links to an external site. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 7(10), 30–40. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3392176/
Psychological Autopsies
Bernstein, S. D. (2011, July 25). Speaking from beyond the grave: How psychological autopsies can help families find closure.Links to an external site. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shrinking-crime/201107/speaking-beyond-the-grave-how-psychological-autopsies-can-help-families
Sexual Harassment
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Sexual harassmentLinks to an external site.. https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment
Workers Compensation/Disability
Harris, G. A., & Zehr, M. (2014). The role of psychological evaluators and therapists in workers compensation cases.Links to an external site. Annals of Psychotherapy and Integrative Health. 1-10.
