Ethical Dilemmas In Corrections
Copyright 1994 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
0735-7028/94/$3.00
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice
1994, Vol. 25, No. 2, 161-167
Ethical and Professional Conflicts in Correctional Psychology
Linda E. Weinberger and Shoba Sreenivasan
The role of the mental health professional in a prison setting has changed to reflect the prevailing ideology of the correctional administration that deemphasizes treatment and emphasizes security and custodial concerns. As a consequence, mental health professionals who work in corrections have experienced unique ethical and professional conflicts. Standards were developed to address the conflicts and provide guidelines for professional conduct, but dilemmas continue to …show more content…
Correctional administrators and workers may view themselves as professional managers whose primary concern involves maintaining security and addressing issues of overcrowding and day-to-day activities of meals, work details, and orderly unit functioning
(Smith, 1987). Corrections workers, perhaps rightly, may view themselves as the "backbone" of the prison, and mental health
professionals as playing an ancillary role (Hilkey, 1988). Within this context, psychological symptoms and treatment then may be viewed either as irrelevant or as interfering with the orderly maintenance of an institution. Additionally, if correctional staff perceive disruptive conduct as a manipulative attempt by an inmate to escape punishment, the staff may have a negative reaction to mental health professionals "psychologizing" the behavior. This in turn may foster a generalization that psychological symptoms are simulated for secondary gain (Adams, 1985;
Nelson &Berger, 1988).
This tendency for the correctional staff to ignore, dismiss, or misidentify problematic behavior may be a function of their lack of training. Moreover, some mental health professionals …show more content…
Summary
As the Criminal Justice System has modified its view of the role corrections should play in addressing offenders, the expectation of what psychologists can and should do within corrections has also been affected. In recent years, the sociopolitical
166
UNDA E. WEINBERGER AND SHOBA SREENIVASAN
climate has been skewed toward harsher sentencing, with the public by and large less sympathetic toward the needs of offenders and more concerned with keeping such individuals out of the community. In response, prisons have shifted away from providing adequate rehabilitative services to inmates.
Prisons have continued to employ psychologists; however, their traditional role of providing rehabilitation to prisoners has changed to include institutional concerns of security and incapacitation. Standards were developed in an attempt to offer the psychologist guidelines in making this transition, that is, being sensitive to the security needs of the institution while preserving the clinician 's therapeutic alliance. Despite the existence of these standards, ethical and professional dilemmas continue to exist as illustrated in our vignettes. Underlying reasons for
0735-7028/94/$3.00
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice
1994, Vol. 25, No. 2, 161-167
Ethical and Professional Conflicts in Correctional Psychology
Linda E. Weinberger and Shoba Sreenivasan
The role of the mental health professional in a prison setting has changed to reflect the prevailing ideology of the correctional administration that deemphasizes treatment and emphasizes security and custodial concerns. As a consequence, mental health professionals who work in corrections have experienced unique ethical and professional conflicts. Standards were developed to address the conflicts and provide guidelines for professional conduct, but dilemmas continue to …show more content…
Correctional administrators and workers may view themselves as professional managers whose primary concern involves maintaining security and addressing issues of overcrowding and day-to-day activities of meals, work details, and orderly unit functioning
(Smith, 1987). Corrections workers, perhaps rightly, may view themselves as the "backbone" of the prison, and mental health
professionals as playing an ancillary role (Hilkey, 1988). Within this context, psychological symptoms and treatment then may be viewed either as irrelevant or as interfering with the orderly maintenance of an institution. Additionally, if correctional staff perceive disruptive conduct as a manipulative attempt by an inmate to escape punishment, the staff may have a negative reaction to mental health professionals "psychologizing" the behavior. This in turn may foster a generalization that psychological symptoms are simulated for secondary gain (Adams, 1985;
Nelson &Berger, 1988).
This tendency for the correctional staff to ignore, dismiss, or misidentify problematic behavior may be a function of their lack of training. Moreover, some mental health professionals …show more content…
Summary
As the Criminal Justice System has modified its view of the role corrections should play in addressing offenders, the expectation of what psychologists can and should do within corrections has also been affected. In recent years, the sociopolitical
166
UNDA E. WEINBERGER AND SHOBA SREENIVASAN
climate has been skewed toward harsher sentencing, with the public by and large less sympathetic toward the needs of offenders and more concerned with keeping such individuals out of the community. In response, prisons have shifted away from providing adequate rehabilitative services to inmates.
Prisons have continued to employ psychologists; however, their traditional role of providing rehabilitation to prisoners has changed to include institutional concerns of security and incapacitation. Standards were developed in an attempt to offer the psychologist guidelines in making this transition, that is, being sensitive to the security needs of the institution while preserving the clinician 's therapeutic alliance. Despite the existence of these standards, ethical and professional dilemmas continue to exist as illustrated in our vignettes. Underlying reasons for