Forensic Ethics and the Expert Witness

The expert witness job is often described as a balancing act: duty to clients on the one hand, duty to society on the other. Ethics and the Courtroom Expert probes the ethical dilemmas faced by the mental health professional providing expert testimony, and offers an innovative and effective approach for dealing with them.Richly illustrated with cases from medicine, psychiatry, and law, this accessibly written volume examines the common moral ground that links these separate fields, and relates forensic ethics to larger concepts of honesty and justice. In this integrative context, the expert witness is redefined as one who can balance professional with societal and personal codes in what the authors call "robust professionalism."Renowned ethicists themselves, the authors of this volume:Analyze ethical dilemmas expert witnesses commonly encounter in the courtroomExplore the thought and practice of ethical expert witnessesAddress important questions concerning confidentiality, objectivity in testimony, and the relationship between witness and attorneyIntegrate trends in moral reasoning from other fields, from classical philosophy to social contract theory to bioethicsReview standards of conduct from relevant professional organizationsApply this discussion to the most debated areas, including competence, the insanity defense, right-to-die, and death penalty casesForensic psychologists and psychiatrists as well as legal professionals will find Ethics and the Courtroom Expert stimulating reading that advances their fields. This book can also serve as an ancillary text to add depth to psychology training or classes in ethics.