Document Detail


Empathy or objectivity: The forensic examiner's dilemma?
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20821814     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Process    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Examiners are ethically bound to manage personal biases that may infect their expert opinions. Empathy-related issues that lead to bias in forensic assessment of adjudicative competence arise in evaluation interactions with defendants (therapeutic empathy) and from examiners' personal views of issues that these assessments address (empathy-bias). This article first summarizes flexible adjudicative competence legal standards that invite bias by forensic experts. Then, after reviewing the therapeutic empathy issue, the article examines empathy-bias and its effects on the development of expert opinions. The authors assert that, properly managed, the often assumed dilemma between empathy and objectivity is a false one. Using case law, research psychology, and professional guidelines, the authors first emphasize that examiners must actively generate plausible alternative explanations of evaluation data as they form their opinions, not afterwards. Then the authors present a practical model to help experts develop opinions that best explain the data while minimizing empathy-bias.
Authors:
Daniel W Shuman; John A Zervopoulos
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Behavioral sciences & the law     Volume:  28     ISSN:  1099-0798     ISO Abbreviation:  Behav Sci Law     Publication Date:  2010 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-10-19     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8404861     Medline TA:  Behav Sci Law     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  585-602     Citation Subset:  IM    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Affiliation:
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275-0116, USA. dshuman@mail.smu.edu
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