Forensic Assessment - Assignment Example

Forensic Assessment Introduction Forensic assessment is a situation whereby psychologists are hired and given an opportunity to give response to certain legal issues that are specific to their profession. The legal issues can be based on cases such as insanity and competency. Psychologists are given an opportunity to collect information through interviewing the immediate family members, friends, witnesses and attorney. After this, the psychologists review the records like psychological records and medical history of the case and then administer tests that are psychologically related.

With this, they are able to have a good opinion thus able to respond to the question. Clinical assessment on the other hand involves the patient asking questions that are related to their diagnosis process. In relation to forensic and clinical assessment, this paper will explore the difference between the two and the forensic styles professional psychologists consider to use and how to assess them (Graham, 2003).Differences between forensic assessment and clinical assessment For clinical assessment, the client involved poses his or her own questions that are related to the treatment, while in forensic assessment; the client is referred or ordered by court for assistance in legal issues.

Thus, in forensic assessment, the psychologist and the client have an adversarial relationship which is different from clinical assessment. Forensic assessment gives a chance to the psychologist to respond to questions thus helping the individual, other than clinical assessment whereby a psychologist does not play an important role in evaluation of the case (Graham, 2003). In forensic assessment, evaluation of the presented case can take place anywhere and is not restricted only to the psychologist office.

Therefore, evaluation can be done in the jails and other correctional places in such a condition. Forensic assessment can be said to be more accurate as the legal question is well responded to through thorough evaluation process although, the client can be misleading in presenting the case if he or she has not gotten the accurate idea. Forensic assessment can consume a lot of time due to the long procedure required for evaluation of the question posed as opposed to clinical assessment which has a much reduced procedure for evaluating the question that has been posed by the patient (Graham, 2003).

Response styles forensic psychology professional needs to consider, and how they are assessed Response styles for forensic psychologist are a core issue. This is because; it helps them to handle the questions flawlessly. Some of the areas that may need response styles include insanity, competence and violence. In such scenarios, the instruments to be used are very vital. These instruments can be assessed through their psychometrical and theoretical soundness. The conclusions are also a key area to be considered as some conclusions may be ruining instead of helping the patient.

Thus, conclusions can be assessed through their validation through scientific methods. The research method used should be valid and all the collected data from the research should be recorded (Van, 2002). In responding to such cases, the psychologist has to have the scientific data collected which, can be assessed through the evidence of how much the professional is able to defend the information collected. Should the professional be able to defend the data, then the data is proved to be valid but, when the data proves difficult for the professional to interpret, then the data is not valid.

Applicability and validity of the response should also be considered. This can be done through testing the validity scientifically through proven methods. The test done should be applicable to the research, that is, the result recorded of the observed behavior should much the one that is observed during testing (Van, 2002).ReferenceVan, D. B. (2002). Forensic psychology: From classroom to courtroom. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Graham, J. R. (2003). Handbook of Psychology, Volume 10, Assessment Psychology.

Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.