Rediscovery of Forensic Psychology From the Viewpoint of Interpersonal Relations

In this article, the author describes the recent domain of clinical psychologists who perform assessments for courts in the United States, and criticize the tendency of forensic assessments to reduce human events to capacities. Methods of assessing legal competence, such as in relation to psychiatri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Japanese Journal of Mental Health Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 49 - 57
Main Author UKITA, Tetsuji
Format Journal Article
LanguageJapanese
Published THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH 30.06.1997
Subjects
forensic psychology
psychological assessment
relation
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Summary:In this article, the author describes the recent domain of clinical psychologists who perform assessments for courts in the United States, and criticize the tendency of forensic assessments to reduce human events to capacities. Methods of assessing legal competence, such as in relation to psychiatric patients' decision-making capacities, are the subject of many recent papers on forensic psychology in the United States. Legal competence focuses on the individual's functional capacities, and legal practice values individualism. But the author questions this application in forensic psychological practice from the viewpoint of interpersonal relationships. It is only through relation that capacities have developed, and the reality of social contexts should not be ignored. The relation picture and the capacity picture complement each other in achievement of a full description of human events.
ISSN:0912-6945
2186-0246
DOI:10.11383/kokoronokenkou1986.12.49