Forensic Psychological Report

Law and psychology are essential to assist the magistrate in their deliberations and rulings. A forensic psychological report must be based on ethical, legal and psychological aspects that provide information helping judges and contribute to administering justice.

Forensic psychological reports consist of producing a document prepared by the expert in forensic psychology upon completing the process of thorough evaluation and analysis of the people involved.

This document is similar in format to a psychological report on a clinical evaluation, but differs in some particulars.

In summary, the forensic psychological report will be carried out by a qualified professional, a forensic psychologist, and will be composed of the identifying data of the evaluation, the methods and procedures used by the expert, their results and the discussion of them, and finally, a brief conclusion.

Despite being considered a means of evidence, the psychological legal report is not an absolute truth and is therefore subject to criticism and questioning.

What forensic psychological reports are like

From a legal point of view, the completion and the data included in forensic psychological reports are one of the main issues, to which the expert must pay the utmost attention and comply with the regulations, with the following actions being completely prohibited and totally illegal in the forensic psychological report, example:

- Presenting documents without justification and technical-scientific quality.

- Interfering with the validity and reliability of psychological techniques and tools, manipulating results or making false statements.

These are some of the observations established in the psychologist's code of ethics, together with those contained in the Code of Procedure that will directly influence the development and provision of a forensic or legal psychological report.

- The forensic psychological report must be very objective and communicate data with a high degree of precision and clarity in its results.

- Forensic psychological reports must be based on theory to justify the conclusion and above all to avoid possible administrative sanctions for the professionals.

- They will include ethical and legal considerations in the content presented in this document.

Bearing in mind that psychology professionals must maintain professional secrecy, we may ask ourselves: when is it possible to reveal the data of a forensic psychological report, in such a way that the confidentiality of the information is maintained, with other professionals, such as the press or the authorities. There are four types of situations in which this confidentiality may be broken:

- by the consent of those affected themselves

- by legal duty, in order to prevent the spread of diseases

- by being at risk of suicide

- for just causes, addressing situations where confidentiality must be sacrificed for the benefit of other rights such as, for example, the life or health of other people or of society.

The basis of a forensic psychological report is centered on psychology. Psychology is the scientific and meticulous analysis of the human mind and the behavior of each person. Psychologists work in many different areas of society and address practical problems. Below are some examples:

- Helping people overcome depression, stress, traumas or phobias

- Alleviating the effects of parental divorce on children

- Accelerating recovery from brain injury

- Helping to stop or prevent bullying at school or in the workplace

- Ensuring that students and pupils at school are taught in the most effective way

- Making sure that people are happy at work and perform by developing their abilities to the fullest

- Helping the police service, courts and prisons to perform more effectively

- Helping athletes to perform their activities better and follow discipline

Many of the challenges we face in the modern world are rooted in human behavior, so psychological knowledge can help to find solutions. People with all kinds of problems seek the help and support of psychologists. For example:

- Adult mental health problems

- Psychological counseling and clinical psychologists help a wide range of people of all ages with all kinds of problems.

- Some people have particular emotional or mental health problems, such as depression or schizophrenia.

- Others have difficulties with their thinking, which is also known as 'cognitive' problems. These can take many forms, such as memory or perception problems after an injury, disability or dementia.

- There are many more areas of life where a psychologist can help. These could include helping people to live with health conditions such as HIV, cancer or chronic pain, helping people who have difficulties maintaining relationships or advising on how to care for a child who has suffered abuse.

Sometimes the psychologist will be the one who provides the help; seeing and listening to the person in several sessions to provide the appropriate psychological therapy or giving advice on how to manage their problems. But in many cases these people must be helped by Official Bodies and may even become involved in unlawful situations in which justice has to intervene. In each case, the competent persons or bodies will request a specific forensic psychological report template to evaluate the situation and reach solutions.

Basic foundations in forensic psychological reports

When writing a psychological legal report, regardless of the type it belongs to, it must contemplate the procedure and follow certain set guidelines. These guidelines are known in professional jargon by the initials: CIR (and its meaning is Cooperation, Impartiality, Rigor).

Obviously, to begin the process of preparing this type of document, there must be a claim about certain facts that have to be studied. Therefore, the first step is to make an analysis of the claim and of the file in an objective way; even though the request comes from the parties involved or from the judicial bodies.

Once the affected persons have been identified, one or several interviews will be held with each of them and with all those who may in some way add veracity to the case. The result of these appointments will be evaluated meticulously, reaching the conclusion of what the studies, techniques and investigations necessary to determine the pertinent conclusions will be.

The objective of each of the forensic psychological reports, whether requested by the affected parties or judicially, must fulfill the objective of helping to know, assess and reach the most just solutions.

Request for a forensic psychological report

Although there are laws that indicate how to proceed and the different situations to take into account when forensic psychological reports are needed, in reality and on a day-to-day basis, the way of acting is somewhat systematic; in the Courts, especially the Family Courts, they have a team of people, among whom are social workers and psychologists, who are carrying out the requested reports. The law states that the procedure must be governed by a prior appointment of the judicial experts, although it seems that in most Courts this law is being replaced by traditional practices.

We can find three types of judicial experts: Those attached to each Court or group of Courts who are normally made up of a social worker and several psychologists. This team is in charge of producing the requested reports. Or else, teams dependent on the Town Councils that act in areas where there are no specific Courts and work in a generic way for all kinds of proceedings.

The methods used to carry out a forensic psychological report are chosen by the forensic psychologist in charge, who selects the most appropriate ones at each moment to meet the objectives and, of course, complying with the regulations and bearing in mind that it is an expert piece of evidence that must be perfectly understood by the judicial bodies.

Party reports that are produced by psychologists privately, but maintaining correctness and impartiality.

Furthermore, we can point out that the representatives of these bodies rely on the veracity of these reports and on the qualification of the people who produce them in order to have all the information that allows them to make a correct decision.

This psychological legal report must address all the necessary data and express them in clear language in a concise way but providing all the precise information. These documents must be valid for all justice professionals: lawyers, prosecutor, judge…

The parties have the option of requesting a report on their own and presenting it to the judge, but it is usual for the psychosocial reports produced by order of the Court to carry more weight.

Types of forensic psychological reports

Logically, and depending on the specific case to be addressed, the forensic psychological report will be produced indicating the specific information requested.

The social psychological report must analyze the family system, the interpersonal relationships and each one of its members so that the information provided to the Court must be reliable and objective so that the judge obtains the advice necessary for making their decisions. In this way we find different types of documents, the most demanded ones, among others, are:

- Children's forensic psychological report. This document may be aimed at studies in which minors may suffer some type of trauma, whether due to a separation of their parents, due to their absence, due to incidents in their care, due to the vulnerability of their rights, and also in cases of sexual abuse or exploitation of any kind.

These analyses and conclusions are essential in cases of adoption and fostering that require a very complete forensic psychological report.

When there are minors involved in the investigation, the greatest well-being of these people for their good psychological and emotional development will take precedence over everything else.

- Custody forensic psychological report. This report may be similar to the previous one and arises in cases of family proceedings in which a judge must indicate which adult, adults or competent institutions have the task, obligation and right to "care for" the affected minors.

- Shared custody forensic psychological report. We can identify this guardianship and custody report as an annex to the previous one, bearing in mind that, in this case, the benefit for the minor of their parents or guardians agreeing and making the most favorable decisions for the well-being and progress of the child or children will be assessed.

This report may be requested by the judge or any of the parents and, to write it, the assessments of a social worker and a psychologist will be necessary, who will indicate the recommendation of sole custody or shared custody.

- Divorce forensic psychological report. A study, evaluation and document that is needed and presented in situations of marital separation. The number of separations and divorces has increased considerably since its approval, so faced with such a diversity of situations the intervention of forensic psychologists is very frequent.

The expert report provides the professional knowledge necessary to resolve the dissolution, especially when underage children are affected.

- Forensic psychological report. This type of report is used in multiple cases: workplace harassment, mobbing, psychological damages, incapacitation… They must show the results of the studies and tests carried out so that the judge may rule.

The forensic psychological report, theoretically, does not have a binding profile and will be one more piece of evidence in the judicial process to be assessed by the judge, but in practice these documents have great relevance for making their decisions, as they have great confidence in the work carried out by forensic psychologists and their teams.

Difference between a clinical psychological report and a forensic psychological report

The clinical report is the one produced by a forensic psychologist in post-traumatic cases in order to treat the patient and help them overcome the trauma. But when we speak of a forensic psychological report, the professional is acting as an expert and must evaluate and assess other aspects such as: the degree of the trauma and of the psychological damages, rule out falsehood and corroborate the veracity of the harm, reach conclusions that will be indicated in the document so that, within the law, the solution to be taken is correctly decided.

This type of report is produced to present them in the courts and to rule on all kinds of proceedings, both civil and criminal, family or labor.

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