Assignment Task:
Based on the principles of the forensic risk assessment, discuss the risks not only to the inmate, but the community at large.
The risk of the inmate is their mental health deterioration. Those who are severing death penalties "may experience psychological distress or a set of painful mental and physical symptoms that are associated with normal fluctuations of mood in most people" (Psychological distress, 2018). This may lead to them doing self-harm to them. There is institutional violence which means that other inmates will target others and create chaos in the prison environment. There are also the legal and ethical challenges that come into place that are also involved with housing high profile inmates. They need to go through the long process that may lead to years of legal battles. This means that there are a lot of appeals and legal reviews. Post convictions relief petitions and habeas corpus reviews, evolving legal standards which the courts will revisit cases to make sure that there are not seeing any potential errors in either the trial, sentencing, or in the evidence they presented in the trial (Time on Death Row, 2025).
The risk to the community is that there is a concern for public safety. Those who are released without proper rehabilitation may be at risk for reoffending or may be wanting to skip town. Then they will be able to reoffend at a different location. This will cause the community to feel unsafe because they have a new threat in their community. For this reason, we want to keep these types of prisoners locked up, this way that they can keep the victims and the family of the victims safe from further psychological trauma of them being out (John Baird, 2018).
Explain how the AP-LS Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology and APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct pertain to the issue of the death penalty. How does this affect the forensic psychology professional's assessment? (Consider the concept of nonmaleficence). Need Assignment Help?
The AP-LS Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology and the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct serve as the foundation for conducting evaluations in a professional manner. It also determines whether people are legally appropriate, methodologically sound, and ethically responsible. The ethical principles of nonmaleficence or the do not harm means that a psychologist may not cause any unnecessary harm to their clients/patients. When dealing with inmates on the death penalty they need to be on constant watch for their state of mind and mental health so they do not commit harm to themselves (Association, 2011). The AP-LS Specialty Guidelines are to employ evidence-based methods and maintain objectivity throughout their assessments. This is even through death row inmates because they want them sound of mind. They do not want a person who has a history of mental health issues, prior behavior, cognitive capacities, and those who have a history of trauma (Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology, 2011).
Evaluate the effectiveness of the death penalty to deter crime between your state and another state. Note: If you are an international student, you may use your local or regional jurisdictions.
The death penalty debate as capital punishment. Capital punishment was around even in ancient Greece in the 7th century BCE under the Draco laws. They were reserved for the punishment for murder, treason, arson, and rape (Hood, 2025). It is usually used for an offender that is convicted by the court that is sentence to death for a criminal offense. By knowing the originality of the capital punishment there is a certain number of heinous offenses that the person must do to even be put on death row. For Georgia, it is a death penalty state and as of March 31, 2025 according to the Georgia department of Corrections there are 34 USD cases that are on the death row list for Georgia (Annual Roster of Death Row Inmates (CY), 2025). Most aggravated murder and aggravating factors are under the O.C.G.A. §17-10-30 (Georgia, 2025). The execution method is through lethal injection, and this was established in 2000 which was replaced with the electric chair. The effectiveness of the deterrent of the death penalty in Georgia is that is a strong deterrent from doing a violent crime.
Compared to Georgia there are 174 inmates that are on the death row list for Texas (Death Row Infromation, 2025). There is the decision to commit violent crime and the factors that lead to the crime. We also must take into consideration that there is a different culture in Texas which is more acceptable than in some cultures than others.
There are some prevention strategies including policing, engagement programs and rehabilitation which may have a role in reducing violent crime than the death penalty. However, in my opinion I do not believe that there is not really a deterrent to the death penalty since there are more minor less violent crime than aggravated crime.
References:
Annual Roster of Death Row Inmates (CY). (2025, March 31).
Association, A. P. (2011). Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology. Retrieved from American Psychological Association:
Death Row Infromation. (2025, February 14):
Georgia, L. (2025, February 17). Does Georgia Have the Death Penalty? Laws and Process Explained.
Hood, R. (2025, April 25). Capital Punishment.
John Baird, R. S. (2018, January 2). Risk assessment and management: forensic methods, human results.