Ethical Issues Of Labeling Juveniles

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One ethical issue facing forensic psychologists today has to do with their role labeling juveniles as psychopathic. Psychopaths are people who are unable to empathize with others. Psychopathy is an antisocial personality disorder that cannot be cured however, it is important to identify this disorder in childhood to aid in managing it. While some psychopaths become life-long criminals others use their lack of emotion to excel in their careers. This issue at hand for forensic psychologists is whether it is appropriate to label children as “psychopathic”. According to Labeling Theory the self-identity children have and the behavior they exhibit may be determined or influenced by the words or terms used to describe them. One can easily see how

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