Legal & Ethical Issues Flashcards

A subject with a diagnosed intellectual disability waives Miranda rights. Courts will evaluate this waiver by examining:

Answer: The totality of circumstances including the individual's cognitive capacity and understanding

Courts apply a totality-of-circumstances test to Miranda waivers, giving particular weight to cognitive limitations that may affect the subject's ability to understand their rights.

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment most directly affects forensic interviews when:

Answer: Testimonial hearsay statements are introduced at trial without the declarant being available for cross-examination

Under Crawford v. Washington, the Confrontation Clause bars testimonial hearsay unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine.

Which scenario represents a conflict of interest that a CFI must ethically disclose or recuse from?

Answer: Interviewing a subject with whom the CFI has a prior personal relationship

A prior personal relationship creates a conflict of interest that compromises objectivity and must be disclosed to supervisors or resolved by recusal.

In the context of forensic interviewing, 'competency' of a child witness refers to:

Answer: The child's capacity to observe, recall, and communicate truthfully, understanding the difference between truth and lies

Competency in the legal sense requires that a child can perceive, remember, and communicate events and understands the obligation to tell the truth.

A forensic interviewer who discloses a subject's confidential interview statements to an unauthorized third party without legal compulsion most likely violates:

Answer: Professional confidentiality obligations and potentially privacy law

Unauthorized disclosure of interview information breaches the ethical duty of confidentiality and may expose the interviewer to civil liability under applicable privacy statutes.

The 'fruit of the poisonous tree' doctrine extends the exclusionary rule to:

Answer: Evidence derived from an initial constitutional violation, including subsequent confessions or physical evidence

The fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree doctrine suppresses not only the primary illegally obtained evidence but also any secondary evidence obtained as a result of that illegality.

An attorney-client privilege concern arises in forensic interviewing when:

Answer: A forensic interviewer is retained by defense counsel and communications may be protected work product

When a CFI is retained by defense counsel, interview communications and findings may fall under attorney-client privilege or attorney work-product doctrine, limiting disclosure.