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Administrative, Legal, and Ethical Practices in the Psychological Testing of Law Enforcement Officers

NCJ Number
98606
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: (1985) Pages: 367-372
Author(s)
R E Inwald
Date Published
1985
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Recently, more law enforcement agencies have chosen to use psychological testing as an important component of their preemployment screening programs.
Abstract
Important legal and ethical issues have been raised by the increased use of psychological testing for this purpose. These issues include the applicant's right to privacy, the validity of the psychological instrument(s) used, the definition of what constitutes an 'unsuitable' candidate, and the existence of racial and/or sexual bias. This article presents ten suggestions that address some of these issues and that may aid law enforcement agencies in adopting the spirit of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and other psychological-testing standards. (Author abstract)