Forensic psychology
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, in all its forms, is a serious crime punishable by law. These acts of harassment include unwelcome sexual advances, soliciting sexual favors to facilitate career advancement and any physical or verbal conduct that is of a sexual nature. The victims or the harassers can be either a man or a woman contrary to common belief that women are in most cases the victims. The victim may not necessarily be of the opposite sex as the harasser. Harassers are, usually, any one from a supervisor, a colleague in the office or an outsider and the victim of sexual harassment can be a person who is not directly affected by the acts of harassment. Acts of sexual harassment may occur with no financial or economical injury attached to them however the acts must be unacceptable to the victim for them to be acknowledged as unlawful cases of sexual harassment (Gupta, et al, 2014). .
The workplace is one of the places where cases of sexual harassment are most prevalent. To tackle this issue enactment of laws as “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” were necessary to protect employees against acts of sexual harassment. This Act specifically applies to the labor market. The law looks to protect employers and employees in companies with a workforce of 15 and more employees with employers including private entities, local governments and the federal government. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law however independent States have enforced other laws that protect individuals against acts of sexual harassment in their jurisdiction.
It is, usually, a difficult task to quantify whether a case accounts to sexual harassment or not. It is the case because in some instances individuals may interpret normal advancement and interactions as unacceptable based on various factors. This distorted look at common social advancements may be impaired due to the individual’s psychological condition which causes them to have deviant ideas of reference and extreme negative exaggerations of common conditions. Forensic psychologists play an important role in dealing with victims of sexual harassment. It is because forensic psychologists are in a position to clearly bring out the relationship between the law and psychology thus they can give a correct diagnosis of whether a case amounts to sexual harassment. Forensic psychologist may offer victims of sexual harassment a better chance of gaining closure. It is because victims of sexual harassment, usually, experience psychological trauma that may have severe and permanent effect on their mental state. This kind of trauma may have adverse effects on the productivity of the individual that may cause loss of job, reduced chances of promotion and in some cases suicidal attends. They can assess whether the victim exhibits any psychological problems and if sexual harassment indeed took place. The results will be vital in developing a recovery program for the victim. Forensic psychologists are important resource persons in sexual harassment legal cases. It is because they have perfect understanding of human behavior and the law. This combination enables them to be able to examine the victims complaints in relation to the accused action and be able to determine correctly if sexual harassment occurred (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2014).
Prevention is the best way of dealing with sexual harassment. Forensic psychologist can help in developing reliable sexual harassment training program, an easy to understand complaint and grievances process and a well-elaborated course of action to act on complaints received. All these measures are important as they protect employees from sexual harassment, which has a negative effect on employee performance because it forms a hostile and intimidating work environment and experience.
References
Nagle Y, Srivastava K & Gupta A (2014). Handbook of Forensic Psychology: Bloomington. Author House.
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (2014). Forensic psychology’s role in the Court System. Chicago School of Professional Psychology: Chicago. Retrieved from http://psychology.thechicagoschool.edu/resource/forensic/forensic-psychology-role-in-the-court-system
