Damn, a lot of WAG’s here. (Gfactor, Pravnik (nice work, as always, you two)and a couple others excepted.) (southfarthing included, too, on reread - nice Tarasoff cite.)
It’s 2:00 a.m., and I’m still at the office, so please excuse any crankiness, but why do people insist on guessing at answers in GQ? (and why, oh why was I foolish enough to open the Dope at this hour?)
I’m sure I won’t address all the mistatements, but here’s a few:
As blanket, unqualified claims, the way they were made:
Claim #1 (Priest and lawyer only ones) – No. Claim #2 (plan on being reported by psychiatrist for disclosure of completed* crime) – No. (and just how you do you conclude that the fact that someone murdered his wife is not something that a psychiatrist would want to know to effectively evaluate and treat the killer?) Claim #3 – No, as others have already established.
Wow. 0 for 3.
*see Tarasoff, already cited. Also see a reply to a post I made a few days ago about general mental health provider privileges in my state that I’m too tired to locate. 740 ILSC 110/1 et seq. may have been mentioned, though. Yeah, it has exceptions.
Well, in general, I agree. You probably can’t stop Dr. Williams, the guy with the double Rhetoric and Physical Education Ph.Ds, from spilling his guts. In context, though, I think that that the OP had something more like a Ph.D psychologist in mind. In which case, I believe many (if not most) states would recognize a privilege.
Guin: You’re obviously guessing. Your first reply has already been addressed by others. Your second guess-post is probably not that far off the mark, at least in some states, and at least in many circumstances, but it’s still a guess. Why do that in GQ? It adds to nothing except your postcount.
Usual disclaimer. Plus, I’m extra-special tired. So it would be a really, really bad idea for anyone to treat this as reliable legal advice. See a lawyer licensed in your state if (a) you plan to tell anyone about your history of crime; or (b) your patient/client/person-who-you-do-social-work-for-except-you-call-it-something-else/spouse/whoever just confessed that he shot JR and you are wondering what you should do.