ABSTRACT
Behavior analysts have, in their vast catalog of work to be done, a clear
set of responsibilities to their colleagues. If you are a practitioner or
therapist, you may be concerned about possible ethical violations of
other behavior analysts. It should first be understood that attending to a
situation like this does not make you a “busybody” or “snitch.” Most of
us have been culturally conditioned by parents and teachers to “mind
your own business,” and in your private life, this is a pretty good rule to
follow. How others conduct their lives really is their own business, un-
less, of course, it affects your life in some way. This is basically the situa-
tion you confront when you believe that a behavioral colleague has
violated the BACB® Guidelines for Responsible Conduct. It becomes
your business by virtue of the fact that an unethical colleague can stain
not only their reputation but yours as well. It is in this vein that Guide-
line 9.01 is written to encourage you, despite how uncomfortable it may
make you feel, to bring the issue in question to the attention of the per-
son and seek a resolution. Ideally, the individual will quickly see the er-
ror of his or her ways, apologize, and correct the situation with
appropriate action. It is not your job to dictate the action but rather to
serve as a “trusted colleague” for the person on behalf of the field and 182
possibly the client who may have been involved.1 In this role you should
seek an ethical solution to the problem and then fade from the picture as
quickly as possible. This works most of the time. However, it might hap-
pen that the colleague stubbornly resists recognizing the problem or re-
fuses to do anything about it. This will present you with a dilemma that
the Guidelines do not cover. If this happens, you may want to check the
“Disciplinary Standards, Procedures for Appeals” section of the BACB
Web site (BACB, 2004) for further details on what to do next.