What Is Forensic Psychology?

In recent years forensic psychology and associated topics such as criminal profiling have been the subject of an entire host of books, films, and tv series. While this has actually certainly raised the profile of forensic psychology, the topic has actually often existed in a distorted, sensationalized, and inaccurate way.

With this quiet in mind, this post describes what you require to be knowledgeable about to offer a satisfactory response to the question, what is forensic psychology?

When my students showed up for their first lecture, I would always start by providing 10 minutes to jot down a response to the question what is forensic psychology? Before reading on, why not quickly write down what you believe forensic psychology is.

The factor I did this was since even though every undergraduate psychology trainee (about 180 of them) selected to do the forensic psychology course, not one of them pertained to see me ahead of time to ask what the course had to do with. Now keep in mind trainees picked their optional courses well in advance of the start date, and to make an educated option they were all highly encouraged to talk to the speaker running the courses they had an interest in before making a decision.

Why the no program?

I suspect, in fact, I understand since I discussed it with the trainees later on, that they didn’t feel they had to learn what forensic psychology is since they currently had a preconceived concept.

I mentioned that at the start of the very first lecture I would offer students 10 minutes to jot down a response to the concern what is forensic psychology. What I didn’t discuss, nevertheless, is that after about 2 minutes I would request their attention and apologize for forgetting to inform them that they weren’t permitted to utilize the words serial killers or silence of the lambs in their answer. It was generally at this point that the majority of the composing in the lecture theatre stopped.

If you’re thinking I would have stopped composing as well, please include your dissatisfaction and do not hurry off just. The response to the question, what is forensic psychology might not quite be what you thought, but that doesn’t suggest that the topic has to be any less interesting.

When attending to the question is that even psychologists in the field are divided as to what the answer is, the first thing to appreciate. The division of criminological and legal psychology within the British Psychological Society argued for twenty years regarding whether their members need to be entitled to call themselves Chartered Forensic Psychologists. It was finally agreed that they should, however, there still stays a great deal of argument and controversy surrounding the issue.

The central problem is that its members are drawn from a wide variety of disciplines, so it is always tough to state what the borders are when you talk of Forensic Psychology.

A fragmented discipline?

Psychologists in the prison/correctional services. Medical psychologists in special healthcare facilities & psychiatric services. Educational psychologists. Occupational psychologists. Academics

Now while it is important to acknowledge that this fragmentation of role exists, it is simply as important to realize that these various groups are linked to forensic psychology since their work, expert knowledge, or research study activity is in some way gotten in touch with the law.

This legal connection makes perfect sense when you consider that the word forensic comes from the Latin forensis, which literally implies appertaining to the forum, particularly the royal court of Rome. So in essence:

The argument as to what is and what isn’t forensic psychology rests primarily on the nature of psychology’s relationship with the legal system.

Let me give you an example, picture 2 clinical psychologists meet at a conference and they begin speaking about the work they do. The first psychologist informs the second that she just recently offered a professional statement in court arguing that the accused in a murder case was criminally outrageous; the judge and jury concurred and having actually been found guilty on the grounds of diminished duty the defendant was going to be sent to a safe and secure psychiatric system. Now there’s a coincidence the second psychologist states I work in the unit where they’re sending him, so I’ll be treating this person and dealing when he arrives.

So here you have a situation where two psychologists are linked to the legal system by the method of a legal decision and you could argue, for that reason, that both deserve to be viewed as participating in Forensic Psychology. Nevertheless, there’s a crucial difference.

The very first psychologist really assisted notify the legal decision based upon her psychological knowledge and proficiency. The second psychologists’ participation on the other hand arose as a consequence of a legal decision that she had no direct impact over.

My favored forensic psychology definition acknowledges this essential difference, namely:

That branch of used psychology which is worried about the collection, examination, and discussion of proof for judicial purposes’ (Haward 1981).

If you embrace this meaning you are specifying unconditionally that Forensic Psychology relates to:

The arrangement of mental details assists in a legal choice (Blackburn 1996).

So when it comes to our two psychologists, strictly speaking only the first can be said to be engaged in Forensic Psychology.

Not everybody would concur with this, because there is a school of the idea that would declare that any activity that links psychology to the law should have to be described as Forensic. I’m not going to attempt and persuade you which is right, although I do have a strong viewpoint on the matter; the main point is that you know that this debate exists.

Summary

1. In addressing the question, what is forensic psychology we have actually found that:

2. In essence, forensic psychology refers to the application of psychology within a legal context.

The debate as to what is & what is not forensic psychology relates to the nature of this legal application & the level at which it is applied.

3. And this dispute raises several concerns that you need to think about. In specific:

4.The borders of forensic psychology?

5.The function of the forensic psychologist?

6.The trustworthiness

I discussed that at the start of the first lecture I would provide students 10 minutes to compose down a response to the concern what is forensic psychology. The very first thing to appreciate when addressing the question is that even psychologists in the field are divided as to what the response is. The division of legal and criminological psychology within the British Psychological Society argued for twenty years as to whether their members should be entitled to call themselves Chartered Forensic Psychologists. The very first psychologist tells the 2nd that she recently provided a professional statement in court arguing that the defendant in a murder case was criminally ridiculous; the judge and jury concurred and having been found guilty on the premises of diminished duty the offender was going to be sent out to a protected psychiatric system. Now there’s a coincidence the second psychologist states I work in the system where they’re sending him, so I’ll be treating this person and dealing when he arrives.