Description
part 1 What Does A Forensic Psychologist Really Do?
Many people are drawn to the field of forensic psychology because of the way they believe that forensic psychology is portrayed on TV shows like Criminal Minds or movies like Silence of the Lambs. Is this a true picture of a forensic psychologist? Would you be surprised to find that less than 10% of forensic psychologists ever participate in any kind of criminal profiling activity? This week let’s delve into this field and discover the roles that a forensic psychologist could hold.
Before posting this week, read Psychologists’ Role in the Law on pages 15-20 of your textbook.
Also, view and/or download the article by clicking on the link to the right – What is Forensic Psychology?
Discuss the following:
Compare and contrast your view of a forensic psychologist prior to entering this course to what you now know about their role in the field of psychology and the legal system.
What level of education and professional experience does a person need before they begin working in the area of forensic psychology?
What value do psychologists bring to the legal system?
After considering the different roles of a forensic psychologist, do you have any concerns with the reliability and validity of some of their tasks? Explain.
Part 2 responded to two peers peer1 discovered I have a reasonable idea of what forensic psychologists do, and yes, partially due to television shows that glam up the idea of helping people to discover the who done it in a series like CSI and their many sister shows, I too had not thought too much about all of the people it takes to be involved in solving real life cases (Huss, 2014). There is a lot of research and data concerning the profiling of a person that must be sorted and given meaning before it goes into comparing and finalizing a profile for people who are potentially dangerous to society, and more than one kind of psychology team comes together to help put these pieces together while working from universities and labs all over the country and some never see a day in court (Huss, 2014). Not as flashy and glamorous as the focus of the camera zooming us in on main characters of the CSI tv characters highlighting only forensic psychologists, but there are really many kinds of detectives working with forensic psychologist and other departments to help solve and prevent crime. There are five specific roles that psychologists do pertaining to the legal profession, and they are basic scientist, applied scientist, policy evaluator, forensic evaluator, and consultant (Heilbrun et el., 2024). These individuals are also tasked with the responsibility of helping us set standards about acceptable and unacceptable behavior and are deeply focused on making ethical decisions and follow the code of conduct set forth by the American Psychological Association (Heilbrun et el., 2024). We must have accurate data for studies to be useful and we must treat people with dignity no matter the circumstances, so ethics is very important.
What level of education and professional experience does a person need before they begin working in the area of forensic psychology?
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree there is usually at least 4 to 5 more years of education that goes into becoming a forensic psychologist depending on the program that you pick before one can even be considered an expert and do things like testify in a court of law because one must have an accredited doctorate degree PHD or PSYD to practice psychology (Kieleszewski, 2019).
What value do psychologists bring to the legal system?
It takes all types of experts putting details together to come up with the best ways to analyze criminal situations and human behavior to know what general predictable humans act like under mostly normal circumstances and what may make a person act otherwise being extremely descriptive (Huss, 2014). Psychologists use experimentation through objective research and do their best to keep their biases under control to maintain integrity in their work, that they may attain the objective truth of what or who they are analyzing and offer unique perspectives of evidence being presented which can help figure out human motivations (Huss, 2014). Psychologists help determine competence of someone who may stand trial, the mental state of defendants at the time of the crime, the degrees of emotional or brain damage suffered by people in accidents, effects of divorce on kids during divorce proceedings during and afterward, assessing the risks of future violence from criminals and if they are able to be rehabilitated (Heilbrun et el., 2024).
After considering the different roles of a forensic psychologist, do you have any concerns with the reliability and validity of some of their tasks?
My concern is that humans differ so much in morals and that is what drives human ethics. People who don’t have a high standard of morals may have slippery slope ethics which greatly affects reliability and validity if they are tasked with something that challenges their biases. We all have bias and the sense of right and wrong always comes from morals, from what we believe in our spirits is truth. When a psychologist is working with civil and criminal cases and reporting their findings and deciding life altering decisions, we can only hope that their biases are kept under wraps when they discover evidence contrary to their gut feelings, hunches, and preconceived notions of what they once thought they knew.
References
Heilbrun, K, Greene, E, Bradfield Douglas, A. (2024). Wrightsman’s psychology and the legal system (10th ed.). Cengage.
Huss, M. (2014). Forensic psychology: research, clinical practices, and applications (2nd ed.). Wiley.
Kieleszewski, J (2019, November). How do you become a forensic psychologist [Video]. YouTube. Shaping Your Business: Dopple Press (youtube.com)
Peer 2 Hello Dr. Reyes-Fournier and class. Upon taking this course on forensic psychology, my perception of a forensic psychologist’s duties was to evaluate forensic evidence in a criminal court setting, and evaluating the validity
of this evidence. Learning about the forensic psychologist’s roles and duties is even more interesting than I initially imagined. Evaluating criminal defendants and assessing the causes of crime are basic scientist research that
must be done with utmost ethical care. Forensic psychologists are used as expert witnesses to testify about knowledge of subjects that are not commonly known to the average person. This is how forensic psychology falls
under applied science. (Heilbrun, Greene, & Douglass, 2024) Forensic psychologists are often needed for policy evaluation, which assesses the success or failure of certain interventions. This may include changes in policy or
procedure. One example of this has been used to aid in programs that prepare young children to testify in court. (Heilbrun, Greene, & Douglass, 2024) Another role as a forensic psychologist is to evaluate people involved in
court cases and then convey their findings to the judge. This could include relaying a defendant’s competency to stand trial and take part in their own defense or evaluating a person’s level of emotional or brain damage due to
an accident. Forensic psychologists are needed as consultants in litigation during trials, or with jury selection. This is sometimes viewed as unethical though because it stacks the deck of the jurors to slant in one direction or the There are many career opportunities in forensic psychology. Besides the criminal profiler made popular by t.v. and media, forensic psychology is utilized in correctional facilities, and mental hospitals. There is a need for
them in research, victim advocacies, witness expertise, and in private practice. It is a liaison between psychology and law. Generally, these career opportunities require at least a master’s degree, but more often a Ph.D. Forensic
psychologists bring a valuable understanding of human behavior and mental processes to the legal system. They can provide unknown insights into a person’s decision-making ability, their perceptions, and environmental
influences. The main concerns I may have in reference to the validity or reliability in their evaluations is the availability of sufficient data in making assessments on an individual. Conclusions can be made when all the
pertinent data is not accessible or given truthfully.
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References
Heilbrun, K., Greene, E., & Douglass, Bradfield A., 2024, Wrightsman’s Psychology and the Legal System, 10th ed., Cengage
Part 3 Conduct an internet search to locate a criminal case that has taken place within the last 3 years. Make sure to choose a case where there is enough background information on the offender for you to identify the possible sociological, biological, and psychological factors that influenced their criminal behavior.
In a 2-3 page paper make sure to cover the following:
Overview of the crime
Overview of the offender
Sociocultural factors that influenced the criminal behavior
Biological factors that influenced the criminal behavior
Psychological factors that influenced the criminal behavior
Any other critical issues you feel influenced the criminal behavior
This paper should be 2-3 pages double-spaced and written in proper APA format. In addition to the minimum page count (i.e. 2 pages and 1 line minimum) you should also include a cover page and a reference page in APA format. Additionally, use a minimum of 2 sources to support your points.
