Forensic Psychology Essay Research Paper As the

Forensic Psychology Essay, Research Paper

As the day gets closer to when I will be getting my Associates degree, it is very apparent that I’m still undecided as to what I want to do. Though I am extremely interested in forensics, there are many different fields of forensics available. One of the fields that I have been looking into is forensic psychology. I wanted to take this opportunity to research and gain a better idea as to what forensic psychology is all about. I hope to come closer to that decision of whether to further my studies in this field or if I should consider another. I am extremely interested in the “hands-on” field forensics aspect, although I have such a seemingly effortless understanding of psychology.

Forensic Psychologists can play a number of key roles in a criminal investigation. Immediately following a crime a forensic psychologist may be asked to act as a criminal profiler. Most of us have an idea of what profiling is. It has over the years become the love child of numerous television programs, movies, and crime novels. Criminal profiling involves the psychologist (though all profilers are not psychologists) using his understanding of human behavior, motivation, and pathology so that he/she can create a psychological profile of the offender. The profiles can be surprisingly accurate. From observations of the crime scene one can infer the behavioral characteristics of the individual who created it. To a profiler everyone is a slave to their psychological makeup. In turn, profilers use their knowledge of whom the typical offender is that bears these characteristics and then predicts not only how the investigators can expect the offender to behave in the future, but also what their physical appearance will likely be. While profiling may seem very exciting, few psychologists are ever involved in this field. There fortunately are not a lot of serial offenders out there. Unfortunately, there are even less places where one can obtain profiler training. Once the suspect has been apprehended there are more opportunities for psychological intervention. Psychological knowledge has been applied to many more areas of investigative police work, from the police interrogation to the police line-up. Both of these areas have prospered

greatly from psychological research. While those studying in these areas do not typically work within the police station (they will often do their research from an academic institution) they will often act in a consulting capacity and will perform teaching projects with the department. One may also find a Police Psychologist working with the officers. While this individual may preform a number of the above jobs, they will also be on hand to provide counseling for officers, aid in the evaluation of prospective applicants, and provide crisis counseling for crime victims. Now we must leave the police station and enter the courtroom!

Outside of the “front-end” operations of police work there is numerous opportunities for the application of forensic psychology. In the court system, Forensic Psychologists are frequently used for both criminal and civil cases. In the criminal realm, the forensic psychologist is often asked to assess competency. Competency assessments can serve a number of purposes. First, a defendant can be assessed for the ability to stand trial and/or make legal decisions on their own behalf. These types of decision have been frequent in the news. Most recently in the Ted “Unabomber” Kazynski case, in which Kazynski wished to defend

himself but was deemed mentally unable to do so. These evaluations are carried out when the defendant appears to suffer from a mental defect, such as an acute psychiatric disorder (i.e., schizophrenia) or a mental disability (i.e., mental retardation). Secondly, Psychologists may also be asked to make an evaluation regarding the defendant’s mental state at the time of the offense. The entire “not guilty by reason of insanity” defense relies on the psychological evaluation of a defendant’s inability to form criminal

intent. Frequently, people forget about the applications of forensic psychology to civil law. Often a forensic psychologist is asked to make evaluations of defendants or plaintiffs disability or level of trauma. From these evaluations the court can decide whether compensatory damages should be provided. Civil-Forensic Psychologists also work on child custody, sexual harassment, and immigration cases. Virtually any civil matter that requires psychological evaluation may include the work of a Forensic Psychologist. It is important to remember that not all Forensic Psychologists work with violent criminals. The Forensic Psychologist that investigates the social-legal components of the common law court system can provide influential knowledge to both criminal and common law cases. Forensic Psychologists often are asked to evaluate potential jury members. To this date numerous ‘mock’-jury investigations have been published. From this research, one can determine who is a potentially prejudiced juror. Many believe that a good evaluator can determine, before the case, which jurors are on their side. These Psychologists identify jurors who are potentially prejudicial to their case, and whom can thereby be eliminated from the jury panel

during jury selection (or ‘voir dire’ as it is called in the legal realm). Since both sides can challenge poten