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Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

LESSON 02

INTRODUCTION TO FORENSIC PSYCHOOGY

Pros and Cons of a Career in Forensic Psychology

Forensic psychology is a new and exciting area but difficult too. There are both potentially rewarding

and frustrating aspects of working in Forensic Psychology that need to be carefully considered before

you enter in this field. Week hearted and very sensitive people are advised to avoid this field because

working as a forensic psychologist one has to encounter the blood, murders, dead bodies, miseries,

pains, violence and cruel and dark side picture of the world. You can not consider it as enjoyable

profession as painters, actors or many others claim about their profession but it is fulfilling.

Following table illustrates the few pros and cons of this profession:

FEW POTENTIALLY REWARDING ASPECTS

Helping

Forensic psychology can be very rewarding when you make a

Others

difference in someone's life.

Opportunities There are many different subspecialties within the field.

Changing When working in prisons and with juvenile offenders, every

Environment day can be different.

Recognition Those who act as expert witnesses are usually well known.

Personal

When conducting research, psychologists' findings are often

Fulfillment

beneficial to society.

FEW DRAW BACKS AND FRUSTRATING ASPECTS

Continuing Attending seminars and conferences throughout one's

Education professional life is important for keeping current in the field.

Also, it is not easy to get a job directly out of the doctoral

program without additional training.

Risk of

The people that forensic psychologists work with in prison

Injury

settings are sometimes very violent.

Teamwork Some people would rather work independently. In this field,

people are constantly working with the courts, police, and a

variety of other professionals.

Pay

The pay range for someone in this field does not always

compensate for the hard work and long hours.

Burnout

Forensic psychology can be a very stressful job. Often, people

Risk

and situations cannot be changed easily.

There will always be a need for Forensic Psychologists in our society. To be involved in Forensic

Psychology you must be passionate about what you do. The money you make does not usually

compensate for the hours of hard work invested. The true personal payment comes in knowing that you

can make a difference in a person's life and maybe even make society a little bit better. There are many

different fields of specialization to get into in this field; this can be quite exciting at times.

Working in prisons or with juveniles can change from day to day and be very rewarding. However, the

burnout rate is high because a psychologist may often try to change someone or something that cannot

Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

be changed easily. Testifying in court can also be stressful. If you contemplate a career in Forensic

Psychology, it would be good to keep in mind that to really get ahead requires extensive education.

How can a forensic psychologist help in investigation of murder?

An example

To answer this question, here we take an example of a murder, a man is found dead in his bedroom

while his family was out of town and his neighbors found the dead body and informed the police. The

police came and found a bullet wound in his chest. No suicidal note was found nearby the dead body.

Now following questions originate:

a. Was it a suicide or a murder?

b. How can a medical examiner decide by only examining the dead body?

c. Can police get the real picture with the traditional way of investigation?

This is the situation when the need of a forensic psychologist becomes more important. No

doubt police can investigate but not with all that sophistication, so a medical examiner and

police can acquire help from a psychologist. A forensic psychologist is more appropriate person

to deal with the situation. Psychologist's work is some times more like a detective in this field.

Psychologist plays an active role by assessing the multiple dimensions and aspects of the

murder case.

Usually people feel reluctance to tell the truth because of the police's traditional way of

investigation. Psychologists can help interview and probe family and neighbours.

Psychologist can assess the personality type from collected information and come to the

conclusion that whether the person had a personality that can commit suicide or not.

Analyze medical records for presence/absence of mental illness.

Create a profile

Perform a psychological autopsy

Way of police investigation

Usually people are scared of the traditional way of police investigation and shows reluctance to help in

solving any case. Because of the nature of job police has a tendency to involve that person in case and

frequently include that person in the list of suspects. So, instead of telling the truth and helping police to

come to the real picture people avoid all situation and shows avoidance.

Way of psychologist investigation

On the other hand psychologists can be very helpful in gathering the information through the application

of psychological knowledge and principals. In clinical psychological evaluations, with few exceptions,

the psychologist interviews the person being evaluated and then administers a battery of tests

appropriate to the referral question. Data is analyzed and a report is prepared. Typically, no other

information is considered. The assumption is made that the most part is correct so, that the examinee

has been truthful during the interview and honest in answering test questions and no conscious attempts

were made to look better or worse than the actual clinical picture.

In forensic psychology, however, there is an obvious motivation to consciously present a distorted

picture for an obvious, distinctive secondary gain. To explore the real truth, forensic psychologist is

required to be more careful and skillful. So, Forensic psychologists use different strategies to increase

the objectivity and validity of opinions on psychological issues. Few of those assessment procedures

are listed below:

Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

Psychologists can help interview the family.

Forensic psychologist can gather the information through interviewing the third party like close

friends, neighbours office colleagues and other relevant people.

Forensic Psychologist can assess the personality type from collected information.

Can analyze medical records for identifying the presence/absence of mental illness.

Create a profile

Perform a psychological autopsy.

How a forensic psychologist help in child custody cases

The assessment of child custody is one of the most complex, challenging, and professionally risky areas

of forensic evaluation. The vast majority of other types of forensic referrals address relatively specific,

well-formulated psycho-legal issues. Often, assessments involve evaluating only one person (e.g., a

personal injury litigant, a victim of rape), but custody assessments require assessing multiple parties,

each individually and in various combinations (e.g., each child, each parent, child and stepparents, child

and stepsiblings). The standard "best interests of the child" is somewhat more complex and vague than

other psycho-legal criteria, requiring a multi-focused approach to the overall assessment process e.g.,

mental heath of each parent, needs of the child, attitudes, interests of the parents). Because the stakes are

high in a custody case, at least one parent is apt to be angry or resentful of the work of forensic

psychologist.

Divorce rate in US is 50%, one out of every two. The condition is little bit better in UK, one out of

every three get divorced. Although in our country state is not that pathetic but divorces are common. So,

another legal aspect that requires the services of forensic psychology are the cases of child custody

problem. To understand this issue lets take a typical example of child custody where now a days the

services of a forensic psychologist are frequently seek in western countries.

Example

A couple with a 10 year old daughter goes through divorce. Father alleges that mother is unfit to look

after child due to her mental illness. On the other hand, mother claims she is fine but father is abusive,

aggressive and torture her and daughter. Court asks psychologist for an assessment of the parents and

the child. Psychologist will come and interview.

In the civil setting, parents seeking custody may attempt to look more virtuous than they actually are,

and plaintiffs in a personal injury suit may distort responses to appear more damaged than is the case. In

criminal cases, defendants may choose to present a picture of being more emotionally disturbed than is

justified to avoid trial, criminal culpability, or a sentence of death. Now how does a psychologist

determine that who is telling truth. How can the psychologist help in this regard? Several techniques are

available to find the truth.

Psychologist can apply following techniques to come up with truth.

a. Psychologist will interview the child, both parents and other people in the family like grand

parents, servants and other relevant people.

b. Child will be assessed on a number of factors using projective techniques.

c. Both parents and other people in the family are also assessed.

Psychologist can encounter a problem when assessing the parents, because of given knowledge and

straight forward and simple questions parents may fake to be good. To deal with this problem usually

projective techniques are essential and for administering these projective techniques psychologist

needs to be well trained, experienced and skillful. Then psychologist can come to some conclusion and

make recommendations to court.

How forensic psychologists help in exploring the hidden nature of confessions?

Then another issue where forensic psychologist can be of great help is to identify the real nature and

motive of false confession. Many times suggestible, but innocent, suspects might give false confessions

Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

because of police behaviour and many other factors and when courts ask a forensic psychologist to

assess the case, police may create different sorts of hampers to inhibit the psychologist's work. Let's

take an example here, a person confesses to have committed a murder. The court wants the

psychologists help to decide if the confession is genuine. How can the psychologist help?

While interviewing the suspect the attitude of police gives a sign that there is some thing fishy. Even

with all such hurdles like policeman is standing in front of the suspect and giving meaningful looks a

skillful psychologist can still understand the situation and can make recommendations to court and once

recommendations have been given to court it becomes difficult for police to torture that suspect any

more.

Police psychologists

Forensic psychologists not only assess criminals and solve child custody cases but also help police to

work effectively. Police psychologists help in following areas:

Recruitment

Psychologists can help in selecting the persons who suitably fit to the dynamic nature of this job.

Psychologist use different personality, aptitude and ability test to assess the right person for the job.

Training

Psychologists' role in training of police force is also crucial. They can help in designing training

programs, developing empathy and customer service attitude.

Adjustment to stressful job

Once a person has become a policeman the stressful nature of job leads to many other problems like

Post Shooting Stress Disorder, Depression, and many other mental and adjustment problems. So, again

the duties of a police psychologist are quite demanding and difficult to cope with such situations.

Theses three aspects of a police psychologist's activities will be discussed in detail in forth coming

lessons.

Professional responsibilities

Like all other professions, the field of forensic psychology also encompasses many ethical, moral and

social responsibilities. The basic province is to assist court no matter whether defense lawyer or court

has asked the psychologist to help out.

Forensic psychologist assist courts

In clinical psychology, the client is readily identifiable: The person to whom professional services are

offered is the client, the one owed the legal duty, the one to whom privilege belongs. In contrast, in the

judicial system, forensic psychologists serve multiple clients evidence, preponderance of the evidence),

the level dependent on the legal issue in question and which side bears the burden of proof. However, as

expert witnesses, forensic psychologists typically are asked whether they were able to reach an opinion

to a reasonable degree of psychological but many others as well. Because of the nature of the

assessment, the nature of the oath (to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth), and APA ethical

principles, clients include the retaining attorney, the consumer of the product (e.g., the judge and jury),

and those potentially affected by the expert's opinion: society as a whole. So, the ultimate goal of a

forensic psychologist should only and only to assist court and find out the truth.

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