...Psychologists’ Roles within the Legal System Introduction There are many roles a forensic psychologist can choose to take part in, within the legal system, such as; the basic scientists, the applied scientists, policy evaluator, forensic evaluator, and consultant. Each of these roles has different duties/ responsibilities and may assist in or concentrate in different areas/ environments within the legal system. As a psychologist, within the legal system you will examine many individuals from the police officer to the victim. Being a psychologist within the legal system has many ethical obligations or issues that can arise. With this in mind, I will discuss more in detail the roles a psychologist plays in each environment within the legal system and some of the ethical issues. Basic Scientist There are many environments a forensic psychologist may choose to take part in. These environments are law enforcement, corrections, court system, and academic. Even though a psychologist can play a role in many environments, not all environments need every role of the psychologist. ”A basic scientist pursues knowledge for its own sake and studies a phenomenon for the satisfaction of understanding it and contributing to scientific advances in the area” (Greene, & Hailbrun, 2010 p18). As a basic scientist, there are some opportunities for the psychologists, in law enforcement and corrections. The psychologist can do training in a specific area; if the psychologist has knowledge of the...
Words: 1519 - Pages: 7
...application of psychological knowledge to the legal system (Bartol & Bartol, 2012: 6). The concept of forensic psychology can be misunderstood, because the definition does not explain much. The easiest way to explain forensic psychology is to break it down into its subspecialties and describe where psychological knowledge can be applied. There are five subspecialties of forensic psychology, namely police psychology, psychology of crime and delinquency, victimology and victim services, legal psychology and correctional psychology. I will discuss legal psychology and correctional psychology. · Legal psychology Legal psychology is the study of human behavior relevant to the law. This subspecialty of forensic psychology consists of those theories that describe, explain and predict human behavior by reference to the law. Bartol & Bartol (2012) described that early in a case when attorneys are preparing for a trial and gathering information psychologist can be called in to testify. Main roles of a forensic psychologist in the USA includes, acting as a consultant to law enforcement, acting as trial consultants (jury selection, case preparation and pre-trial publicity), presenting psychology to appeal courts, doing forensic assessment and acting as an expert witness (insanity defense, competence to stand trial, sentencing, eyewitness identification and child custody etc.) Expert witness as a role in legal psychologist A major role for forensic psychologist is to serve as an expert witness in...
Words: 1988 - Pages: 8
...Legal and Forensic Psychology Michael Betters Keiser University Legal and Forensic Psychology Abstract Legal and forensic psychologists are often torn between fulfilling their duties as a legal and forensic workers in the criminal justice system, and adhering to the ethical obligations to their clients as psychologists. This paper explores the dilemma faced by legal and forensic psychologists in carrying out their day-to-day roles as officials in the criminal justice system and in upholding their professional ethics as psychologists. The paper begins with an introduction of the main controversy surrounding the role of legal and forensic psychologists to the criminal justice systems (Day, 2014). It then describes some of the typical dilemmas faced by legal and forensic psychologists in the course of their work. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the dilemmas faced by legal and forensic psychologists in the criminal justice system. Introduction Legal and forensic psychologists are a special type of psychologists who are often charged with the responsibility of standing as expert witnesses in court proceedings. The duties, roles, and responsibilities of legal and forensic psychologists in legal matters are strikingly different from those of an ordinary psychologist. It is paramount for legal and forensic psychologists to recognize the obligations as well as the limitations of their obligations when appearing as witnesses in court proceedings...
Words: 2332 - Pages: 10
...Assignment: Unit 2: Psychologists’ Roles in Criminal Justice Total Points: 100 Due Date: October 6, 2015 Name: Donna Marie Brown (Donnabrown119) Course: Intro to Forensic Psychology Instructor: Doctor Findley Unit 2: Psychologists’ Roles in Criminal Justice Kaplan University Donna Brown Tuesday, September 29, 2015 Psychologists’ Roles within the Legal System Introduction A forensic psychologist has many roles to participate in within the legal system. This would include: the basic scientists, the applied scientists, policy evaluator, and the consultant. These roles have different responsibilities and they might even help in or give attention to different areas and environments within the legal system. Within the legal system, a psychologist can examine several personalities which includes the arresting police officer to the actual victim. There are actually many ethical responsibilities and matters that can ascend. And now I will elaborate on the roles that the psychologist plays in each environment. (Greene, & Heilbrun, 2013) Basic Scientist A basic scientist engages in knowledge, and this is for its own sake. The scientist analyses an occurrence for the fulfillment of comprehending it and providing a scientific enhancement. (Greene & Hailbrun, 2013) Law Enforcement and Corrections are two opportunities of the basic scientist. As long as the psychologist has a comprehension of a specific area, psychologists can participate in educating...
Words: 1073 - Pages: 5
...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. It has over the years become the love child of numerous television programs, movies, and crime novels. Criminal profiling involves the psychologist 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 his or her psychological makeup. In turn, profilers use their knowledge of which 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. 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. 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...
Words: 598 - Pages: 3
...Legal Aspects of Professional Psychology “Professional psychologists study mental processes and human behavior by observing, interpreting, and recording how people and other animals relate to one another and the environment.” The psychologists express theories that have possible explanations and concentrate on an individual behavior that influence a person’s action where understanding and explaining thoughts, emotions, feelings and or behavior is in attention. However there is a legal aspect of professional psychology that is the most important part in professional practice. “Legal aspects of professional psychology cover abroad spectrum of any application of psychological ethics, and ways of understanding legal issues and questions. Additionally to the practical practices, legal aspects of psychology also include empirical or academic research on topics concerning the relationships of government laws and regulations to human behavior and mental processes”(Roger Rivera, “Legal Aspects Of Professional Psychology”). Legal issues related to informed consent and refusal Most important factor of legal issue in professional phycology is the informed consent of the client, where the doctor gets consent of the client for performing tests and medical treatments including records of the patients. It is the psychologist’s duty to offer and explain services, and if the patients have no ability for opinion, take consent from the person who has the legal power to do on behalf of the...
Words: 1297 - Pages: 6
...Criminologist and forensic psychologists share many similarities although they have a few differences. This essay will attempt to explain these similarities and differences. Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminals whereas forensic psychology is the interaction of the study of psychology and the law, it is also a branch of applied psychology which is concerned with the collection, examination and presentation of evidence for judicial purposes (Haward, 1953) furthermore they hold a doctorate degree in a field of psychology. The role of a criminologist is to investigate a variety of reasons to why criminals commit crimes. In order to investigate how these crimes are committed, they must consider psychological and social factors furthermore consider if any biological situations could have led the criminal to commit the crime. The role of a forensic psychologist is to provide the legal system with sound psychological information from a sound research base (Grisso, 1987). A forensic psychologist role is similar to a criminologist role to an extent that they also work with prisoners and offenders moreover they also apply the psychological theory to criminal behaviour to figure out what makes criminals commit these crimes. The premium goal of a forensic psychologist is to The first act of psychologist taking part in the justice court was in 1896 when Albert testified at the trial of Munich man accused of murdering three women. Within the United Kingdom the prison...
Words: 2409 - Pages: 10
...Psychology refers to the formal intersection between the scientific section of psychology and the criminal justice systems. It involves having a thorough understanding of the criminal systems applied in various jurisdictions by constantly evaluating them at a global perspective (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). The scientific aspect of it takes this information and analyses this information and interrelates it with attorney generals, judges and other legal professionals. Moreover, the field is based on scrutinizing witness testimonies in an attempt to check its validity and make informed decisions when dealing with ambiguous court cases. The roles of forensic psychologists are multivariate. This is because they perform diverse roles according to the settings, circumstances and nature of the job. For instance, they train and evaluate police officers and, members of other law enforcement organizations. They also advise judges in determining court cases (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). For instance, when the juries are dealing with ambiguous court cases of rape, insanity or murder, all arising from mental in-capabilities of the assailants, forensic psychologies are called based on their expertise and experience to examine, evaluate and give recommendations concerning the sentencing of the culprits. Because of these several but crucial responsibilities, the field of forensic psychologist cuts across different professions (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). These professionals might work with State’s Attorneys...
Words: 762 - Pages: 4
...Subspecialities of Forensic Psychology: Legal Psychology and Correctional Psychology Antonella Zavala MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE CJ240 ABSTRACT Forensic psychology is the science that studies the individuals offender’s behavior. Forensic Science has other sciences that coordinates its goal such as Legal Psychology which will decide whether an offender is on conditions to go or not to court and correctional psychology that will follow the behavior and rehab on an offender Introduction In the show Criminal Minds on A&E, they show a dramatize version of what very few talented people do daily. Although, it is not what really happens it gives people a light overview on something that is more realistic and detailed. Solving a case, analyzing an offender takes time and a lot of research on the individual. However, their job does not finish when they catch the bad guy because that is just the beginning of a long work on rehabilitation to prevent by analyzing the motive of every offender and been able to prevent more crimes of occurring. Legal and Correctional Psychology follows the behavior of the offender during their time inside and outside the correctional with the only purpose to understand what lead them to offense in order to prevent more murders, suicide , child abuse and so on. In America, Forensic Psychology plays an important role in the Criminal Justice System, with special focus in Legal and Correctional Psychology. In the last 30 years Forensic Psychology...
Words: 1648 - Pages: 7
...The duties of a correctional Psychologist Donterise L. Anderson Saint Leo University Abstract An increasing rate of violation of crimes characterizes the current global environment. Different forms of violence and aggression, including drug trafficking and abuse, robbery, and rape cases among other forms of violence necessitates the need for analyzing the roles of a correctional psychologist. The special roles played by the correctional psychologists such as providing environments that improve the safety of the staff and inmates, psychological services, inmate management, and conducting an evaluation of the inmate/prison population and its influence on inmates’ health necessitated the study into the topic. In addition, the fact that the correctional psychology has numerous ethical dilemmas and conflicts makes it wanting to study the topic. Introduction Today, corrections are a complex, high profile operation, which consumes a significant portion of the federal operating budget. This paper will concentrate on the duties of a correctional psychologist. The paper begins with an overview of legal issues pertinent to psychological concepts and legal rights of inmates. We then examine the practice of forensic psychology in the correctional environment. Legal issues This section describes the common legal issues facing psychologists working in correctional facilities. The issues...
Words: 1752 - Pages: 8
...Professional Role: Forensic Psychology Information In the early 1900s, Hugo Munsterbeg (1908), known as the father of forensic psychology, wrote a book titled On the Witness Stand, which he suggested that psychology and legal system should work together. However, he did not receive a favorable respond from the legal community. Moving forward, forensic psychology began to flourish in 1968. Later, APA endorsed forensic psychology in 2001 (Roesch and Zapf, 2016). Forensic psychology is a specialty area in psychology that deals with both psychology and the law. A forensic psychologist should have the ability to research, must have knowledge about law and also practice (Roesch and Zapf, 2016). As a matter of fact, forensic psychologists need...
Words: 289 - Pages: 2
...Legal Aspects of Professional Psychology Michael Lampe May 06, 2013 There are many factors that can affect a professional in the field of psychology. Some of these factors may be ethical issues and some may have legal issues. These two issues may seem similar. However, they are very different. American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Code can help clear up any problems with ethical issues. The legal issues are not as easy to see or find the correct answers. Legal issues can be separated into two categories, legislation and litigation. Legislation concerns governmental bodies passing laws. Litigation is laws that are formed by the rule of the law. There are legal issues related to informed consent, assessment, testing, diagnosis, and confidentiality. These issues will be discussed and the influence of legislation on the field of psychology will be evaluated. Competency will also be covered. Informed Consent Informed consent is a legal and ethical term defined as the consent by a client to a proposed medical or psychotherapeutic procedure, or for participation in a research project or clinical study. In order for the consent to be informed the client must first achieve a clear understanding of the relevant facts, risks and benefits, and available alternatives involved. Informed consent requires legal documentation in all 50 states. The concept of informed consent originated with the recognition that individuals have rights: to freedom, autonomy and human dignity...
Words: 1719 - Pages: 7
...will be happy, then the community will be happy as well. Organizational Psychology focus on individuals behave within an organizations and how their behavior affects the functionality of an organization. Jex and Britt (2008) stated, “Organizational Psychology is a field that utilizes scientific methodology to better understand the behavior of individuals working in organizational settings” (Ch. 1). Understanding how behavior impacts formal organizations allows improvements to be made that result in more effective functioning within organizations. The role of research and statistics in organizational psychology Research and statistics play a large role in the studies of organizational psychology. There are many methods of research and statistics used to determine information and answers to the many questions posed by organizational psychologists. When collecting data, researchers must be aware of several issues that can affect the validity of their research. Generalizing information across differing organizations can commonly lead to mistakes (Britt & Jex, 2008). In this paper I will actually explain the...
Words: 917 - Pages: 4
...justice system. The fascination for me was how the forensic psychologist is able to detect criminal tendencies. The psychological approach is the way the evidence could lead to certain criminal behavior. [ (psychology school guide, 2012) ]For criminal psychologists they have to look at all angles of a way a person commits a crime. The FBI has a behavior science unit and they help with the understanding of criminals and terrorists [ (Portland State University Careers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2012) ]. This unit has three other counterparts and they all play a very important part of the FBI, they are the crime analysts, criminologists and clinical psychologists. This is an example of how psychology and criminal justice can overlap. There are many different types of agrees and certifications as well as many paths that can be taken in forensic psychology(psychology school guide, 2012) [ (psychology school guide, 2012) ] . Example: Forensic psychology requires either a Bachelors or Masters Degree. I have thought of this degree ever since I was eleven years old. Family situations quashed me going back to school at that time. At the time I was thinking about this career choice on-line classes were not offered. I would have applied in my twenties. When I did decide to go to school and chose nursing I found it also to be my love career also. I think I would have been happy working in a capacity to work with people. For those that become a forensic psychologist and work...
Words: 590 - Pages: 3
...Analysis of the Roles in the Process of Criminal Trial The Court’s Administration: An Analysis of the Roles in the Process of Criminal Trial Criminal procedure is the process of investigating, prosecuting, and punishing crimes (Scheb & Sharma, 2013). Criminal procedure includes law enforcement activities, including the arrest, interrogation, and identification of suspects. Criminal procedure also involves a process of criminal trial, in which a person is tried for their crime. The trial process can be extensive, but criminal charges can also be settled in the pretrial process. The pretrial process largely determines the outcome of a criminal case; most criminal cases never make it to trial. Charges against the defendant may be dropped or dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The defendant may also plead guilty without trial. Many guilty pleas result from plea negotiations between the prosecutors and defendant or defense attorneys. This pretrial process makes a formal criminal trial unnecessary (Scheb & Sharma, 2013). There are various roles in the criminal trial process, including the judge, the prosecuting attorneys, the jury, and the expert witnesses such as forensic psychologists. The assortment of roles has a high effect on the outcome for the defendant. A prosecutor is responsible for determining what charges to pursue and whether to plea bargain with the defendant. A jury decides a verdict. A judge decides a sentence. A forensic psychologist can influence all...
Words: 3921 - Pages: 16