How is forensic psychology different from psychology and the law?

Answer 1

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY is the application of psychology to the criminal justice system. Many people confuse Forensic Psychology with forensic science. Although the two are closely related, there are many differences. The primary difference is that forensic psychologists delve into the vast psychological perspectives and apply them to criminal justice system. On the other hand, forensic psychologists frequently deal with legal issues, such as public policies, new laws, competency, and also whether a defendant was insane at the time a crime occurred. All of these issues weave together psychology and law topics and are essential to the discipline of Forensic Psychology. Forensic Psychology knowledge is used in various forms, such as in treating mentally ill offenders, consulting with attorneys (e.g., on picking a jury), analyzing a criminal's mind and intent, and practicing within the civil arena. Individuals interested in pursuing a Forensic Psychology career would have take psychology and criminal justice courses at the core of their academic studies. There is a very limited number of academic institutions that specifically offer a Forensic Psychology degree. Clinical, social, cognitive, criminal investigative, and developmental psychology also help to prepare one for this speciality. A forensic psychologist may chose to solely focus his/her career on research, ranging anywhere from examination of eyewitness testimony to learning how to improve interrogation methods. Another form of Forensic Psychology work is public policy, in which researchers can help in the design of correctional facilities and prisons. More generally, Forensic Psychology covers territory between the traditional options of criminal justice (i.e., academic training, law enforcement, and corrections). | Forensic Psychology dates back to at least the turn of the twentieth century. William Stern studied memory in 1901 by asking students to examine a picture for forty-five seconds and then try to recall what was happening in it. He would see how much the person could recall at various intervals after seeing the picture. These experiments came before more contemporary research about the reliability of eyewitness's testimony in court. Stern concluded from his research that recall memories are generally inaccurate; the more time between seeing the picture and being asked to recall it, the more errors were made. People especially recalled false information when the experimenter gave them a lead-in question such as, "Did you see the man with the knife?" The person would answer, "yes," even if there was no knife present. Lead-in questions are often used in police interrogations and in questioning witnesses. Hugo Munsterberg is often called the first forensic psychologist. He wrote a book called On the Witness Stand. It was published in 1908, after the work of William Stern. Other psychologists before this, such as Alfred Binet and Sigmund Freud, had also constructed tests that could be used in judicial proceeding. They both did studies suggesting that the time it takes for a person to answer a question could be a factor in determining guilt or innocence. In 1916, Lewis Terman, a Stanford psychologist, began to apply psychology to law enforcement. He revised Alfred Binet's intelligence tests and formed the Stanford-Binet intelligence test. These tests were used to assess the intelligence of thirty applicants for the police and firefighting jobs in San Jose, CA. A few years later, L. L. Thurstone used the same type of test in Detroit. Now, this type of testing is used in most police departments in the country. The application of psychology in law and law enforcement continued throughout the 1920's and 1930's. To this day, there is still a special interest in extending psychology to police work. The demand for psychologists in the legal system has grown considerably over the past several decades. Currently, almost 2,000 psychologists belong to the American Psychology-Law Society. The following are terms that are important to be familar with when learning about Forensic Psychology: Some Important Terms in Forensic Psychology ----

Competency The mental condition of the defendant at the time of trial is brought up every now and then by the defendant. If a defendant is found to be incompetent, our justice system will not usually punish him/her. Insanity Sometimes forensic psychologists are asked to determine whether a defendant was mentally capable at the time an offense was committed, commonly by employing the McNaughton rule and/or the substantial capacity rule. Expert Witness The majority of forensic psychologists testify in court for both the defense and also for prosecuting attorneys about the sanity and competency of defendants, the accuracy of the eye witness, in child custody cases, and also a variety of other things. Criminal Profiling With a lot of experience and schooling, one could work closely with local police and also federal agencies to create psychological profiles of defendants. Jury Consulting Many forensic psychologists work with attorneys in selecting jurors, analyzing the potential verdicts of juries, and explaining actual trial verdicts.

Answer 2

It depends on the context you see it in. They can be the exact same thing, or they can be fairly different.

Psychology of law could refer to a study of the psychology behind the creation of laws and the laws effects on individual behavior (making the influence of the laws a subject of study).

Forensic psychology is not really a science, per se. Forensic psychology is concerned with application of the principles of psychology within the confines of the law for legal purposes such as providing expert testimony, assisting law enforcement officers with the apprehension of suspects, and the like.

To clarify what I mean by forensic psychology not really being a science: the court system does not fully recognize all facets of psychology and has established its own terminology and classifications in some cases. Primary amongst these is the idea of sanity. Sanity and Insanity are legal terms and not psychological terms. While a forensic psychologist should make every attempt to remain true to the scientific principles that govern the science, the forensic psychologist is still forced to apply labels such as "sane" or "insane" without them having a psychological operational definition.