Chapter One: Introduction

1.1. Definition of Terms

Psychology and law as a course deals with the application of the psychological theories and practices
to the legal system. Psychology and law as a course could be alternatively used with forensic
psychology. The term forensic comes from Latin forensicto refers “public debate” pertaining to law,
both civil and criminal.

Forensic psychology is a broad field dedicated to the study and practice related to human behavior
in the legal process (e.g., eyewitness memory and testimony, jury decision making, and criminal
behavior) and. However, it is not only limited to research but it also refers to a professional practice
of psychology within or in consultation with a legal system that encompasses both criminal and civil
law and the numerous areas where they intersect.

Forensic psychology has been defined by different authors as follows:

…the professional practice by psychologists who foreseeably and regularly provide professional
psychological expertise to the judicial system (APA, 2001)
(http://www.apa.org/crsppp/archivforensic.html)

…the application to all aspects of the law and management of crime and criminals, through
professional practice, of principles, theories, and methods derived from the scientific and clinical studies
of human actions and experience (Canter, 2010 p.3).

… the practice of psychology (defined to include research as well as direct and indirect service delivery
and consultation) within or in conjunction with either or both sides of the legal system-criminal and
civil (Roesch, Zapf, & Hart, 2010 p.5).

…as “any application of psychological research, methods, theory, and practice to a task faced by the
legal system (Fulero & Wrigthsman, 2009 pp.1).

…as the research endeavor that examines aspects of human behavior directly related to the legal
process and the professional practice of psychology within, or in consultation with, a legal system that
embraces both civil and criminal law. (Bartol & Bartol, 2004p.8)

Therefore, we can define forensic psychology as a branch of psychology that applies psychological
theories, methods, and principles to the legal setting. According to Costanzo and Strauss (2012)
every specialization in psychology contributes to forensic psychology in one way or another.

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  Developmental psychology- can be involved in child custody evaluation and the accuracy of child
testimony. For example, they decide a kind of custody arrangement needed for healthy
development of a child after a divorce.
 Social psychology-can examine the persuasion strategies used in lie detection and confession. In
addition, they can work related to trial consultation, studying group dynamics in jury decision
making and how panel composition of judges affect sentencing. Industrial psychologists can
also examine sexual harassment cases in workplaces.
 Clinical psychology-work related to deciding competency of an offender to stand trial (CST). In
addition, clinical psychologists can be involved in treatment of offenders having some sort
of mental disorders.
 Cognitive psychology-can work in relation to the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and memory.
 Biological psychology-can be involved in polygraph test, fMRI and lie detection, and so on.

Distinctions

Professionals use forensic psychology, legal psychology, and psychology and law interchangeably.
However, these terms may have slight variations in definition and scope of concern.
The plethora of applications of psychology to law can be differentiated in terms of what has been
defined as: (a) psychology in law
(b) psychology and law and
(c) psychology of law.

 Psychology in law refers to specific applications of psychology within law (e.g. the
reliability of eyewitness testimony, competency, etc).
 Psychology and lawis used to denote all psycholegal issues related to offenders, lawyers,
magistrates, judges and jurors.
 Psychology of lawto the psychological study of the law itself (e.g. psychological research
into such issues as to why people obey/disobey certain laws, moral development, and public
perceptions and attitudes towards various penal sanctions).

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  Forensic psychologyis literally psychology applied in law courts. It is concerned with the
provision of psychological information to the courts. Simply forensic psychology refers to
psychology in the courts.
 Legal psychology is the scientific study of the effects of law on people; and the effect
people have on the law. Legal psychology also includes the application of the study and
practice of psychology to legal institutions and people who come into contact with the law.

Psychology and law partnership

Both focus on human behavior, both inherently strive to unveil the truth, and both disciplines are
concerned with the analysis, explanation, prediction and, changing human behavior. However, in
practice, there alliance is accompanied by controversies. Partly this is attributed to the nature of the
professions. For example, psychologists rely more on scientific evidences and law primarily relies on
eyewitness testimonies.

What is Forensic Child Psychology?

Forensic child psychology is a branch of developmental forensic psychology that studies behavior of
children in the legal setting.

1.2. History of Psychology and law

Even though the beginning of psychology dates to the ancient Greeks, it is believed that the
beginning of forensic psychology is attributed to Hugo Munsterberg. The brief history of forensic
psychology is presented as follows.

A. M’ Naghten Rule
Daniel McNaughten in 1843 tried to assassinate president the British president. But a group of
medical experts testified on his behalf and he was found not guilty by insanity because he did not
know what he was doing was wrong.
B. Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud in 1906 in his speech to a group of Austrian judges, described the relevance of
psychological knowledge to their field. He suggested that psychoanalysis must be used in crime
detection.

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 C. Hugo Munsterberg
Hugo Munsterberg (1908) in a book entitled “on the witness stand” highly claimed that
psychological research findings had the potential to inform the criminal justice system about false
confession, crime detection the unreliability of eyewitness accounts. However, he was a subject of
bitter criticism both from the law and psychology professionals. For example, John Wigmore
sarcastically criticized his works and he put him on mock trial and found him guilty (of exaggerated
claims).
In spite of all criticisms, Munsterberg is regarded as the father of forensic psychology.

Buckhout (1974) tested that theory in a study on purse snatching- determined memory was selective,
not a copying process. He found only 7 out of 52 witnesses could identify the suspect.

D. Muller vs Oregon
The use of psychological research in the legal system for the first time in traces back to 1908 in the
landmark case of Muller v. Oregon. Louis Brandies, a lawyer (who would later become a U.S. Supreme
Court Justice), submitted, in the case of Muller v. Oregon (1908), a brief that summarized thesocial
science research showing the impact that longer working hours hadon the health and well-being of
women. This markedthe first time that social science research was presented in court in the formof a
brief, and subsequent briefs of this nature became known as Brandeisbriefs.

E. A period of silence and growth

Psychologists became inactive following criticisms on the witness stand from the First World War up to
1978. Then, forensic psychology started to highly grow in Europe, North America, and Asia.

1.3. Science and Forensic Child Psychology

Forensic child psychology is a scientific discipline. It has four basic goals:

 Description
 Explanation
 Prediction
 Control

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How do we gain scientific knowledges in forensic child psychology? This is directly related to
epistemology, a discipline that deals with how we know, things (i.e. criminal cases). The following are
some of the sources of knowledge:

 Rationalism: states that knowledge comes through thought or reasoning or logic.

o Deductive reasoning: reasoning from something general to specifics (e.g. theory data).
o Inductive reasoning: reasoning from the specifics to the more general (e.g. data 
theory).
 Empiricism: states that knowledge comes through sense organs.
 Authority: the idea that we gain our own truths about the world from sources or people
thought to have the knowledge.
 Experimentalism: the idea that knowledge comes through experimental procedures.

Scientific knowledges often come against commonly accepts beliefs or cognitive biases, mental
errors that occur when we process information:

 Confirmation bias: a tendency of humans to pay attention to evidences that support their
pre-conceived thoughts and ignore evidences that contradict their expectations.
 Hindsight bias: the tendency to retrospectively overestimate our previous predictive
abilities.
 Heuristics: the use of mental shortcuts instead of deep information processing to arrive at
judgments.
o Representativeness heuristics:the tendency to judge the probability based on its
superficialassociationwithaprototype, or stereotype. For example, judging a person
based on his membership to a certain group.
o Availability heuristics: arriving at judgment based on information that easily comes to
the mind than information based on accuracy.
1.4. Roles of psychologists

Forensic psychologists act as practitioners, educators, and researchers. Psychologists can play the
role of advisory, research, and consultation.

A. Research.

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As a researcher a forensic psychologist can conduct studies related to the accuracy of eyewitness
testimony, memory, criminal behavior, and other related issues.

 Research, testimony, and consultation on psychological issues impacting on the legal

process such as eyewitness testimony, jury selection, children ’ s testimony, repressed
memories, and pretrial publicity.
 Studying issues related to human performance, product liability, and safety

B. Consultation

Forensic psychologists can serve as consultants to the law enforcement (the police, and the court)
related to client treatment counseling, police selection, and training. In addition, psychologists can
be used as trial consultants to lawyers (defense or persecuting attorneys), to the juries, and the judges
and individual clients on issues related to the influence of eyewitness testimony, pretrial publicity,
jury selection, and so on. The following can be some of the consultation and practical roles:

 Psychological evaluation and expert testimony regarding criminal forensic issues such as
trial competency, waiver of Miranda rights, criminal responsibility, death penalty mitigation,
battered woman syndrome, domestic violence, drug dependence, and sexual disorders
 Testimony and evaluation regarding civil issues such as personal injury, child custody,
employment discrimination, mental disability, product liability, professional malpractice, civil
commitment, and guardianship
 Assessment, treatment, and consultation regarding individuals with a high risk for
aggressive behavior in the community, in the workplace, in treatment settings, and in
correctional facilities
 Specialized treatment service to individuals involved with the legal system
 Consultation to lawmakers about public policy issues with psychological implications
 Consultation and training to law enforcement, criminal justice, and correctional systems
 Consultation and training to mental health systems and practitioners on forensic issues.
 Court - appointed monitoring of compliance with settlements in class – action suits affecting
mental health or criminal justice settings
 Policy and program development in the psychology and law arena

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 C. Teaching

Forensic psychologists are practitioners and researchers. In addition, they serve also as educators in
higher institutions. The role of teaching and research may sometimes intermingle.

This may involve teaching, training, and supervising of undergraduate or graduate students in
psychology, and psychiatry, and law.