1.

QOD based on the commentary titled ‘what is forensic psychology’: Summarize the
‘activities’ described for each subfield related to forensic psychology, within the APA
article included within the ‘Lecture 1’ module.

Subspecialties
Clinical-forensic psychologists who are primarily interested in forensic practice may
work in secure forensic units, community mental health centers providing specialized
services, jails, prisons, court services units, specialized agencies, or in private practice
conducting forensic assessment and treatment relevant to legal decision-making. They
may also be involved in teaching, training, or supervision in a department of psychology,
a medical school, a hospital, an interdisciplinary institute, or a clinic. Such professionals
may also be involved in conducting research and scholarship in areas such as violence
risk assessment, treatment needs and response, and decision-making strategies.
Developmental psychologists also tend to be based in academic, medical, and
professional school settings. They often become involved in legally relevant research
and consultation with children and adolescents. There are important questions
regarding the testimony of children (accuracy and influences, for example), the
knowledge and decision-making of adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system,
and the needs of children and families involved in divorce or separation that are among
the areas addressed by the research and consultation of developmental psychologists.
In addition, such psychologists may become active in attempting to develop policy
regarding children and families in the forms of federal and state legislation, or the
implementation of such law on the community level.
Social psychologists are more likely to work in academic positions, such as
psychology departments, medical schools, schools of criminal justice, or research and
policy institutes. Frequently such individuals are very active in research, graduate
training, and undergraduate teaching. They may also be involved in consulting with
attorneys, courts, and agencies on issues relevant to their research in legal areas;
examples include witness credibility, jury selection, and decision-making influences.
Some non-university-based social psychologists work as consultants on a full-time
basis, providing services to trial attorneys, while others may be employed by state or
federal agencies (e.g. corrections, mental health) to conduct relevant research.
Cognitive psychologists are trained primarily as researchers and teachers in the
areas of human perception and memory, and tend to focus their research and
consultation on such legally-relevant questions as eyewitness identification, the
accuracy of memory, and the detection of deception. Their employment settings are
typically university-based. Their research can be extremely important when courts must
weigh testimony about events that may have occurred months or even years ago.
Providing the results of such research to courts and legislators by summarizing the
"state of science" on a given question is a task of some cognitive psychologists.
Recently, cognitive psychologists have begun to work with law enforcement agencies to
develop investigative procedures to enhance the likelihood of accurate memory and
testimony about crimes and accidents.
Community psychologists are likely to work in academia as well as out in the
community. Community positions include working in government agencies, non-profit
agencies, foundations, and community-based advocacy and service settings. For
community psychologists who conduct law-related research, activities can span the
range of policy and law formulation, implementation, evaluation, and change. For
example, they might design and evaluate juvenile delinquency prevention and treatment
programs, research adolescents’ competence to participate in legal proceedings,
investigate the impact of court involvement on the functioning of crime victims, or
evaluate the effects of health care and welfare reform.
Finally, some psychologists receive more extensive training in law and obtain a JD
(Juris Doctorate) or MLS (Master of Legal Studies) in addition to their training in
psychology. Such individuals may become involved in legal scholarship in areas of law
relevant to the behavioral sciences, and may work in law schools as well as in other
academic or applied settings described above. In addition to law teaching and
scholarship, such individuals may become involved in psychological research or
practice (depending on their specialization within psychology), or legal practice as an
attorney.