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What is Forensic Psychology?
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Forensic Psychology – Important Practices and Research
In this course, Professor David Canter (University of Liverpool) provides an introduction to the field of forensic psychology and some of the most important practices and areas of research associated with it. In the first lecture, we start with a definition of forensic psychology as a discipline that applies psychological insights to legal processes and the criminal justice system. In the second lecture, we consider the different ways in which psychologists have theorised the causes of crime. In the third lecture, we think about how crime can be defined and measured. Next, we think about offender profiling. In the fifth lecture, we explore how this practice gradually developed into the broader area of investigative psychology. In the sixth lecture, we take a closer look at the field of investigative psychology and how it can contribute to police investigations. In the seventh lecture, we focus on geographical offender profiling. In the eighth lecture, we explore investigative interviewing. In the ninth and final lecture, we explore a specific method for modelling serial murder, known as the ‘radex model’ of serial killers.
To find out more about forensic psychology and David Canter’s work visit www.davidcanter.com.
What is Forensic Psychology?
In this lecture, we consider what the field of forensic psychology encompasses and how it can be defined, focusing in particular on: (i) the etymological root of the term ‘forensic’ in the Latin word ‘forensis’ (of or pertaining to the forum); (ii) how this relates to the original role of forensic psychologists as expert witnesses who provided psychological advice on defendants to the courts; (iii) how the field of forensic psychology has evolved over time to encompass many other areas in which psychologists can contribute to the legal process, including offender profiling and investigative interviewing.
Hello, I'm David Counter.
00:00:06I'm emeritus professor in psychology at the University of Liverpool.
00:00:07And this is a series of modules on forensic psychology
00:00:12dealing with some of the key issues that are explored
00:00:16in the A Level syllabus. So what is forensic psychology?
00:00:18Well,
00:00:23the term for INS comes from the Latin for the
00:00:23forum that places where people met to solve disputes,
00:00:27and it became the term
00:00:31that referred to any sort of legal process, particularly to courts.
00:00:32So forensic meant advice to the court advising the judge or the
00:00:38jury about things relating to the expertise of the individual involved.
00:00:42So you have forensic pathology guests who look at
00:00:47dead bodies and decide how they'd been killed,
00:00:50or even forensic archaeologists who look at where bodies have been buried.
00:00:52So forensic psychology were psychologists who were giving advice
00:00:56to the judge or the jury about things to do,
00:01:02usually to do with the defendant with the person
00:01:05who was in the dock being charged with a crime
00:01:07Now, originally,
00:01:11the court
00:01:13only really accepted people with a medical background.
00:01:14So with forensic psychiatrists who gave the early evidence to the courts.
00:01:17But they were often actually quoting assessments
00:01:22that had been made by psychologists.
00:01:26But round about 50 years ago, psychologists were allowed to start giving
00:01:29evidence themselves.
00:01:34And these forensic psych Ecologists were people who had been working
00:01:35with criminals who had possibly some sort of mental disorder.
00:01:40So the psychologists would say whether or
00:01:45not the individual was so mentally disturbed
00:01:46that he didn't know what he was doing at the time
00:01:50of the crime or possibly could not understand the legal process.
00:01:52What was called fitness to Plead was not really able to plead within the court.
00:01:56But from those early days where it was clinical psychologist,
00:02:02people who worked with those who are mentally ill,
00:02:06it broadened out,
00:02:09and the term became used for a whole
00:02:10range of different areas in which psychology and psychologists
00:02:12could contribute
00:02:17to many different aspects of the legal process.
00:02:18So they became involved in looking at interviewing.
00:02:22They became involved in thinking about what you do with
00:02:24people in power risen and how you help them,
00:02:28and
00:02:30a wide range of different areas of psychology became called forensic psychology.
00:02:31And in fact, if you want to get a sort of quick read, I did this very short introduction
00:02:38to forensic psychology just outlines it.
00:02:44Or an even more detailed one, which was actually written with six formers in mind.
00:02:48Is this one? Forensic psychology for Dummies?
00:02:52Um is is just the American word for people who aren't experts, so
00:02:55it covers many different areas.
00:02:59Now, unfortunately,
00:03:01people tend to think that it's another
00:03:03word for offender profiling what I'll be talking
00:03:05about offender profiling and what It's not really
00:03:08the truth about it in another talk,
00:03:11and I'll be describing some of the more detailed developments of
00:03:14the new area of investigative psychology in a later talk.
00:03:17But what you need to be aware of when people talk about forensic psychology
00:03:21is that it covers all aspects of psychology that
00:03:26can contribute to all aspects of the legal process,
00:03:29working with criminals, working with victims, working with witnesses
00:03:33and even aspects of what it means to be a victim
00:03:37and all the different issues
00:03:41that relate
00:03:43to crime
00:03:44that psychologists can contribute to
00:03:45
Cite this Lecture
APA style
Canter, D. (2019, September 27). Forensic Psychology – Important Practices and Research - What is Forensic Psychology? [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/forensic-psychology/offender-profiling
MLA style
Canter, D. "Forensic Psychology – Important Practices and Research – What is Forensic Psychology?." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 27 Sep 2019, https://massolit.io/courses/forensic-psychology/offender-profiling