Course Description
Introduces the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, historical trends, principles and practices of various areas of psychology and explores their intersection with the law.
Course Objectives
A broad overview of how psychology and the legal system intersect. This course will help students identify the many ways - both empirical and applied - that psychology becomes an integral, if not unavoidable, part of criminal and civil justice. Topics include eyewitness identification problems, policing and police psychology, forensic assessments, jury decision-making research, and the ways that psychology can influence public policy. This course will provide students with a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities central to a career in the field of forensic psychology or legal psychology.
Week 1
Lecture: Forensic Psychology
Outcomes
- Understand the different definitions of forensic psychology
- Understand the history behind the relationship between psychology and law
- Understand the inherent conflicts in combining psychology and law
- Discuss the various roles that psychologists play in the legal system
- Differentiate between the expert witness as a conduit-educator, a philosopher-ruler/advocate, and a hired gun
- Discuss the various temptations and limitations within a forensic psychologist's roles and responsibilities
Week 2
Lecture: Psychology and Law Enforcement
Outcomes
- Understand the difference in tasks for a psychologist when the clientele is the public versus when the clientele is the police
- Understand the tools used in selection of police officers
- Describe the typical activities of a psychologist in a police department
- Explain how psychologists assist in creating and assessing training curriculum
- Describe the roles of psychologists in hostage-taking situations
- Define a fitness-for-duty evaluation and discuss its importance
Week 3
Lecture: Techniques of Criminal Investigations
Outcomes
- Understand the process and limitations of criminal profiling
- Evaluate the validity of profiling techniques
- Understand psychological autopsies or equivocal death analyses, including their limitations
- Critically evaluate hypnosis, distinguishing fact from fiction
- Understand the polygraph examination, its errors and limitations, and the current legal status of its use
Week 4
Lecture: Insanity and Competency
Lecture: Dangerousness and Risk Assessment
Outcomes
- Understand the definitions of insanity and why it may be difficult to assess
- Understand the roles that the psychologist may play in insanity cases
- Distinguish between insanity and competency
- Understand the different types of competency
- Understand what a risk assessment entails and how psychologists can predict dangerousness
- Differentiate between clinical, actuarial, and anamnestic predictors
- Differentiate between static, dynamic, and risk management predictors
- Understand what tools and techniques are used in predicting violence, sexual offences, domestic violence, child abuse, and suicide
- Understand the debate over whether or not clinical predictions surpass actuarial or statistical predictions
Week 5
Lecture: Battered Woman Syndrome and Rape Trauma Syndrome
Lecture: Child Sexual Abuse
Outcomes
- Understand what constitutes a syndrome
- Explain the components of Battered Woman Syndrome and possible defenses in a courtroom
- Understand the role of a psychologist as an expert witness in BWS cases and problems that the psychologist may encounter
- Understand how a juror may react to syndrome evidence
- Identify common criticisms of BWS and BWS expert testimony
- Understand the components of Rape Trauma Syndrome, including its relationship to PTSD
- Explain why experts are often not allowed in RTS cases
- Understand other closely related defenses including postpartum psychosis
- Understand the different roles for psychologists in child sex abuse cases, including evaluating the child, assessing competency to testify, preparing the child to testify, and testifying as an expert witness
- Discuss different interviewing techniques and problems that may arise with the use of leading questions or props such as anatomically correct dolls
- Discuss relevant court cases addressing children's testimony
- Understand the different types of testimony a psychologist may give as an expert for one side or the other
Week 6
Lecture: Improving Eyewitness Identification Procedures
Lecture: Interrogations and Confessions
Outcomes
- Understand the important role an eyewitness plays in a criminal case
- Understand how eyewitnesses can contribute to wrongful convictions
- Differentiate between system and estimator variables
- Explain how eyewitnesses are affected by questioning and lineups
- Understand how psychological research can, and has, contributed to changes in public policy
- Understand how false confessions can occur and be able to differentiate between different types of false confessions
- Understand the goals and procedures used in interrogations and the psychological impact
- Understand how psychologists can assist police, the courts, and be an advocate for society in this topic
Week 7
Lecture: Trial Consultations
Outcomes
- Understand the roles and responsibilities of a trial consultant
- Describe the various pretrial activities and concerns of trial consultants
- Understand the issue of change of venue and the impact of pretrial publicity
- Describe how consultants can assist in witness preparation and case organization
- Understand the process of jury selection and the contributions (and limitations) of scientific jury selection
- Describe some of the controversies surrounding the use of trial consultants
Week 8
Lecture: Death Penalty Trials and Appeals
Lecture: Influencing Public Policy
Outcomes
- Understand why and how forensic psychologists may become involved in death penalty cases
- Discuss the various roles a psychologist may play
- Understand the history of the Supreme Court rulings regarding the death penalty
- Understand the various ways psychologists can influence public policy
- Discuss the use of amicus briefs and provide examples
- Discuss the effectiveness of APA’s amicus briefs
The course description, objectives and learning outcomes are subject to change without notice based on enhancements made to the course. March 2012
