Forensic Psychology: Facts & Fiction

The Flaws of Forensic Psychology     As previously stated, forensic psychology focuses those with mental illness in regards to law and order. Sometimes the emphasis is on how crimes are committed by certain people and why. Understanding their thought process could help prevent crimes in the future. Knowledge like this can be extremely valuable. However, forensic psychology is not without its flaws. For example, in Actual Prisons, the treatment of mentally ill people in prison is shown to be dangerous and unethical.     A woman named Deniese Younger went to prison for an outburst. She has Intermittent Explosive Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. While locked up, she was not given the treatment necessary in order to improve. Rather, she described her experiences in jail as "hellish" and "miserable". She felt insignificant, like she was trapped in an abyss of shame and guilt for her actions, and “...[s]he didn’t have access to any sort of ment...

Myths of Forensic Psychology For most people, the words “forensic psychologist” probably conjure up images of nerdy, aloof investigators who use their superior intellect, unique pattern recognition, and incredible insight to ‘profile’ criminals and solve mysteries that conventional investigation techniques never could. Modern television shows like “CSI” and “Criminal Minds” propagate this stereotype (Canter,2010). While forensic psychology can be used to aid police investigations, the contributions are not as drastic as television dramas and movies might lead one to believe. A forensic psychologist might aid investigators in terms of helping to identify the degree of planning, intelligence, and special skills of the perpetrator, but the idea of “getting into the mind” of a criminal and predicting their next move is mostly fictitious (Canter, 2010). Even more exaggerated is the fictional investigators ability to diagnose criminals they have never met. Diagnosis is hard...

Canter, D. (2010). Forensic psychology: A Very Short Introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc. Durand, M. V., & Barlow, D. H. (2016). Essentials of Abnormal Psychology (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Degrees & Careers in Forensic Psychology | How to Become a Forensic Psychologist. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2018, from https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/psychologist/forensic-psychologist/ Forensic Psychology Careers. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2018, from https://careersinpsychology.org/becoming-a-forensic-psychologist/ Forensic Psychology Salary | What You’ll Earn as a Forensic Psychologist. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2018, from https://www.allpsychologyschools.com/forensic-psychology/salary/ Forensic | Definition of Forensic in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2018, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/forensic / Gordon, M. (Producer). (2005). Criminal Minds [Television Ser...

What is Forensic Psychology?      The field of forensic psychology can be described as the intersection between psychology and law enforcement. The word "forensic” is formally defined as “relating to or denoting the application of scientific methods and techniques to the investigation of crime" (Forensic | Definition of Forensic in English, 2018). Schreiber, K. (2018). Untitled. What Does a Forensic Psychologist Do? Professionals in this field are given responsibilities such as studying crime scenes, developing criminal profiles, and narrowing down a suspect list. Research is often a large part of a career in forensic psychology-- both analyzing research from other professionals, as well as conducting new research. For example, a forensic psychologist may interview criminals to figure out why certain people commit crimes. Other job duties may include rehabilitating ex criminals back into society, and working to prevent future crimes from b...