Forensic Psychology

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Forensic Psychology refers to the formal intersection between the scientific section of psychology and the criminal justice systems. It involves having a thorough understanding of the criminal systems applied in various jurisdictions by constantly evaluating them at a global perspective (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). The scientific aspect of it takes this information and analyses this information and interrelates it with attorney generals, judges and other legal professionals. Moreover, the field is based on scrutinizing witness testimonies in an attempt to check its validity and make informed decisions when dealing with ambiguous court cases. The roles of forensic psychologists are multivariate. This is because they perform diverse roles according to the settings, circumstances and nature of the job. For instance, they train and evaluate police officers and, members of other law enforcement organizations. They also advise judges in determining court cases (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). For instance, when the juries are dealing with ambiguous court cases of rape, insanity or murder, all arising from mental in-capabilities of the assailants, forensic psychologies are called based on their expertise and experience to examine, evaluate and give recommendations concerning the sentencing of the culprits. Because of these several but crucial responsibilities, the field of forensic psychologist cuts across different professions (Bartol &Bartol, 2012). These professionals might work with State’s Attorneys, Public Defenders and several law enforcement agencies: private attorneys, juries and judges who decide different legal matters.
Criminal investigation techniques There are various techniques used by a forensic psychologist to investigate and assess criminals in the judicial system. For instance, in criminal profiling, the forensic psychologist often observes the defendant or client partaking in legal matters from different perspectives when contrasted to the traditional methods used by clinical psychologists (Bartol, 2008). They then assess the consistency of statements and factual information delivered from multiple sources. They also compare the victim’s geographical locations, trait patterns, biographical descriptions and the given demographic factors about the offender. While trying to detect lies in police academies, assessing police officers as well as determining the validity of witness’s testimony, forensic psychologists will often opt to use the polygraph and hypnosis as lie detection tools and techniques. By checking the physiological processes of the people under examination, the forensic psychologist asks questions, both difficult and hard and compares the victim's heart beat to the selected normal baselines (Bartol, 2008). In hypnosis, the content hidden in the victim's subconscious minds are brought to their conscious parts of the brain. Therefore, once hypnotised, these victims are psychologically tricked to avail all the requested information willingly. Equivocal deaths are also other occurrences that require forensic psychologists to employ several techniques all relating to autopsy. In this technique, the forensic psychologist obtains all relevant data that could be used to provide insight concerning the mental status of the deceased (Bartol, 2008). They consult the biographical information of the deceased persons, medical histories, personal information such as relationships, marital status, lifestyles and also secondary information such as police records, diaries and family history. They then conduct a predictive analysis that aims at giving logic based opinions that interlink these events and the deceased (Bartol, 2008). Therefore, it is the results of the predictive analysis that forensic psychologists use to speculate whether the victim dies out of suicide, accident or homicide. Finally, it has been previously mentioned that the roles of forensic psychologists differ with the intent and circumstance. At sometimes, they act as defendants while working in conjunction with prosecutors at other times (Roth, 2008). Therefore, the defense strategies adopted at each circumstance are different. For instance, while arguing in favour of the accused, the forensic psychology might use insanity or rape trauma syndrome to argue that the victim acted out of external influences that were beyond their control. The same applies for battered woman syndrome where the forensic psychologies may clinically prove that whatever crime the victim did was out of their scope (Roth, 2008). This may either give the recommendation for the victim to be rehabilitated and treated rather than being sentenced.

Reference List
Bartol, B. (2008). Introduction to forensic psychology. Retrieved on 29th June 2015 from: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/22186_ol&BartolCh3_InvestigativePsychologyandOffenderProfiling.ppt
Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2012). Introduction to forensic psychology: Research and application. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.
Roth, M. (2008). Tips for Persuasive Criminal Defense of Your Client Suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Retrieved on 29th June 2015 from: http://www.fd.org/docs/select-topics/mental-health/tips-for-persuasive-criminal-defense-of-your-client-suffering-from-posttraumatic-stress-disorder.pdf?sfvrsn=4