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• Forensic psychology


  The application of scientific principles and practices to the understanding and functioning of legal and criminal justice systems, and to conducting research in relevant areas
• Forensic psychiatry


  A sub-specialty of psychiatry related to criminology, encompassing the interface between law and psychiatry
• Forensic psychologists


  • They are scientist-practitioners who apply psychological knowledge, theory and skills to the understanding and functioning of legal and criminal justice systems, and to conducting research in relevant areas
  • They are not usually involved in the solving of crimes
  • Their expertise is in the assessment of people already arrested, including motives, state of mind during the act, fitness to stand trial, and mental disorder assessment
  • They do not engage in profiling, although some psychologists do
• Psychology and law


  Both are inherently concerned with the analysis, explanation, prediction and, sometimes, the alteration of human behaviour, but they come from very different perspectives
• Differences between psychology and law

  • Psychology is more creative, empirical, experimental, descriptive, nomothetic, probabilistic, proactive, academic, and future oriented
  • Law is more conservative, authoritative, adversarial, prescriptive, idiographic, certain, reactive, operational, and past oriented
• Juries will be subjective, influenced by each other's opinions, not understand all the evidence, not give equal weight to the evidence, and be driven by other motives apart from justice
• Juries will weigh the evidence, be objective, understand the evidence, and assess all the evidence
• Roles of forensic psychologists

  • Clinical role (clinical interviewing, psychological assessments/evaluations, question of psychological disorder, psychometric testing)
  • Experimental role (experiments for the defence/prosecution, e.g. eyewitness testimony)
  • Actuarial role (statistical probabilities to behavioural data, probabilistic reasoning)
  • Advisory role (examining the evidence of other experts, advice to defence/prosecution, investigative psychology)
• Where forensic psychologists work


  • Private practice
  • Family courts, drug courts, mental health courts
  • Child protection agencies
  • Domestic violence courts and programs
  • Forensic mental health units
  • Sex offender treatment programs
  • Correctional institutions
  • Law enforcement agencies
  • Research organisations
  • Colleges and universities
  • Juvenile delinquency programs
  • Legal advocacy centres
• The development of psychologists' involvement as expert witnesses in American courts was an important determinant of the growth of forensic psychology
• Crime


  An act that violates criminal law and may therefore be followed by criminal proceedings and attracts the appropriate punishment
• Definitions of crime


  • The consensus view (crime is an act that the majority in society meets with disapproval)
  • The conflict view (crime is promoted by the unequal distribution of wealth and power in society)
  • The interactionalist view (crime is guided by the individual's interpretation of reality and the meaning events have for them)
• The criminal justice system promotes law abiding behavior and discourages law-breaking behaviour
• We know about crime mostly from the media, which tends to over-represent murder and violent crimes and under-represent property crimes
• Crime statistics are based on data collected from a range of different sources, including crimes reported to police, court statistics, prison statistics, and general population offender surveys
• The Australian court system is essentially adversarial, but also has different systems within it, such as tribunals, children's court, family court, drug court, restorative justice, and circle sentencing
• Restorative justice asks different questions than the criminal justice system, focusing on repairing harm, inviting all affected to dialogue, and giving equal attention to community safety, victim's needs, and offender accountability and growth
• The public appears to be tough-minded towards crime, which may influence the way the criminal justice system is administered
• Theories of fear of crime

  • Cultivation theory (distorted image of crime portrayed by media affects heavy TV viewers disproportionately)
  • Availability heuristic (vivid but negative impression of particular crime or type of crime leads to fear)
  • Cognitive theory (fear of crime is the consequence of beliefs about the negative consequences of being victimised and subjective risk of victimisation)
• The insanity defence is based on the theory that most people can choose to follow the law, but a few select persons cannot be held accountable because of mental disease or disability
• t exaggerated concerns (for political effect) regarding terrorism and Muslims – countered through various postings – number of people killed as a result of other causes compared with those killed as a result of terrorism – but fear is powerful
• Fear of crime


  Origins & theories
• Distorted image of crime portrayed by media

  • Affects heavy TV viewers disproportionately (Cultivation theory)
• Any source of information

  • May provide particularly vivid but negative impression of particular crime or particular sort of crime such that the individual responds to similar situations to the vivid imagery with fear (Availability heuristic)
• Fear of crime


  • Consequence of the independent influences of beliefs about the negative consequences of being victimised and subjective risk of victimisation (Cognitive theory)
• Perception


  The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses
• Reality


  The world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them
• Insanity defence


  Based on the theory that most people can choose to follow the law; but a few select persons cannot be held accountable because mental disease or disability deprives them of the ability to make a rational/voluntary choice
• Insanity


  Mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behaviour
• Witnesses: '"The overwhelming impression I got was he was totally neutral,'' Mr Nelson said. ''Like he was mailing a personal letter and walking back to the vehicle. Had I not witnessed the incident I would not have known anything was wrong.'''
• Witnesses: '"I see it every time I drive over the bridge,'' he said. ''There was no hesitation of him lifting the child and throwing the child over. There was no reservation or second thought.'''
• Brustman's argument


  In the dock sits a man who flung a four‐year‐old girl, his own daughter, to her death. His impaired mind caused him to do this.
• Silbert's argument


  Freeman had been so angry at his ex‐wife following their marital split and reduction in his custody access to their three young children, that he carried out the ultimate "spousal revenge"
• 5 psychiatrists concluded not mentally ill
• Witness - "There was no hesitation of him lifting the child and throwing her over. There was no reservation or second thought".
• Dr Yvonne Skinner


  Actions indicated he was acting "Consciously and voluntarily", with his actions being "well organised and purposeful"
• Dr Doug Bell


  All witness observations suggest he knew the nature of what he was doing… Freeman would not have been able to complete the sequence of 'goal‐directed behaviours' if dissociating
• Professor Graham Burrows


  Opinion that Freeman was mentally ill and did not know what he was doing (was very probably" in a dissociative state like "that of a sleepwalker") when he threw his daughter off the bridge
• Burrows as a "gun for hire" and "psychiatrist of last resort and one who will sing whatever song the defence wants
• Marcus Aurelius (AD 179) – Man who was permanently insane murdered his mother. Insanity sufficient punishment – but man needed to be kept in custody for own and community's protection