The behaviors and motivations that may lead a person to commit a crime may be conditioned by their mental state and in light of this we must ask ourselves: would it be fair to judge a person who is not of his or her full mental faculties, in the same way as another who Yeah?
In these situations we must ask ourselves if lawyers, judges or prosecutors, among others, are trained to be able to determine a person’s mental state. With the aim of resolving these issues, forensic, legal and criminal psychology was born. If you are interested in know what forensic psychology is and what it is forcontinue reading this Psychology-Online article.
What is forensic psychology
Forensic psychology is the branch of legal psychology which has the objective of applying their knowledge to expert evidence. Faced with this, the psychology applied to the courts It seeks to collaborate in the resolution of judicial processes, based on understanding and studying the different psychological factors that may be useful and applicable in the trial, that is, it has the objective of providing data that contributes to resolving the different cases.
If you are interested in learning about other areas of psychology, in this article you will find them.
Juridic psychology
Legal psychology is a specialty within psychology, which has the objective of applying psychological techniques and knowledge on the behavior of people in the legal field. Therefore, it establishes a relationship between Law and Psychology. Therefore, it focuses on the study, promotion, explanation, advice and prevention of psychological, behavioral and relational aspects that interfere with people’s behavior regarding legal aspects. The functions performed by a legal psychologist are the following:
- Evaluation and diagnosis: this function focuses on establishing an assessment regarding the psychological conditions that may have influenced a behavior.
- Advice: representatives of this specialization must advise judicial bodies in reference to issues of their specialty.
- Intervention: Programs and designs must be carried out with the objective of establishing prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and inclusion or integration of the person. With the aim of discriminating whether their integration into the community or into a penitentiary center is more appropriate. Here you will find one.
- Training and education: another possible application of this specialty is to train professionals in the legal field, such as judges, police, lawyers, in psychological techniques applicable to their field.
- Carrying out campaigns on social prevention against crime and the media.
- Investigation.
- Victimology: help improve the victim’s circumstances and their contact with the legal system.
- Mediation: establishing solutions through negotiations to legal conflicts, with the aim of reducing the emotional and social impact and adding a legal alternative, in which those involved have a main role.
What is forensic psychology for?
Forensic psychology studies the person’s mental state at the specific time of the crime, and not its current functioning. The forensic psychologist works to a certain extent in retrospect. He has the need to turn to third parties to offer him information, collateral people, writings or verbal communications to collect the necessary information to help him determine if there was any alteration in the functioning of the person at the time of the crime.
Objectives of forensic psychology
Forensic psychology aims to highlight the mental state of the person at the time of the crime and the way in which this mental state may have influenced the person’s behavior, to provide relevant information in the judicial process and with this, provide advice to the lawyers, judges or prosecutors involved in the trial, in relation to the psychological aspects.
Types of forensic psychology
A forensic psychologist is a psychological professional with specialization in forensic psychology (usually through a master’s degree in forensic psychology and professional experience), who is dedicated to judicial processes.
The role of the forensic psychologist changes depending on the type of forensic psychology. We find two different types of forensic psychology that we will see below.
Clinical forensic psychology
This type of forensic psychology serves to evaluate the damage caused to the victims and establish responsibility for the events on the accused, taking into account the assessment of the person’s mental state and, consequently, their imputability. The psychological dimensions that are evaluated in this typology are the area of personality, the evaluation and treatment of pathologies. The functions of the forensic psychologist in this field of application can be:
- Forensic medical clinics: the role of the psychologist focuses on collaborating in the evaluation of victims and/or aggressors, such as in cases of sexual abuse, traffic accidents, abuse, mental disorder, , ,…
- Family courts: generally, the psychologist’s position is based on informing the judge about family circumstances, normally in divorce proceedings, in order to establish custody of children and in child protection proceedings.
- Juvenile courts: normally, together with the figure of the social worker or educator, it consists of the preparation of reports that contain the evaluation of the educational, family, relational, etc. conditions of the minor and recommend the most appropriate possible measures.
- Penitentiary surveillance courts: an evaluation of prisoners is established to assess exit permits, the possibility of conditional release, the length of the sentence, possible risks of escape,… and everything is detailed in a report.
- Assistance to victims: together with jurists and social workers and educators, the psychologist provides advice to victims.
Experimental forensic psychology
As we have previously pointed out, professionals in this field must work retrospectively and in light of this, they must attend to the evaluation of witness evidence, declarations and identifications. In order to establish the validation of these tests, the person’s attention, perception and memory processes are taken into account. The functions and characteristics of forensic psychology in this area of application can be:
- Participation in the different procedures before taking a statement, in cases that require special attention.
- Advice on the possible accuracy of statements given by witnesses to court.
- Collaboration in identification parades.
- Evaluation of the credibility of witnesses in statements.
Given this, two roles of the forensic psychologist can be seen in this field of application: the first function is established around the expert witness evidence and the second, offer advice to the legal body to guarantee a correct evaluation of the evidence.
Once we understand forensic psychology, we must know another application of legal psychology: criminal psychology. It is important to know their applications, to understand their differences and not confuse them.
In this article, you will find more information about the .
Difference between criminal and forensic psychology
To clearly see the difference between forensic and criminal psychology, you have to understand what the latter discipline consists of. Specifically, criminal psychology is aimed at understanding, studying and explaining what are the motivations and origin of the illegal conductas well as the personality of the person who committed the crime, since it is understood that the criminal act has been committed in a context that must be kept in mind.
What does a criminal psychology specialist do?
In addition to that, seeks to prevent and control criminal behavior, as well as increasing the rehabilitation and reintegration of the accused person. The areas of application of this discipline can be the following:
- Criminal analysis: in this area of application, criminal psychology seeks to observe and study a person’s behaviors in different areas of their life.
- Police investigation: in this area the psychologist seeks to establish negotiations with the criminal, in addition to working on psychological content such as evidence or events.
- Profiling: the psychologist in this area of intervention tries to place himself in the mind of the criminal. This technique allows us to recognize the main characteristics of the offender’s personality, through an analysis of his crime, his behavior and/or the scene of the crime committed. For example, it would be studied whether the crime was a premeditated act or the consequence of an impulsive act. In this article you will find more information about .
- Interviews: another area of application is conducting interviews with both victims and criminals, with the aim of obtaining relevant information about the events.
- Prevention: this area seeks to understand the biopsychosocial factors that may be related to the appearance of criminal acts, with the aim of reducing crime levels, based on prevention programs.
- Action on the effects and consequences of the victim at a psychological level. In addition to the individual effects on the victim, the effects at a collective level within society are studied.
In summary, criminal psychology seeks to understand the reasons for behaviors, their origin, the personality of the person and their motivations, while forensic psychology exercises on the formal aspects, seeking to establish legal conclusions on which there are implications. psychological.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
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- Echeburúa Odriozola, E., Muñoz, JM, & Loinaz, I. (2011). Forensic psychological evaluation versus clinical evaluation: proposals and future challenges.
- Manzanero, A. (2009). Forensic Psychology: definition and techniques. Theory and practice of criminal investigation, 313-339.
- Manzanero, AL, & González, JL (2013). Advances in psychology of testimony. Santiago de Chile: Legal Editions of Santiago.
- Morales Quintero, LA, & García López, E. (2010). Legal Psychology: task and development. Diversitas: Perspectives in Psychology, 6(2).
- Soria Verde, M. (2005). Manual of legal psychology and criminal investigation. Madrid: Pirámide Editions.