Forensic Psychology and the Criminal MInd

Criminal Psychology

The broad definition of Forensic psychology is the intersection of psychology and the legal process. According to the American Board of Forensic Psychology and Psychology-Law Society, it is defined as "the professional practice by psychologists within areas of clinical psychology, counseling, psychologist, neurophysiologist, and school psychologist, when they are engaged regularly as experts and represents themselves as such, in an activity primarily intended to provide professional psychological expertise to the judicial system.

Forensic psychology focuses on the mental health aspects of psychology and law, drawing away from the areas of experimental jury selection and eyewitness testimonies. In clinical psychology, specializes in overall mental health of the individual with the focus of possible solutions and therapies for recovery. They interact with people with all levels psychological disturbances. Whereas, Forensic psychologists are mainly concerned with individuals who present a mental illness within the context of the criminal or civil arenas of the law. The criminal areas of law of forensics psychology would include situations that the individual had committed a crime against another or society itself. A necessity of a forensic psychologist would be in a situation of court proceedings where the suspect is pleading insanity, or if there was questioning of the competency of the suspect to stand trial. An assessment of future violence would also be done in these cases. Sex offenders, especially repeat offenders, often have such assessments done by forensic psychologist.