Can some explain what a forensic psycologist is and what one does with that profession?

Question

Can some explain what a forensic psycologist is and what one does with that profession?

Answer 1

I am a forensic neuropsychologist by trade. We evaluate people who have been incarcerated (i.e. jail) to see if they need special mental health services in order to cooperate with their attorney/ the court, etc.

Some of us are hired as special expert witnesses to evaluate a person's state of mind at the time of a crime and also if a person has been in jail for their term, we perform assessments of a person's estimated dangerousness if they were to be released again.

A big area that is relatively new, is the performance of evaluations for child molesters to see if they should be released or not after a time of treatment. It's big business from what i hear because eventually ALL of them have to be evaluated..not my area but that's what I hear.

BTW: The advice about contacting APA.org above was right on. Dr. Cavassi (above) has a great explanation too (he usually has great answers). :-)

Hope that helps add to a good collection!

ganldoc

Answer 2

Go to apa.org...info there.  Forensic psychologists deal with the law and court systems.  Profile of jurors that will "not convict/convict"..legal issues....not "CSI"  see:

http://www.wcupa.edu/_academics/sch_cas....

(psych professor)

Answer 3

The usual function of the forensic psychologist is the administration of assessments and writing of reports to the legal system and government, usually the court.

Assessments for the court include ability to understand and defend one's self, known as competency to stand trial.  In addition, a psychologist might be asked to (attempt) restoration of competency to stand trial.  There have also been a couple of court decisions that determined what assessments would be found acceptable in the assessment of sexual offenses and pedophilia.  Sometimes a person is not found competent because of psychiatric illness or developmental disability, but having either does not automatically mean lack of competency.

Other aspects of forensics includes the assessment of a disability and either qualification for government funds for that disability and/or the ability to perform work.