In the recent past forensic psychology has gained so much popularity when investigating criminal behaviors. This has seen forensic psychologists take up crucial roles in the investigation of crimes and in assessing criminal minds in order to evaluate their thinking patterns. Forensic psychology has recently been quite famous as witnessed by the many programs such as crime novels and movies being showcased on the television for example criminal minds and Crime Scene Investigations (CSI). Criminal profiling another name for forensic psychology involves criminal psychologists critically employing their knowledge and understanding of criminal pathology, motivation and human behavior, which assists them in developing the offender’s psychological …show more content…
Forensic psychology is defined as a psychology field that is concerned with all human behavior aspects in relation to the jurisdiction of the legal or law system (Hess & Weiner, 1999). From a definition by the American Psychological Association, forensic psychology refers to the employment of clinical specialties to the law system or the legal field. This means that clinical psychology is applied in the setting of forensic science and crime solving. Another author called Christopher Cronin known for writing about forensic psychology, gives the definition as “The employment of clinical skills to be applied to the legal institutions and individuals that cross paths with the law” (Ward, 2013). In general all this definitions try to emphasize how experimentation and research have widely been applied in many psychology fields for example social psychology or cognitive psychology all used in the legal system to help in solving cases. Today, forensic psychology has taken a more advanced and forward approach of individual psychological assessment that many forensic psychologists have adopted to grill and analyze any persons that may have been …show more content…
In this case the psychologist could employ the use of psychometric tests such as special questionnaires, or assessment tools or interviews and all this help in the final judgment assessment. Recommendations from such assessments provide information to the police, the prisons, probation officers or the court about a person’s psychological functioning, therefore may affect the treatment of such an individual when dealing with the criminal system of justice. An example of this is when psychologists are asked to figure out if a person has a mental problem or is fit to stand trial, b) Experimental that involves research being carried out by the psychologist in order to provide information to the case. This involves conducting experimental tests to offer crucial data or information to the case or prove a point to the courts, c) Actuarial that involves the application of statistics to provide information to the case. An example of this is when a psychologist is requested by the court to provide actuarial information on the likelihood of a particular event happening. Such a scenario is witnessed when