Forensic Psychology For Dummies (11 page)

Clients:
People, without personal problems, buying into assistance from forensic psychologists on matters such as getting help with setting up selection procedures, say for prison officers or policemen who work on sexual assault cases, or giving advice on interviewing procedures that may be used in many different sorts of investigations.

Witnesses:
In some cases witnesses may need special help to cope with the legal process or even to remember more clearly what happened. Young children can pose special problems to the courts. Forensic psychologists may be brought in to help with these matters.

Other professionals:
Fellow professionals can turn to the forensic psychologist to assist in throwing light on the circumstances of a case or for help in understanding the actions of an individual. Assessing future risk is a particularly important service in this regard, as I describe in Chapter 10.

The following sections list some of the settings and groups of people where the forensic psychology makes an important contribution.

In the courts

Forensic psychologists carry out the following tasks, for example, in relation to criminal cases:

Giving help in selecting jury members or giving lawyers guidance on how to present a case, especially in the US.

Evaluating the competence of a defendant to stand trial.

Providing risk and other assessments that can influence the sentencing of a convicted person.

Assessing whether a convicted person is mentally sound enough to face the death penalty (in the US).

They can act for the prosecution or the defence. I’ve done both, although not in the same trial of course.

In civil cases and in quasi-legal settings, including industrial and employment tribunals or internal reviews of employees, forensic psychologists carry out the following tasks, for instance:

Evaluating child custody cases.

Assessing whether child abuse occurred.

Appraising competency of key individuals.