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Elsevier

Introduction to Forensic Psychology

Issues and Controversies in Crime and Justice

Introduction to Forensic Psychology is an original approach to understanding how psychologists impact the research, practice, and policy of crime, law, and justice. Written specif… Read more

Description

Introduction to Forensic Psychology is an original approach to understanding how psychologists impact the research, practice, and policy of crime, law, and justice. Written specifically for students, lay professionals, and practitioners, the text systematically examines police, court, and correctional aspects of forensic psychology. By further subdividing the text into the adult, juvenile, family, and civil components of forensic psychology, the author brings interdependence and overlap among these dimensions and the three broad thematic areas themselves into sharp, clear, and compelling focus. Contained within each of the 12 substantive chapters are series of timely issues or controversies that provocatively capture the significance of these relationships. Selected topics include incarceration of the mentally ill, the police as mediators in prison, competency to stand trial, treatment refusal rights, police stress and suicide, and sex offender treatment.Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Issues and Controversies in Crime and Justice presents the debates about psychology, crime, law, and the intersections in an accessible, jargon-free fashion. It is a cross-disciplinary text relevant to the fields of psychology, law, criminal justice, social work, and public policy.

Key features

@introbul:Key Features@bul:* Integrative approach to the study of psychology, crime, and law* Systematically focuses on police, court, and correctional dynamics of forensic psychology* Canvasses the adult, juvenile, family, and civil aspects of forensic psychology with "cutting edge" issues or controversies* A comprehensive sweep of important and provocative topics throughout the field, based on reader-friendly prose* Relies heavily on case illustrations to guide the reader throughout each topic presented

Readership

Students in courses at the upper level undergraduate and graduate level in forensic psychology; psychologists in legal environments, police officers, and attorneys.

Table of contents

About the Author. Acknowledgments. Preface. Part I: Police and Law Enforcement:Adult Forensics:Overview.Power, Authority, and Discretionary Decision Making. Use of Force. Evidence Tampering. Adult Criminal Profiling. Coerced Confessions. Juvenile Forensics:Overview. Dealing with Troubled Youths. Policing Juvenile Gangs. Juveniles' Attitudes toward the Police. Adolescent Female Prostitutes: Criminals or Victims? Civil Forensics Overview. Public Attitudes toward Police. Exploring the Police Personality. Police and the Mentally Ill. Community Policing: Trendy or Effective? Police Training: Communications Skills and Conflict Resolution.Policing Minority Populations. Family Forensics: Overview.Police as Mediators in Domestic Disputes.Police Stress.Police Work and Family Stress.Homosexual Police Officers.Part II: Court and the Legal System:Adult ForensicsOverview.Plea Bargaining.Competency to Stand Trial.Jury Selection. Psychological Tests and Forensic Assessment Instruments in the Courtroom.Risk Assessment.Forensic Verdicts or Psychiatric Justice: NGRI and GBMI.Juvenile Forensics:Overview.Defining the Age of Criminal Responsibility.Children/Juveniles and the Reliability of Their Courtroom Testimony.Best Interests of the Child Doctrine.Sentencing: Psychology of Juvenile Rehabilitation.Civil Forensics: Overview.Defining Mental Illness.Right to Refuse Treatment.Least Restrictive Alternative Doctrine.Duty to Inform vs Client Confidentiality.Victim Compensation Programs.Victim-Offender Mediation.Family Forensics:Overview.Family Trauma and the Cycle of Crime.Family Violence: Homocide.Impact of Mental Health Law Doctrines on Families:Paternalism and Parens Patriae.Family Law and Emotional Rights.Domestic Violence.Gay/Lesbian Rights and Definitions of the Family.Part III: Corrections and Prison Practices:Adult Forensics:Overview.Offender's Right to Refuse Treatment.Incarcerating and Executing the Mentally Ill.Sex-Offender Treatment.Electronic Monitoring: Technology and Managing Offenders.Prison Violence.Underground Economy of Prison.Juvenile Forensics:Overview.Juveniles in Adult Jails.Juveniles on Death Row.Juvenile Boot Camp.Suicide among Incarcerated Juveniles.Incarceration of Status Offenders.Civil Forensics:Overview.Psychological Stress and Correctional Work.Community Corrections.Mentally Disabled Inmates.Society's Reaction to Sex Offenders.Women Working in Male Prisons.Inmate Sexuality.Family Forensics:Overview."Make-Believe" Families.Pregnant Women in Prison.Female Prisoners and Mother-Child Separation.Other Family Members of Inmates.Female Inmates: Mothers in Prison.References.Index.

Product details

About the author

BA

Bruce A. Arrigo

Bruce A. Arrigo, Ph.D., is Professor of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. He holds additional faculty appointments in Psychology, in Public Policy, and in Public Health Sciences. Dr. Arrigo has (co)authored or (co)edited) 30+ books and 175+ scholarly papers in the areas of justice and social welfare at the intersection of law, mental health, and society. He also is the founding and current editor-in-chief of the Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, a Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and has served as a consultant to the Correctional Service of Canada, the National Institute of Justice, the National Science Foundation, and Savant Learning Systems.
Affiliations and expertise
University of North Carolina, Charlotte, U.S.A.