As a clinical psychologist with a specialty in Psychology and Law (an
overarching term comprising correctional psych, police psych, and forensic
psych -- and perhaps, now, criminal psych), I'll address it as I
understand the distinctions.
Forensic psychologists primarily (there is tremendous overlap between all
the practicing subdisciplines) conduct evaluations for the court system:
CST (competency to stand trial), MST (Mental status at the time of the
offense, typically for insanity defenses), parole evaluations, child
custody evaluations, etc. The term also tends to apply to experimental
psychologists who work often giving expert testimony to the courts (they
can be said to "evaluate" the applicabiliy of such research to a
particular case before testifying -- Elizabeth Loftus is a good example of
this practice).
Criminal psychology is a more recent term, and I've seen it applied to
behavioral specialists who engage in "profiling" for the investigative
side of psychology. Now, as I tell my students, few psychologists actively
work as "profilers," but I have recently seen the term "criminal
psychology" applied to the practice of studying the criminal personality,
analyzing data to pick up trends among crime "types" and "criminal types"
(my terminology, not anything I've seen as official terms in the
literature), and conducting criminal profiles for the FBI, the state BI's,
or any of a number of local enforcement offices that may have the
inclination to utilize such services.
David W.
On Wed, 11 Apr 2001, Stephen Black wrote:
> On Wed, 11 Apr 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >
> > Is there a difference between "criminal psychology"" and "forensic
> > psychology"?
>
> Criminal psychology is the misuse of psychology to cause people
> grief [my own definition: this started out tongue-in-cheek, but I
> I've decided I'm serious]
>
> Some examples:
>
> The agitated student who turned up in my office recently because
> she had been accused of something and failed a lie-detector test.
> As she knew she was innocent, she couldn't understand how this
> could have happened. I told her.
>
> The infamous "research" by Alfred Steinscheider on sudden infant
> death syndrome which protected a murderer of five babies and
> promoted a device useless for the purpose of saving babies (see
> "The death of Innocents", Richard Firstman). _Pediatrics_ later
> took the extraordinary step of apologizing for publishing his
> paper. Steinschneider never did.
>
> Recovered (repressed) memory therapy.
>
> Any psychology-based accusations that the parents (mother
> especially) are responsible for a disorder on the basis of flawed
> or non-existent evidence. Exhibits A and B: schizophrenia and
> autism.
>
>
> Now, what the heck is "forensic psychology"?
>
> -Stephen
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
> Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
> Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Lennoxville, QC
> J1M 1Z7
> Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
> Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
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>
>
