Investigative Psychology
As stated by Bartol and Bartol (2008), investigative psychology is the application of psychological research and principles to the investigation of criminal behavior (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). Investigative psychology is closely associated with criminal profiling, but there are other areas in which a forensic psychologist can participate in this particular subspecialty. An investigative psychologist maybe asked to perform a psychological autopsy, forensic hypnosis, or produce a geographical mapping. Psychological autopsies are generally performed in suspected suicide cases where the insurance company or family member questions the cause of death. Forensic hypnosis is an interview or interrogation method used by trained and credentialed professionals. Lastly, geographic mapping is a method of research “concerned with analyzing spatial patterns of crimes committed by numerous offenders over a period of time (Bartol & Bartol, 2008).” Geographic profiling is the analysis of a single serial offender’s geographic movement.
Due to the complexities of investigative psychology these methods have been scrutinized. In order for these methods to be admissible in a court of law, they must pass the Daubert standard for empirically based evidence. The use of such standards has sparked an array of studies. For example criminal profiling has been under a magnifying glass for several years. Snook et al. (2007) found that there is inadequate empirical evidence that suggest whether criminal profiling is an effective method (Snook, Eastwood, Gendreau, Goggin, & Cullen, 2007). However, Kocsis, Middledorp, and Karpin (2008) reported that expert profilers are more accurate at prediction of unknown offender characte...
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...m with an understandable statement of their rights, privileges, and the limitations of confidentiality (Committee on Ethical Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists, 1991).”
Multiple relationships in a correctional institution can cause ethical dilemmas. An example of this would be if an inmate refuses to comply with a random drug screening and then attempts to commit suicide. After the suicide attempt the correctional psychologist examines the inmate and discovers a history of suicide attempts. He recommends that the inmate participate in group therapy and be granted a pass on future drug screening. Other members of the prison staff believe the inmate attempted suicide to escape the urinalysis. In this case the psychologist is faced with the dilemma of what is in the best interest of the patient and what is the best interest of the correctional institution.
In the mental health profession of counseling, therapy, psychology, psychiatric and social services ethical dilemmas are faced primarily on a daily basis. Being that mental health professionals are working with clients who are often fragile and vulnerable, they must develop an intense awareness of ethical issues. On the other hand, mental health professionals would never intentionally harm their clients, students or colleagues and others whom they work with. Unfortunately, good intentions are not enough to ensure that wrong doings will not occur and mental health professionals have no choice but to make ethically determined decisions. Depending upon the experience and expertise of the professional determines the outcome of the ethical circumstance. For example, if you were practicing mental health professional and had a friend who’s a licensed psychologist, who is invited to attend the wedding of a patient that she has been seeing in court-ordered therapy for a year; what advice would you give your friend?
Having a positive approach helps psychologists clarify what they value, contemplate how they must behave, and decide what institutes suitable professional demeanor. The significance of positive ethics supports psychologists and allows them to reach their utmost ethical principles instead of violating the rules. The American Psychological Association are the top procedures to monitor to help stay within the ethical guidelines which has recently had revisions in the year two thousand two. There are a number of ethical codes to consider as a forensic psychologist cannot have the unawareness of particular psychological information, absence of specific preparation in forensic, presumptuous the lawyer will offer the expert with the essential legal ethical and professional evidence, assuming diverse jurisdictions are comparable in laws, how the laws are applied and failure to recognize the sole matters related with privacy and privileged communications for the work in the forensic
This article gives some examples of crimes and how they were solved using a psychology technique along with how criminal profiling is used to solve crimes and how the profilers know how to slim down the suspects. In the first case, there was a man that planted bombs in multiple places each time writing a note in block letters- signing it F.P. The first bomb was found in 1940, in 1954 he struck four times, and in 1955 five times. In
McGrath, Michael G. "Criminal Profiling: Is There a Role for the Forensic Psychiatrist?." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 28. (2000): 315-324. Web. 13 Apr 2011.
Forensic psychology is an area of psychology that has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years. Entertainment media’s fascination with the intersection of crime and psychology has fueled the growing interest in the field. According to Jane Tyler Ward, PhD, forensic psychology can be defined as psychology that “emphasizes the application of research and experimentation in other areas of psychology to the legal arena.” Although forensic psychology is popular right now, it was not until 1962 that a court case set the precedent that properly trained psychologists could provide expert testimony (Page 20). Additionally, forensic psychology was not APA (American Psychological Association) certified until 2001 (Page 16). The field of forensic
My paper is based on an article from the text’s web site (chapter 9) entitled “Lack of sleep ages body’s systems.” The basic claim of the article is that sleep deprivation has various harmful effects on the body. The reported effects include decreased ability to metabolize glucose (similar to what occurs in diabetes) and increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone involved in memory and regulation of blood sugar levels). The article also briefly alludes (in the quote at the bottom of page 1) to unspecified changes in brain and immune functioning with sleep deprivation.
Brigham John C., What is Forensic Psychology Anyway? , Law & Human Behavior, Vol. 23, No.3, pg. 274-275, 1999.
("International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology", 2012) According to the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology “…goal of improving the quality of mental health care for criminal offenders, the IACFP formulated standards for the delivery of mental health services in correctional agencies and facilities.” ("International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology", 2012) One ethical issue that psychologist who work in prison face is; offenders are not detained to receive further punishment once detained, therefore there it's the moral obligation of the psychologist to oppose the pressures of society, staff, and the lack of medical supplies. These pressures can influence the quantity of mental staff in an establishment, the measure of care that a detainee gets, inappropriate evaluations, documentation, medications, and harsh
Psychological profiling may have found its origin in fiction rather than fact with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional exploits of Sherlock Holmes (Egger, 1999). However, dating back to the late 1800’s Dr. Thomas Bond may have been the first to truly apply criminal profiling to the serial killer Jack the Ripper. Bond, a police surgeon, had performed the autopsy on Jack the Ripper’s last victim, Mark Kelly (Padbury, n.d.). After reconstructing the murder in an attempt to interpret the behavioral pattern of the assailant, Bond was able to come up with a profile for police to follow (Padbury, n.d.). Although the Jack the Ripper case remained unsolved, psychological profiling took a major step forward.
Beginning in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s forensic psychology originated when a man named James McKeen Cattell conducted a study at Columbia University. During his time learning and coming up with the idea that psychology could be used as a way to solve court cases he did many experiments with his students. In one study he allowed 56 of his students practice eye witness testimonies with a series of questions. He conducted the experiment by asking the students about trees and asked the students to rate their confidence in what they saw and recall what they saw hours later. During this experiment Cattell...
...vitz, M. (2009). Forensic psychology: Emerging topics and expanding roles. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 52(1), 71-71-72.
Psychology is the investigation of the mind and how it processes and directs our thoughts, actions and conceptions. However, in 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Nevertheless, the origins of psychology go all the way back thousands of years starting with the early Greeks. This foundation is closely connected to biology and philosophy; and especially the subfields of physiology which is the study of the roles of living things and epistemology, which is the study of comprehension and how we understand what we have learned. The connection to physiology and epistemology is often viewed as psychology, which is the hybrid offspring of those two fields of investigation.
Public Safety Officials have been battling the difficult question of profiling for quite a while. The question is how do they know the suspected individual fit the category associated with an offense? While it has been proven that many profiling cases are somewhat directed to a racial profile, it can be proven that people, given the discretion, are able to identify explanations for a series of behavioral events by identifying what that behavior accredits to. This theory, identified by Frite Heider, “suggested that we have a tendency to give casual explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition,” called the attribution theory. Until recently, a study of the like was considered to be a branch of sociology and not a form of psychology. Social psychology essentially became the focus on the individual rather than the group as a whole. Many thoughtful ideas are collected in response to the studies of social psychology. Human cognition is understood to arise from interacting socially; highlighting the importance of socialization. We use social cognition to develop our explanations and our ideas on why a person’s behavior is/does what it is/does.
Police psychology is broadly defined as the application of psychological principles and methods to law enforcement. With the popularity of television shows like Criminal Minds and Law & Order: SVU, the job of a police psychologist has become more well known and even popular. As seen on these shows, a police psychologist can be helpful in profiling a criminal, but they also provide many other services to the members of a police department. Although the development of this field has a long history, police psychology as a separate entity is still relatively recent and growing. This intimate relationship between psychology and law enforcement can be traced back to almost a century ago.[1] It first developed out of a need for a variety of psychological services in the law enforcement field, including screening applicants and counseling during grief and stress situations. In the time that it has been around, it has proved to be a valuable resource for the law enforcement profession.
In this case, the psychologist is presented with several ethical issues which could cause harm to the client. The first ethical issue that arose in this case is the potential for a role conflict. The psychologist and Mr. Hartwig had contact prior to the development of a therapeutic relationship when the psychologist bought a car from Mr. Hartwig. It may not be enough that the brief, informal relationship ended. The psychologist must assess the dimensions of the previous relationship from the viewpoint of the client as well as his/her own personal feelings (Koocher & Keith-Spiegel, 2008). For example, the client could feel that he gave the psychologist a good deal and that the psychologist was indebted to him. This could leave the psychologist vulnerable to being manipulated by the client. Or, what if the car broke down? This could leave the psychologist feeling cheated and resulted in hostile feelings toward the client. The psychologist has an ethical responsibility to examine both relationships for role incompatibility prior to forming a therapeutic relationship. The psychologist seemed to be aware that there was the potential role conflict resulting from their initial meeting, and he acted ethically by attempting to refer Mr. Hartwig to a Psychology Registry.