Bartol and Bartol (2008) define forensic psychology as the use of psychology by the legal system. Specifically, the authors note that forensic psychologists are typically involved in the collection, examination, and/or presentation of psychological and/or psychologically-related data for judicial purposes. Forensic psychologists are involved in such activities as criminal profiling, determining whether defendants have sufficient capacity to stand trial, evaluating those found guilty for their potential to commit future violence, and so forth. This paper examines the research and advances in the field.
One area where there have been many advances in forensic psychology has been that of ameliorating and studying various aspects of both crime and criminals. For example, differences between violent and general offenders as well as risk characteristics for both are now more fully understood (Craig, Browne, Beech, & Stringer, 2006). Moreover, there have been advances in therapeutic and clinical work with offenders who have special characteristics (Craig, Stringer, & Moss, 2006).
Fulero and Wrightsman (2008) have discussed several advances made in this field of forensic psychology in the last decade. These include advances in: lie detection, detecting coerced confessions, helping enforcement in the area of police integrity, identifying sexual offenders, predicting recidivism, detecting and identifying the fledgling psychopath, criminal profiling, and understanding women who commit crimes.
Neuropsychology and neuroscience have also been increasingly integrated into the understanding of criminal behavior. In this regard, Miczek and associates (2007) report that animal research has provided forensic psychologists with a good deal of new knowledge on the relationship of the prefrontal cortex and brainstem structures as pivotal in aggressive and violent behavior. They note that these data suggest that the impairments in some o...