Foresenic Psych

Purpose of Laws

• Evolve out of need for order & consistency

• Aid in resolving conflict & protection

• Develop & modify to keep w/ societal change

Adversarial System

• Decision made by judge/jury

• Convince audience if prosecution vs. defense has more correct viewpoints

Inquisitive System

• Judge has control over proceedings

• Court hires

• Cannot prep witnesses beforehand

Discretion & Equality in Law

• Characteristics of offender & victim matter, so discretion is required

• Sentencing disparity 

  • Tendency for judges administering a variety of penalties for the same crime

• All people who do the same crime receive the same consequences

• Principle of proportionality

  • The punishment should be consistently related to the magnitude of the offense.

Expert Witnesses, admittance, testify & report

Someone who possesses specialized knowledge about a subject, knowledge that the average person does not have.

Model of Crime Control

• Deterrence

• Seek apprehension & punishment

• Focuses on ensuring deterrence

Model of Due Process

• Quick & Speedy Trial, 5th Amendment rights

• Places primary value on the protection of citizens, including criminal suspects, from possible abuses by the police and the law enforcement system generally

• Assumes the innocence of suspects and requires that they be treated fairly by the criminal justice system

• Emphasizes the rights of individuals

Pitfalls of Expert Witnesses

May be bribed or biased towards a side

How does childhood aggression affect trauma?

Increases trauma and violent actions

Fundamental Attribution Error (Theory)

Cognitive bias that causes people to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors when judging others

Theories of Crime (Bio, Psych, Soc)

• Biological

  • Stress genetic influences, neuropsychological abnormalities, and biochemical irregularities

• Psychological

  • Emphasize that crime results from personality attributes that are uniquely possessed, or possessed to a special degree, by the potential criminal

• Sociological

  • Crime results from social or cultural forces that are external to any specific individual; exist prior to any criminal act; and emerge from social class, political, ecological, or physical structures affecting large groups of people

Precedent & Stare Decisis

• “Let the Decision Stand”

• Stare decisis

  • reflecting the importance of abiding by previous decisions is important in this process

State Court vs. Appellate Court vs. Federal vs. SCOTUS

• State

  • Handle state cases, specializing in civil & juvenile matters

• Appellate

  • Reread lower courts’ decision to determine overruling or standing

  • Intermediate court

• Federal

  • Handle federal cases, may be appellate or federal

• SCOTUS

  • Highest ranking court, hears cases on Constitutional question

Duty to warn & protect (confidentiality)

Breach confidentiality if they believe a client poses a risk to another person

Applied vs. Basic

• Basic

  • Understanding it and contributing to scientific advances in the area, do not apply but address issues

• Applied

  • Applying knowledge to solve real-life problems

  • Responsible for reporting all their conclusions, regardless of whether these favor the side paying them.