Forensic and Clinical Psychology Vocabulary

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering psychological evaluation concepts, testing types, and forensic assessment terminology.

Archival Information

information obtained from outside sources such as mental health institutions, prisons, schools or physicians that is often used to verify psychological testing or firsthand reports in psychological evaluations.

Cognitive Distortions

a term used to describe faulty cognitions or thoughts often present in individuals with mental illness.

Correctional Psychology

a branch of clinical psychology that focuses on the application of clinical psychology to individuals incarcerated in jails and prisons.

Criminogenic needs

the goals that offenders have or the needs they fulfil when committing crimes.

Forensically relevant instruments

psychological measures that focus on clinical issues, which are more common in the legal system such as psychopathy or future violence, but that have not been designed specifically to be used in the legal system.

Forensic assessment instruments

psychological measures intended for use in forensic context.

Objective tests

a personality test in which an individual if asked a question and expected to respond in a structured and direct manner such as on a rating scale or a true false format. (ex. mmpi or mmpi-2)

Projective tests

a personality test that involves the presentation of ambiguous stimuli. ex. rorschach inkblot

Reliability

a scientific term related to consistency and stability of measurement.

Responsivity

the idea that any treatment should match the needs of the individual being treated and be specifically tailored to him or her in order to increase the likelihood of effectiveness.

Scope of practice

the parameters of professional expertise in which psychologists must practice.

Secondary gain

any external gain that someone derives from suffering from mental illness.

Semi-structured interviews

a type of interview that has a recommended format but does not need to be followed precisely.

Specialized forensic instruments

psychological measures directly relevant to a specific legal standard and the abilities that relate to the legal standard.

Structured interviews

a clinical interview in which the interviewer is required to ask specific questions and follow specific procedures.

Therapeutic assessment

a psychological assessment performed to assist in future therapy or improve a person's psychological functioning.

Unstructured interviews

a type of clinical interview in which the interviewer does not follow specific questions or format.

Validity

a scientific term related to accuracy of measurement.

Lightner Witmer (early 1900’s)

Taught courses on the psychology of crime

William Healy

Chicago Juvenile Psychopathic Institute (1909)

State v. Driver (1921)

The first case where a psychologist testified as an expert witness on a SA case.

Jenkins v. United States (1962)

Psychologist’s testimony could be admitted to determine criminal responsibility (i.e., insanity)

Criminal law

acts against society and mens rea (guilty mind)

Civil law

branch of the legal system that resolves non-criminal disputes

Court systems

•  State Courts

  •  Trial courts, circuit courts, supreme courts

•  Federal Courts

  •  District courts, circuit courts, appeals courts, and  the United States Supreme Court

• Statutory law v. case law

Therapeutic Jurisprudence

• “the use of social science to study the extent to which a legal rule or practice promotes the psychological well-being of the people it effects” (Slobogin, 1996, p. 767)

• Legal rules and actors can produce therapeutic or anti therapeutic consequences 

conflict between law and society (Psychology vs. Law)

Psychology is grey while the law is black and white (strict).

How to become forensic psychologist: 

• Admission to graduate program 

• Doctorate or masters 

• Both have advantages and disadvantages

• In most jurisdictions the title psychologist is reserved for those with a doctorate not a masters 

• Most people in forensic psychology get a doctorate in psychology

Models of training programs in psych field

• Joint-Degree Programs

  • Earn both a degree in the law and in psychology

• Specialty Programs

  • Receive specialized training in forensic psychology

• General Programs

  • Offers broad training with minimal opportunity for specialization in forensic psychology

Levels of Forensic Psychology

• Legally informed clinician

  • Educated in fundamental forensic ideas

• Proficient clinician

  • Receives specialized training in forensic psychology

• Specialist clinician

  • Integrated experience designed to train forensic psychologists

Forensic Psychology training 

DeMatteo et al. (2009) proposed training in several specific areas at a minimum

• Substantive Psychology

• Research Design-Methodology & Statistics

• Conducting Research

• Legal Knowledge 

• Integrative Law-Psychology Knowledge

• Ethics & Professional Issues

• Clinical Forensic Training

Careers in Forensic Psychology 

• Correctional facilities

• State hospitals

• Law enforcement agencies

• State and federal government agencies

• Community mental health centers

• Juvenile detention facilities

• Private practice

• Colleges and universities

Structure of the Legal system

circuit courts, allow for an appeals process, and a court that functions as the highest court in that state, normally the Supreme Court.

The United States federal system is set up similarly. There are entry-level trial courts called district courts, circuit courts similar to those in the state court system, various types of appeals courts, and the United States Supreme Court, which functions as the highest court of appeals in the nation.

amicus curiae

friend of the court

appeals court

review challenges to court decisions to determine whether the proceedings were fair and if the law was applied correctly.

Binding

Binding precedent is a legal rule or principle, articulated by an appellate court, that must be followed by lower courts within its jurisdiction.

case law

the courts' interpretation of the codified law as decided in the cases before the court.

circuit court

Courts that sit within a judicial circuit, i.e., an administrative division of a country's judiciary; or; A higher-level trial court,

civil law

branch of the legal system that resolves non criminal cases or disputes

clinical psychology

the psychological specialty that provides continuing and comprehensive mental and behavioral health care

common law

law developed through judicial decisions rather than enacted statutes. In the United States, early courts relied heavily on English common law

criminal law

branch of the legal system that handles criminal disputes like criminal charges.

criminal profiling

an investigative tool used by law enforcement to identify likely perpetrators of violent crimes by analyzing their behavioral and personality characteristics

district court

entry level trial courts

forensic psychology

the application of clinical and scientific psychology to legal and judicial systems.

Idiographic

based on what Kant described as a tendency to specify. It is typical for the humanities. It describes the effort to understand the meaning of contingent, unique, and often cultural or subjective phenomena.

joint degree program

joint degree programs offers a unique opportunity to build a specialized niche while earning two degrees in a shortened amount of time.

Jurisdiction

the official power and authority of a court to hear a case, make legal decisions, and issue valid orders within a specific area

mens rea

guilty mind.

Negligence

Negligence is the legal failure to use the level of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise under the same circumstances

The injury would not have occurred without the defendant's negligence.

Nomothetic

based on what Kant described as a tendency to generalize. It is typical for the natural sciences. It describes the effort to derive laws that explain types or categories of objective phenomena, in general.

policy evaluator

examines how a policy or program is administered and implemented.

posttraumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

stare decisis

to let a previous decision stand

statutory law

When a state or the federal government enacts a law legislatively, it is referred to as statutory law.

therapeutic jurisprudence

the use of social science to study the extent to which a legal rule or practice promotes the psychological and physical well-being of the people it affects

Torts

Torts consist of four different legal elements or legal requirements for a violation of civil law to have occurred. For a tort to have taken place: (1) an individual must owe a duty; (2) that duty must have been violated; (3) the violation of that duty must be the proximate cause of suffered harm; and (4) the harm that occurred must involve a legally protected right

Jargon

specialized words used in legal system