Forensic psychology has developed and extended from an original, narrow focus on presenting evidence to the courts, to a wider application across the whole span of civil and criminal justice to include dealing with suspects, offenders, victims, witnesses, defendants, litigants and justice professionals. This Handbook provides an encyclopedic-style source of the major concerns in forensic psychology. It is an invaluable reference text for practitioners within community, special hospital, secure unit, prison, probation and law enforcement forensic settings, as well as being appropriate for trainees and students in these areas. It will also serve as a companion text for lawyers and psychiatric and law enforcement professionals who wish to be apprised of forensic psychology coverage. Each entry provides a succinct outline of the topic, describes current thinking, identifies relevant consensual or contested aspects and alternative positions. Readers are presented with key issues and directed towards specialised sources for further reference.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Forensic psychology: a case of multiple identities; Part I. Psychological Underpinnings: 1.1 Action system applied to forensic topics; 1.2 Child and adolescent offending; 1.3 Developmental perspectives on offending; 1.4 The evolutionary psychology perspective; 1.5 Eyewitness memory; 1.6 Facet meta-theory; 1.7 Head injury and offending; 1.8 Investigative decision making; 1.9 Investigative psychology; 1.10 Personality theories and offending; 1.11 Pragmatic psychology; 1.12 Sexual offenders; 1.13 Social psychological theories applied to forensic psychology topics; 1.14 Theories of change; 1.15 Therapeutic jurisprudence; 1.16 Violent offending; Part II. Assessments: 2.1 Child victims of sexual abuse; 2.2 Credibility; 2.3 Crime pattern analysis; 2.4 Evaluating violence risk in young people; 2.5 Eyewitness testimony; 2.6 False memory; 2.7 Intellectual disabilities and offending; 2.8 Interrogative suggestibility and false confessions; 2.9 Investigative interviewing; 2.10 Mental health; 2.11 Mentally disordered offenders; 2.12 Memory; 2.13 Offender profiling; 2.14 Parenting capacity and conduct; 2.15 Parole decision making; 2.16 Personality and crime; 2.17 Personality disorder classification in forensic settings; 2.18 Polygraphy; 2.19 Post traumatic stress disorder; 2.20 Psychopathy; 2.21 Risk and dangerousness in adults; 2.22 Sexual offender assessment; 2.23 Statement validity analysis; 2.24 Suicide risk in adolescents and adults; 2.25 Vulnerable adults' capacity; Part III. Interventions: 3.1 Childhood sexual abuse; 3.2 Clinical relevance of restorative justice; 3.3 Crisis negotiation; 3.4 Parenting programmes; 3.5 Preventing delinquency and later criminal offending; 3.6 Programmed interventions for offenders; 3.7 Rediscovering recovery and rehabilitation in drug and alcohol services; 3.8 Rehabilitation of offenders; 3.9 Risk management; 3.10 Suicide in prisons; 3.11 Democratic therapeutic communities; 3.12 Treatment of sexual offenders; 3.13 Rehabilitating violent offenders; 3.14 Victims of terrorism; Part IV. Psychology and Criminal Behaviour: 4.1 Residential burglary: methodological and theoretical underpinnings; 4.2 Criminal careers; 4.3 Interpersonal deception detection; 4.4 Domestic violence; 4.5 Genocide; 4.6 Hate crime; 4.7 Internet sexual offending; 4.8 Murder: legal, psychological and investigative approaches; 4.9 Robbery; 4.10 Sexual assault; 4.11 Sexual fantasy and sex offending; 4.12 Stalking; 4.13 Terrorism research: current issues and debates; Part V. Psychology and Civil Law: 5.1 Assessing and reporting on work-related stress; 5.2 Asylum seekers and refugees; 5.3 Consent and capacity in civil cases; 5.4 Discrimination and employment tribunals; 5.5 Personal injury; Part VI. Special Topics: 6.1 Arson; 6.2 Bullying among prisoners; 6.3 Child soldiers; 6.4 Crime prevention; 6.5 Guns and shootings; 6.6 Hostage taking: effects, coping and adjustment; 6.7 Hypnosis; 6.8 Jury decision making; 6.9 Malingering: models and methods; 6.10 Munchausen by proxy; 6.11 Occupational culture; 6.12 Occupational stress in police and prison staff; 6.13 Sexual harassment; 6.14 Undercover policing and psychological stress; 6.15 Victimology; 6.16 Young children presenting with sudden infant death syndrome or apparent life threatening events; Part VII. Professional Practice: 7.1 Ethical practice; 7.2 Diversity, equality & human rights; 7.3 Expert witnesses in civil cases; 7.4 The psychologist as expert witness in criminal cases; 7.5 Postgraduate training in forensic psychology; Part VIII. Research Practice: 8.1 Criminals' personal narratives; 8.2 Designing research using facet theory; 8.3 Drawing out the meaning in data: multidimensional scaling within forensic psychology research; 8.4 Evaluation of systemic interventions; 8.5 Evaluating offending behaviour programmes in prison; 8.6 Qualitative approaches in relation to forensic research practice; 8.7 Randomized control trials; 8.8 Reliable change and clinical significance.

Author Biography

Jennifer M. Brown is Professor of Forensic Psychology and Director of Crime and Justice @ Surrey at the University of Surrey. She has been involved with the Police Service for over 20 years, having previously held posts as a Research Manager for Hampshire Police and a Syndicate Director on the senior command course at Bramshill. Elizabeth A. Campbell is Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and Programme Director for the doctorate in Clinical Psychology in the Section of Psychological Medicine at the University of Glasgow. She is also Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist with the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Trust, and past president of the British Psychological Society. She acts as a consultant to the Metropolitan Police and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.