Undergraduate Student Mentee Interview with Forensic Psychologist Mentor
Student Mentee: I saw that your had your own firm, and I was just wondering what your day-to-day responsibilities were and what it is like to be a forensic psychologist. Forensic Psychologist Mentor: So, a forensic psychologist is essentially a psychologist that has gone on to develop an understanding an expertise in the legal process as it overlaps with psychological practice. We use psychological methods, like interviewing people and psychological testing, in order to assist the judicial system with making legal determinations concerning a variety of different issues (potentially a law suit… Read More
Ask the mentor: testimony and politics
Recently, one of our mentors was asked a really great question. A student inquired about whether politics impact the testimony experts deliver. The official answer is no. The services conducted by forensic psychologists involved the application of a well-accepted methodology reliably applied to the details of the case. Now, it is important to know that politics as a cultural issue should and will impact the expert’s case formulation. However, it is not the expert’s culture or political leanings that should drive the opinions. Rather, it should be the examinee’s culture and political… Read More
What is it like in graduate school for forensic psychology?
After undergrad, you’ll need at least 5 more years of school to become a forensic psychologist. You probably knew that, but let me tell you what is it like in graduate school for forensic psychology. Your experiences in school as a teenager or young adult do not capture what it is like in graduate school for forensic psychology. For one, during graduate school for forensic psychology (or any other subspecialty), you will only be taking about four classes per semester. It is expected that you’ll earn B’s and above in those classes…. Read More
Career in Forensic Psychology

Forensic psychology careers and information about careers in forensic psychology can be hard to find. Students involved in editing this blog have had classroom assignments to reach out to forensic psychologists and to interview them about their careers in forensic psychology. Some of us have tried to cold call and spam forensic psychologists for a few minutes of their time to share this valuable information about their forensic psychology career. However, we reached out to our network of mentors with careers in forensic psychology to bring you undergraduate students out there the… Read More
What is Forensic Psychology

Forensic psychology is applying the methods and science of psychology to answering questions relating to a legal issue or a particular judicial process. For example, let us talk about a classic not guilty by reason of insanity case. Although these cases are rarely successful, they are probably the most well-known cases involving expert witnesses with a specialization in forensic psychology. In most states for someone to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, it must be established that the defendant did not have an understanding of the wrongfulness of their behavior… Read More
Forensic Psychology Books

Forensic psychology is a rather young specialization within the area of professional psychology. Most of the prolific authors in this area of psychology are still living and still publishing. If you are looking for some book recommendations as an undergraduate student aspiring to become a forensic psychologist one day, then we would like to direct your attention to the best practices series produced by Oxford University Press in the area of forensic mental health assessment. These books are concise, typically short and have various charts and bullet points of information that help… Read More
What is Criminal Psychology?

Before we go on to determine What is Criminal Psychology, let us first define, what exactly is a Crime? In general terms, crimes are acts that break the law of a particular country. The Oxford English Dictionary defines crime as: “An act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare. An evil or injurious act, an offense, sin, especially of a grave character.” We must say, though, that this is a simplified view of a crime. There is no such thing as a simple and objective… Read More
What is Clinical Forensic Psychology?

Clinical forensic psychology is the application of clinical psychology to assist in the legal process, typically by way of assessment, interviewing, testing, report writing and testimony.
What is a Forensic Psychologist?

What is a forensic psychologist and other forensic psychology questions presented by our visitors (typically students) is why we teamed up to form the forensic psychology coalition. The definition of forensic psychology explains what’s a forensic psychologist.
Forensic Psychology Internships

Forensic psychology internships are competitive. We have brought together some information about this for our visitors. Forensic psychology internships aren’t plentiful by any means, but the good news is that we’re looking for interns here at the coalition.