Do You Know What Forensic Psychology Is?

Surely at some point you have heard of forensic psychology. However, the figure of the forensic expert psychologist is quite unknown today. The fact of hearing the word forensic already implies thinking about death, and in reality it means “what is related to law and justice.”

An expert opinion is a “work or study carried out by an expert or expert in order to corroborate certain circumstances or facts”. So forensic psychology is the branch that is responsible for conducting judicial psychological reports.

What is forensic psychology focused on?

The professional activity of forensic psychologists consists mainly in carrying out a psychological evaluation and in the preparation and ratification of expert psychological reports in any of the different jurisdictional orders.

What is intended is to contribute to the judicial process, a more objective assessment of human behavior through techniques and psychological instruments that help the judge to pass judgment. The expert report must assess the facts or psychological circumstances that are of interest or need for the judicial process.

More and more judges go to psychologists (whether private or belonging to the Administration of Justice), requesting advice to assess all the issues that have to do with the study of the psychological conditions of legal actors.

For example, the judgment of the Supreme Court of November 21, 1992 (RJ 19929624) affirms that psychology allows providing means of knowledge, that the Court could not ignore in its judgment on the credibility of the witness and that, by itself, it cannot it could be obtained due to their specialized scientific nature ”.

Forensic psychology work areas

The issuance of a psychological report can occur in different areas of law, each case is unique and involves a specific and appropriate methodology to the circumstances of the expert and the judge’s demand. The main areas of work that I carry out are:

Criminal law

In Criminal Law , two groups can be distinguished on which the expert can deal with. The first is the group of the accused or offenders. The second group, progressively important, is that of victims of the alleged crime.

In accountability, its application revolves around the offender, the origin of the crime and the consequent accountability. The mental state of the subject is evaluated and we relate the mental illness to the crime. With particular emphasis on whether you know what you are doing and whether you want to do it. In most cases, we answer questions such as: Were their capacities to want, understand and act fully?

In the other section, the victim, his condition and his possible consequences are evaluated. An assessment is made of the previous state, its particular circumstances and its evolution.

Family right

Forensic psychology is applied in parental custody, visitation regimes, guardianship of minors, parental authority and adoption processes. Also in the psychological evaluation of the causes of nullity in marriage. In the area of ​​family law, there is considerable demand for the figure of the expert psychologist to make assessments of parental suitability.

Labor law

In this field, forensic psychology is applied to study cases of incapacity for work, consequences of work accidents, detection of simulation, mobbing or harassment at work.

Civil law

In this section, forensic psychology helps in cases of guardianships, incapacitation of adults, involuntary psychiatric internments, testamentary capacity and evaluation of consent, among others.

How to prepare an expert report

The request for the expert report will come from the judge, the lawyer, the prosecutor or one of the parties, appointing an expert on duty or private duty. In any case, the forensic psychologist is obliged to comply with the rules of the judicial system and to be objective and impartial in his report.

Two tools are used to prepare the expert report :

• The diagnostic interview, structured or semi-structured, focused on what is related to the demand.
• Test and standardized diagnostic tests, appropriate to the area of ​​expertise depending on what is requested.

Likewise, the field of forensic psychology also applies to the credibility of witnesses in a judicial process or review of other evidence issued by non-forensic psychologists and that may need to be reviewed and validated.