Psychology, Criminal Justice Study Guide

Psychology, Criminal Justice Study Guide

The objectives and learning outcomes

Upon the completion of the psychology and criminal justice course students will be capable of;

  • Complete identification and description of the methods through which the psychologist and other related professions work together in criminal justice for them to come to the right judgment.
  • Be capable of describing the importance and the shortcomings of the criminal psychology theory and concepts to study crime, criminal behavior and the system of criminal justice in general theory and methods to the study of crime, criminal behavior, and the criminal justice system
  • Identification and description of the relationship that exists between the individual-level as well as the society-level elaboration of behavior in crime, and the application of these concepts and theories to deal with the scenario of cases.
  • Understand the applications and criticism of evidence from psychological evidence because it is allied to doing forensic interviews, assessing the offender’s risk, management of cases, giving eyewitness testimony and profiling crime and criminals.
  • Be capable of identifying the various disciplinary connections and points of the relationship between psychology and psychology.

Important terms and their definitions

  • Crime- it’s any action that goes against rules and laws.
  • Psychology- it’s the science of the study of any individuals mind as well as behavior.
  • Criminal justice- it’s the delivery or doing of justice to the individuals who have committed a crime.
  • Criminal justice system- these are government institutions or urgencies mandated with the responsibility of identifying, arresting and delivering justice to those who break the law (Andrews and Bonta,2014).
  • Criminal psychology- it is the method of applying knowledge from psychology and psychological techniques to increase the comprehension of crime, criminal justice system and the behavior of criminals. It focuses on identifying crime, explaining criminal behavior, judging criminals using courtroom procedures and making use of eyewitnesses’ techniques.
  • Antisocial behavior- it is any behavior that is not against the rules and law, but the overall majority of people do not approve of it (Kocsis, 2018).
  • ASBOs- antisocial behavior orders are the behaviors that are not a crime but are not accepted by the majority of people.
  • Recidivism- it’s when an individual repeats a crime or behavior even after he or she was punished or treat.
  • Token economy- they are forms of modification of behavior based on operant conditioning principles.
  • Modeling- a technique of learning something through imitation of the behaviors of others especially after watching happen to someone live or on media such as TV and social media.
  • Stereotyping- the tendency of grouping people and classifying them to be doers of a given thing based on the evidence collected from that group’s member. That characteristic is assumed to be in the other group members by default.
  • Eyewitness testimony- it’s the account that people give after witnessing the occurrence of an incident or crime (Andrews and Bonta, 2014).
  • Psychopathology- it is the science of studying mental illness.

The history of the application of psychology in the justice system

  • The first case was in 1843 when Mr. Daniel McNaughton was acquitted because he was insane.
  • The establishment of the American psychology-law society in 1868 to look into psychological issues in details.
  • Development of a psychology and law degree in the University for Students to learn the relationship that exists between crime and psychology (Bartol and Bartol, 2014).
  • The merger of the American society of psychology-law with the American psychology association to establish a link between crime, law, and psychology.
  • Recent cases where psychology was used to determine them such as the Bill Cosby case in the United States.

Importance of psychology in criminal justice

  • Induction of nomothetic information such as 80% of people with x characteristics is likely to commit Y offenses (Bartol and Bartol, 2014).
  • Helps in the analysis of crime.
  • Helps in the courtroom decision making (Greene and Heilbrun, 2013).
  • Help in counseling law enforcement officers.

Psychological concepts and theories in criminal justice

  • Eyewitness testimony
  • Social influence
  • Treatment of crime
  • Offender and geographic profiling.

The procedure for undertaking a psychology study in a case (CDAE)

  • Creating a design for the experiment.
  • Determination of the method for the experiment
  • Analysis of the study results.
  • Evaluation and making of conclusions.

 

 

Work cited

Andrews, D. A., &Bonta, J. (2014). The psychology of criminal conduct.Routledge.

Bartol, A. M., &Bartol, C. R. (2014). Criminal behavior: A psychological approach. Boston: Pearson, c2014. xxiii, 644 pages: illustrations; 24 cm..

Greene, E., &Heilbrun, K. (2013).Wrightsman’s psychology and the legal system.Cengage Learning.

Kocsis, R. N. (Ed.). (2018). Applied criminal psychology: A guide to forensic behavioral sciences. Charles C Thomas Publisher.

 

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