Psychology and Law

1
Psychology and Law

• Chapter 1
• The History of Forensic Psychology

2
Food for thought

• Tomorrow is promised to no man..therefore,
  dont wait to be happy, dont hesitate to laugh,
  appreciate your gifts and enjoy
  TODAY Dr. Wright

3
CURRENT ISSUES

• 5 minutes to discuss current issues
• Who should get the twins? Kilshaw VS Allen

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Overview of Lecture

• Define Forensic Psychology
• Examine What Forensic Psychologists Do
• Examine Historical Developments
• Examine Significant Historical Landmark Legal
  Cases

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Overview of Lecture

• Examine Present Standing of the Field
• ExamineWhat Determines Truth?
• Administrative Pensacola Police Dpt Take
  Attendance

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What is Forensic Psychology?

• 20th century - Topic Increasingly Salient
• But what is it?

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What is Forensic Psychology?

• FP Examines (Bartol Bartol)
• Research of human behavior directly related to
  the legal process
• eyewitness memory testimony
• jury decision making
• criminal behavior

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What is Forensic Psychology?

• FP Also Examine
• Professional practice of psychology within a
  legal system that encompasses Criminal and Civil
  law

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CONSULTATION

• Attorneys
• Lawmakers
• Judges
• Criminal justice correctional systems
• To Law Enforcement Personnel

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Criminal Side Entails

• Corrections Arena
• Law Enforcement
• Criminal Responsibility Issues
• Competency To Stand Trial Issues
• Crime Prevention
• Treatment of Criminal Behavior

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Civil Arena Entails

• Child custody and placement
• Legal competence (will)
• Liability for tortious conduct
• Involuntary civil commitment
• Hiring and retention policies
• Educational practices
• Jury Consultation

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What is Forensic Psychology?

• Broadly Speaking, FP is the
• empirical investigation
  application of
  psychological knowledge to the civil and
  criminal justice systems

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Understanding Forensic Psychology

• Modern day
• Study of the legal process and application of
  psychological principles to legal behavior

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Understanding Forensic Psycholgoy

• Modern day, Forensic Psychologist
• Is Aware of statutory and case law, legal theory,
  courtroom procedural laws
• Applies science and profession of psychology to
  legal matters

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Real-Life of A Forensic Psychologist

• What types of activities are forensic
  psychologists really involved in?

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Categories of Activities

• Consultation
• Diagnosis, Assessment and Evaluation
• Other Important Functions

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DIAGNOSIS, ASSESSEMNT AND EVALUATION

• Juvenile Justice Systems
• Treatment and Recommendations
• Human performance, Product liability
• Screening /TX of law enforcement
• Expert Witness- civil, criminal and
  administrative law cases

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OTHER IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS

• Providing Mediation
• Conduction behavioral science research
• Program development
• Teaching

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Will the Real Forensic Psychologist Please
Stand Up

• Police Psychologists
• Correctional Psychologists
• FP -Interact primarily with judicial system.

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The Field of Forensic Psychology in the Making

• Review of the Achievements of psychologists from
  the end of the nineteenth century to the 1970s

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How did the Field of Forensic Psychology Get
Where It Is Today?

• What was the relationship of the two fields when
  they began to interrelate?
• How have matters changed?

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How did the Field of Forensic Psychology Get
Where It Is Today?

• Contemporary Researchers VS those who work toward
  alleviation of detrimental behaviors traced back
  to the beginnings of the 20th century
• Challenges of the Court (Applied) VS Laboratory
  studies (Research) longstanding

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In the Beginning...

• 1836-1909 Cesare Lombroso - father of modern
  criminology
• 1899 Separate Juvenile Courts(IL)
  William Healy - founded Juvenile
  Psychopathic Institute in 1909.
  
• Enlisted the help of
  academic psychologists

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For a Moment, Lets Go Back In Time

• Its 1893
• You meet this man

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The Work of J. McKeen Cattell

• He asks you What was the weather like one week
  ago today.?
• How sure are you?
• Take a moment to answer

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The Actual Forecast Was..

• Sunny to Partly Cloudy - Mid 50s
• Were you correct?
• How Confident were you in your answer?

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J. McKeen Cattells Study

• What was the weather like one week ago today.?
• College students
• One of the first experiments on Psychology of
  Eyewitness Testimony.
• 30 seconds to answer, write responses indicate
  degree of confidence How sure are you of
  your answer?

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Results from Cattells Experiments

• Some Subjects
• nearly always sure theyre correct, even when
  they were not,
• While Others
• consistently uncertain in their answers, even
  when they were correct.

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Implication of Cattells Study

• Is the truth is always the truth? ..Of Course
  Not
• Eyewitness testimony Research
• Represents the beginning of modern forensic
  psychology

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The Role of Hugo Munsterberg

• However, Less than ideal symbol
• Go Germany!!!!!!!
• Arrogant and pugnacious and self-important
  posturing
• Vain and Loquacious

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Louis William Stern

• The Stern-man - Eyewitness Research
• 1901- Stern and criminologist Liszt
• conducted Reality Experiment
• Subjects were students in a Law class

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Louis William Stern

• 1901- Stern and criminologist Liszt
• Reality Experiment
• Escalating argument between two classmates
• Argument escalated -revolver drawn
• Write what you observed

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Results

• How accurate were these law students recall of
  this emotionally charged event?

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Results

• Errors ranged 4 to 12 per individual
• Inaccuracies increased with respect to the second
  half
• Emotions Reduce Accuracy of Recall

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Louis William Stern

• 1903 Admitted to German courts of law to
  testify as Expert Witness on Eyewitness
  identification
• 1903 Established periodical on eyewitness
  identification

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Louis William Stern

• Empirical Contributions
• My Favorite Subjective sincerity does not
  guarantee objective truthfulness
• 60 year woman -I swear on all that I hold
  dear.that was the man vs. a stuttering
  no eye contact disheveled I doubt everything I
  say man

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Louis William Stern

• Modern Forensic Psychology began with
  experimental research on the psychology of
  testimony

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Louis William Stern

• His contributions were significant and many but
  there was one who left a bigger mark

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And the Story Goes On

• No, not Cattell
• Cattell made his contribution to the field but
  there was one who left his mark on the field that
  to this day, still lingers on..

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TIMELINE

• To Appreciate the Munsterberg impact, you have to
  appreciate the relationship between the fields of
  law and psychology during the early 1900s.
• Essentially, American psychologists did not want
  to get in the bed with law.
• Why you ask?

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EARLY AMERICAN FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY

• Factors why American psychologists uninterested
  in applying research to law
• exploring all their research options
• influence of Wilhelm Wundt

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The Role of Hugo Munsterberg

• 1908 Experimental psychology has reached a
  stage at which it seems natural and sound to
  give attention to its possible
  service for the
  practical needs of life.
• 1908 On the Witness Stand

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The Role of Hugo Munsterberg

• Ph.D from Leipzig University
• Studied with Wilhelm Wundt
• Established psychological laboratory at Harvard
  University
• 1892 APA paper presentationRich in decimals but
  poor in ideas

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The Role of Hugo Munsterberg (1892-1916 in US)

• Prodigious impact on the field
• Founder of Forensic Psychology
• Father of Applied Psychology
• Influence still reverberates today

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Other Important People

• 1885 Ebbinghaus
• 1900 Alfred Binet
• 1909 Grace Fernald
• 1917 Louis Terman
• 1922 Louis Thurstone

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Hugo Munsterberg

• Munsterberg Pushed his reluctant American
  colleagues into the practical legal arena
• Focusing on Accuracy of eyewitness identification

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Quiz

• Before we go on, quickly somebody tell me the
  results of Cattell study

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ANSWER

• Confidence doesnt always correlate with accuracy

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Early Psychologists in Criminal Justice

• Whos next?

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Louis Terman

• The T-man
• First American psychologist using mental tests
  with law enforcement
• IQ of Police Officers?

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IQ Results

• Found only 3 of 30 -Average
• Majority -Below Average
• Suggested Below Low Average applicants unfit for
  police work
• 10 excluded

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LouisLet me Set the Record Straight Thurston

• Followed the lead of Terman
• His conclusions a tad bit more risque

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LouisLet me Set the Record Straight Thurston

• Law Enforcement did not attract intelligent
  individuals

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EARLY PSYCHOLOIGSTS IN THE COURTROOM

• American psychologists served as expert witness
  since the early 1920s
• Historically only medical men served as experts
  on the issue of insanity

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PSYCHOLOGISTS AND LAW SCHOOL

• Another man who impacted the field was..
• 1922 - William M. Marston

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William M. Marston

• First American professor of legal psychology at
  American University
• Most influential American psychologist
• Dual Degree
• Father of American Forensic Psychology

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William Marstons Contribution

• First Serious Jury Research
• Work on Lie Detection
• Other Important Results
• How was he different than Munsterberg?

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William M. Marston

• His hidden secret???