Forensic Psychology: Article Analysis

Throughout my educational journey, my interest and attention was always captivated by classes which had even the slightest tendency towards Forensic Psychology. Yet, my passion remained unconscious until I took a class of Criminal Law in Business, class which seemed to hold the answer for the consuming question “What am I going to study at University?” From there, I began putting the puzzle pieces together, determined to find the source of the spark- Law, Criminology, Forensic Science all seemed to bring me closer to the right one for me: Forensic Psychology. Reading the first few lines of the field description was enough to assure me that there is no other subject could fascinate, intrigue and motivate me to give by best to apart from this. I became infatuated with the evidence that evil in a human being can be so incandescent, transparent and mischievous that it could bring down any barrier of normality. I became absorbed by its power to grow into the mind and punish the

To record a crime scene, forensic scientist can use photography, drawings, and videography. Photographs are an important record of the unaltered crime scene, Drawings or sketches provides valuable information when a photograph cannot accurately depict the scale of a room or the relationship of items to each

Forensic science and law are often seen as two opposing disciplines; forensic science is often presumed to be factual and law can be interpreted in multiple ways. Science and law reach conclusions in different ways which is an issue. Due to these differences, miscommunication is often the cause for miscarriages of justice. In order to address this problem, people working in the criminal justice system should have more knowledge of forensic science. There are many factors that contribute to the lack of understanding between forensic science and the people involved in the court process. Firstly, the adversarial model will be discussed in relation to how these procedures prevent effective communication between forensic evidence and lawyers. Secondly, the role that expert witnesses play in the presentation of scientific evidence and how jurors play a role in interpreting their evidence, will be considered. Thirdly it will be argued that lawyers and judges lack adequate knowledge of forensic science that is needed to conduct accurate trials. Lastly, possible solutions to improve the communication between forensic science and the actors involved in the criminal justice system. Juries, lawyers and judges should be more educated in understanding forensic science.

Nearly anyone you ask would be familiar with the television show CSI. The crime lab is colorful and high-tech with all of the fun toys and machines that analysts use to test the ever abundant amount of forensic evidence from every crime scene. It makes for an exciting drama that you cannot help but get immersed in—it also gives us a false illusion, however, creating what has been dubbed as the “CSI effect” (Baskin, 2011). This effect describes the idea that crime shows such as CSI generate unreal expectations, making viewers believe that forensic evidence should be existent in all criminal trials, therefore affecting their overall perspective on a case (Baskin, 2011). But in reality, forensic labs are not that glamorous. In fact, the

Forensic Science has contributed to our world a great deal. People often misunderstand Forensic Science and believe it is much more capable than it really is. As a matter of fact what you see on T.V. is around 80% false or over exaggerated in some way. To Start of, Criminal Investigation is the largest and most known form of Forensic Science. Some of the more known areas include; Fingerprinting, Ballistics, DNA Identification, Fiber Samples, Computer Animation, Documentation analysis, etc. To get this out of the way in the beginning, what you saw on last night’s law and order is far from the truth. Things they do in a matter of hours take months at a time, and most of the time aren’t even plausible concepts.

The Insanity defense is mentioned as confusing to the psychiatric and legal concept. Furthermore, it is explained that the word “insane” is more of a legal word, then a medical term, and therefor to prove a person or a criminal insane, one must find the mental condition, of a criminal, severely impaired to the point of losing one’s free will. A psychiatrist may be or may not able to determine such illness, and a jury’s decision solely based on a psychiatrists’ opinion may be grounded on unreliable evidence. Retrieved from; West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2 (2008).

Defense counsel has asked this Court to compel the government to disclose the Forensic Peer Review dated August 5, 2014, from the government’s digital evidence file. Defense counsel asserts that the requested document is discoverable under Brady because the document will provide impeachment evidence of the test results obtained by Digital evidence examiner, Gregory Norman (“Norman”) using the Lantern v4 tool. To support its’ contention, defense counsel notes that there is no distinction between exculpatory and impeachment evidence for purposes of Brady disclosure requirements. See Bagley, 473 U.S. 667; Kyles, 514 U.S. at 433 (citing there is no “difference between exculpatory and impeachment evidence” when it comes to the prosecutor's duty

First and foremost as the clinician, an background description of forensic assessments should be discussed in order for understanding when discussing a specific assessment related to Ana’s case. Assessments could be used in all levels of criminal proceedings, starting with an evaluation of the clients’ level of capacity as well as evaluation of the clients’ competency to stand trial. Assessors should assess research findings that are concerning correlations between legally relevant behaviors and testing results. Generated hypotheses and test results should be confirmed a with third party data as well. Confirmation is important during this time because the client may unknowingly or knowingly present themselves in way that may help the legal

1). Forensic Psychology is the application of the theories of psychology to law and the legal system. Issues of violence and its impact on individuals and/or groups delineate the main and central concerns in Forensics within the adult, juvenile, civil, and family domains. Forensic psychologists provide advice to legislators, judges, correctional officers, lawyers, and the police. They are called upon, for example, to serve as an expert witness, diagnose and treat incarcerated and probationed offenders, and screen and evaluate personnel in the law enforcement and judicial systems. Forensics encompasses a wide range of academic orientation. Synonyms for Forensic psychologists include criminal psychologist,

Just like the title states, The Use of Criminal Profilers in the Prosecution of Serial Killers by Chelsea van Aken’s is a peer-reviewed article that covers issues associated with Criminal profilers in the courtroom. Aken’s elaborates on the lack of understanding the criminal justice system has on accurately profiling ‘serial killers’, and scrutinizes the current definition, typography, and the use of criminal profilers in the courtroom. The article makes a direct connection to the topic of Forensic Psychology by specifically addressing subjects relevant to criminal profiling, and elaborates on it’s flaws. While criminal profiling is widely known, it has become part of public consciousness even though many people have no idea how it is done

between a cut (an injury that is longer than deep) and a stab wound (an injury

In this article, the multiple authors go into depth on how the APOE E4 gene mutation may be attained and if nationality may contribute to this risk factor gene. The prevalence of this mutation is thought to occurred from contemporary environmental conditions. This claim is backed up with examples of these harmful contemporary environmental conditions. As the article grows, the nationally factor is explained using a series of charts and data. Within these charts are people listed with their country, age, and percentage of APOE e4 gene. Thus, allowing the data to be tested in order to back up

were the bodies of both Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. There was a large amount

We finished chapter one having made several observations of a scene. We then proceeded to review our observations so that we had removed assumptions, bias and unsupported belief from them. We now enter the second major step of science: explanation.

Today, more than ever, the quality of evidence in criminal cases is scrutinized because of contamination. Contamination is the introduction of something that physically corrupts a substance at a crime scene that was not previously there; it comes in many forms and most often times comes from the humans who investigate a crime scene. It is imperative that prevention of cross-contamination is implemented when gathering evidence. Several of the more sensitive forensic techniques such as trace analysis, bloodspatter interpretation, and DNA comparison are not being used to their fullest potential. Items of physical crime scene evidence are not always visible to the naked eye and may be easily overlooked so deliberate and methodical approach to collection and preservation of evidence is essential. Prosecutors have lost cases due to crime scene contamination; this could be prevented by simple and productive behaviors. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a leading case on physical evidence, stated: