Forensic Psychology

by

Alison B. Concannon, Matthew T. Huss

• LAST MODIFIED: 31 July 2019
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0248

Introduction

Forensic psychology is an increasingly popular subset of psychology that broadly speaks to the intersection of psychology and the law. This broad view of forensic psychology encompasses legal and police psychology, some social psychology, and clinical and nonclinical psychological principles that are relevant to this intersection of psychology and law. This bibliography specifically focuses on clinical forensic psychology, the area of forensic psychology that deals directly with the assessment and treatment of those involved in the criminal, civil, and juvenile justice systems. As a result, the citations here do not reflect landmark legal cases, but rather emphasize historically relevant studies and works that have influenced the development of the practice of clinical forensic psychology and empirical articles that discuss important findings in each of the aspects of clinical forensic psychology that are outlined here. This field has grown rapidly in the past thirty years, and many of the sources discussed reflect upon this development and how this has influenced clinical practice. This bibliography contains a section with Textbooks and Handbooks with all other sections addressing Training Models and Graduate School, Assessment, Treatment, and Consultation, Expert Testimony and the Role of the Expert, Psychopathy, Violence Risk Assessment, Sexual Offenders, Civil Commitment, Adjudicative Competence, Insanity, Domestic Violence and Stalking, Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice, Child Custody Evaluations, Personal Injury and Discrimination in Civil Law, and a Miscellaneous category for some studies that don’t quite fit into these other categories.

Textbooks and Handbooks

There are several professional resources and textbooks available on forensic psychology that range in coverage from discussing the more legal aspects of forensic psychology to more practical treatment and assessment manuals meant for practicing forensic psychologists. The resources presented here reflect the clinical focus of this bibliography. Huss 2013 is a textbook well-suited for undergraduate students, focusing on the many aspects of clinical forensic psychology. Otto and Weiner 2012 offers more comprehensive coverage of forensic psychology and serves as excellent reference material. Weiner and Otto 2013 is another comprehensive resource well-suited for use by both academics and practitioners. Heilbrun, et al. 2008 thoroughly covers forensic mental health assessment and is meant to provide best-practice guidelines for practicing psychologists or legal professionals, as well as for students. Heilbrun 2001 identifies broad themes in forensic mental health assessment across the many fields of forensic psychology. Melton, et al. 2017 is the classic handbook resource for professionals conducting forensic evaluations. Packer and Grisso 2011 covers specific competencies related to the practice of forensic psychology as opposed to more general guidelines.

• Heilbrun, K. 2001. Principles of forensic mental health assessment. New York: Springer US.

  DOI: 10.1177/1073191103258591

  Heilbrun sought to approach the topic of forensic mental health assessment by identifying and analyzing broad themes that exist across the many subfields of forensic psychology.

• Heilbrun, K., T. Grisso, and A. Goldstein. 2008. Foundations of forensic mental health assessment. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

  DOI: 10.1093/med:psych/9780195323092.001.0001

  This resource serves as a best practice guide for forensic mental health assessment and is equally well-suited for practicing forensic psychologists, students, and legal practitioners.

• Huss, M. T. 2013. Forensic psychology: Research, clinical practice, and applications. 2d ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

  The second edition of this text from Huss is an excellent choice for undergraduate courses in forensic psychology and takes a clinical approach to the topic. This book integrates both research and law in discussing the development of forensic psychology as a discipline and includes discussion of more recent and updated research from the first edition.

• Melton, G. B., J. Petrila, N. G. Poythress, C. Slobogin, R. K. Otto, D. Mossman, and L. O. Condie. 2017. Psychological evaluations for the courts: Handbook for mental health professionals and lawyers. 4th ed. New York: Guilford.

  An excellent professional resource for practicing forensic psychologists, this handbook includes best practices, proper format of psychological evaluations, a brief history of each topic within forensic psychology covered, and analysis of current practices. This handbook also covers relevant research for each topic and also provides bibliographies at the end of each chapter for reference.

• Otto, R. K., and I. B. Weiner, eds. 2012. Handbook of psychology. Vol. 11, Forensic psychology. 2d ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

  This volume of Goldstein’s Handbook of Psychology covers forensic psychology in great depth, with chapters identifying various aspects of the field and thoroughly covering research literature on each topic, as well as emerging topics within the field.

• Packer, I. K., and T. Grisso. 2011. Specialty competencies in forensic psychology. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

  This resource provides a comprehensive review of competencies required in the field of forensic psychology and provides a guide for understanding various aspects of these competencies in a user-friendly manner.

• Weiner, I. B., and R. K. Otto. 2013. The handbook of forensic psychology. 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

  This is an excellent academic and professional resource covering the topic of forensic psychology in great depth. The fourth edition of this text included updated literature and coverage of growing subfields, as well as discussion of the latest American Psychological Association ethical guidelines.