Forensic Psychology: Is It the Career for Me?
This occupation is not for the careless or faint of heart.
Posted September 15, 2014 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader
I get many emails and phone calls from students interested in pursuing forensic psychology as a career . There is surprisingly little information available online to answer these students' questions. So, by popular demand, I have revised my 2007 overview in order to provide more current guidance, especially tailored toward frequently-asked student questions. You may also want to review the comments on my original essay, which is posted on my professional blog here .
First off, what is a forensic psychologist?
Forensic psychologists are usually licensed psychologists who specialize in applying psychological knowledge to legal matters, both in the criminal and civil arenas. They hold graduate degrees in psychology, most often a Ph.D. or a Psy.D.
Forensic psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology. It has its own professional organizations, training programs, and research journals. Forensic psychologists are found in academia, public service, and the private sector.
Forensic psychologists assist in a wide variety of legal matters, including:
What is the state of the field?
Forensic psychology is a rapidly growing discipline. The last time I checked, the American Psychology-Law Society had about 3,000 members, and it continues to grow. Its exponential growth is driven by a couple of factors. Many clinical psychologists have turned to forensic work to escape the confines of managed care. And students are attracted by our culture's obsession with all things criminal (and fictional depictions like the TV show Criminal Minds ).
The growth of forensic psychology is not without controversy. Some accuse forensic psychologists of being hired guns who can be paid to parrot a certain opinion. Recent court decisions are causing increasing scientific scrutiny of psychological evidence. This, in turn, is leading to the development of increasingly rigorous training programs, instruments, and procedures that will allow us to withstand such adversarial scrutiny.
In the long run, well-trained forensic psychologists will likely fare well in the increasingly skeptical and demanding marketplace of the future.
What skills must a forensic psychologist have?
Forensic psychologists are psychological scientists. We compare data from multiple sources in order to test alternative hypotheses. The emphasis is on written reports and court testimony that are scientifically valid and can withstand scrutiny in the adversarial environment of the courtroom. A good forensic psychologist combines a strong science background with solid investigatory skills.
Becoming a successful forensic psychologist requires, at minimum, the following:
Can I pursue forensic psychology as an undergraduate major?
I get a lot of queries from high school students who have searched high and low for forensic psychology undergraduate programs and come up empty. That is because forensic psychology is not an undergraduate degree (as far as I know). The forensic psychology specialization process begins much later – in graduate school or beyond.
High school students interested in forensic psychology may choose to major in psychology in college. However, even this is not a requirement. (I myself majored in journalism and worked in that field for years before attending graduate school in psychology. I didn't take a single psychology course in college.)
Forensic psychology is a postdoctoral specialization. That means that a student first obtains a doctoral degree (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) in clinical psychology, and then pursues a postdoctoral specialization in forensics.
Must I earn a doctoral degree to become a forensic psychologist?
With the meteoric rise in the popularity of forensic psychology, for-profit educational institutions are rushing to cash in. Distance learning options have sprouted up like mushrooms after a heavy rain. Terminal master's programs are an increasingly popular option – requiring only one or two years of postgraduate education in lieu of the traditional four or more.
Master's level degrees may ultimately be a case of false advertising . Master's level clinicians will probably have trouble competing in a field dominated by professionals with more advanced degrees. As I wrote in a 2009 essay that was critical of this trend, "Would you trust a 'master's level dentist' to pull your tooth? Or a 'bachelor's level attorney' to defend you in court?" I predict that, at least in the near term, these clinicians will be restricted to lower-level occupations in the prison-industrial complex.
A growing number of graduate schools are also bucking the postdoctoral tradition by adding forensic tracks so that students can begin their forensic specialization during graduate school.
A few programs also offer dual or joint graduate degrees in psychology and law. Finally, some law schools offer a scaled-down, one-year Master of Legal Studies degree. Having a dual degree may make one more competitive, but for most practitioners, it is not realistic or cost-effective.
Despite the field's rapid growth, there is still no universal consensus as to what training models and curricula are adequate in order to prepare students for real-world forensic practice. With that in mind, David DeMatteo of Drexel University and colleagues have proposed a set of core competencies for doctoral-level forensic psychology training curricula. At a minimum, they say, students should get training and experience in the traditional areas of substantive psychology and research methodology, along with specialized advanced training in:
Alas, in reviewing the curricula for the roughly 35 doctoral or joint-degree programs with training in forensic psychology, DeMatteo and his colleagues found only three programs that included all four components. For example, only about 40% offered courses falling under "legal knowledge." More alarmingly, only three programs reported offering courses specifically addressing ethical and professional issues in forensic psychology.
After my graduate degree, what's next?
Once an aspiring forensic psychologist obtains his or her graduate degree, it is time for the real training to begin. You must obtain a minimum number of hours of postdoctoral training before you can apply for a license to practice independently. (The exact training requirements vary by state.)
There are still only a handful of formal postdoctoral fellowship programs in the United States. These rigorous programs are aimed at training future leaders in the field. They are quite small and selective, typically accepting only one to two candidates per year.
The American Psychology-Law Society's resource directory of these postdoctoral fellowship programs can be found here .
What tips do you have for trainees?
Becoming successful in this field is not easy. However, for those with the energy, stamina, and critical thinking skills, it can be a rewarding occupation. A few tips:
What about criminal profiling?
One of students’ biggest misconceptions about forensic psychology is that we do criminal profiling. This mythology comes directly from movies and TV shows such as Silence of the Lambs (among my least favorite movies ever!), Criminal Minds , and The Profiler .
In reality, most law enforcement agencies do not regularly use criminal profiling methods. When they do, they typically employ profilers with extensive backgrounds in law enforcement rather than in psychology. Perhaps more importantly, many scholars dispute that profiling even qualifies as a valid scientific method meriting inclusion in the behavioral sciences.
So, if your primary interest is in criminal profiling, the field of forensic psychology may not be for you.
Can I have an interview?
Some teachers – at the high school, college, and even graduate levels – assign their students to conduct interviews with practitioners. I can't tell you how annoying it is to be constantly interrupted by students calling and emailing to request one-on-one interviews. If I granted all of these requests, I wouldn't have time to do anything else! Instead, I hope this essay serves as my contribution. For more on me, feel free to browse my professional website -- which has additional resources -- or read my professional profile in Cengage Learning's 2012 Forensic Science textbook.
The original version of this post was posted on my blog on Sept. 19, 2007, and on my Psychology Today blog on Oct. 27, 2010. You can browse additional Q&A in the comments section.
The Minority Affairs Committee of AP-LS has created a dedicated YouTube channel with about a dozen innovative videos on various aspects of psychology-law and education in the field.
" Educational and training models in forensic psychology ," by David DeMatteo, Geoffrey Marczyk, Daniel Krauss and Jeffrey Burl, Training and Education in Professional Psycholog y, Vol 3(3), Aug 2009, 184-191. doi: 10.1037/a0014582
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.