Psychology and Law The State of the Discipline

As law is instituted by society to serve society, there can be no question that psychology plays an important and inevitable role in the legal process, clarifying or complicating legal issues. In this enlightening text, Roesch, Hart, Ogloff, and the contributors review all the key areas of the use of psychological expertise in civil, criminal, and family law. An impressive selection of academic scholars and legal professionals discusses the contributions that psychology brings to the legal arena.
Topics examined in this insightful text include:

• juries and the current empirical literature
• witnesses and the validity of reports
• preventing mistaken convictions in eyewitness identification trials
• forensic assessment and treatment
• predicting violence in mentally and personality disordered individuals
• employment and discrimination
• new `best interests' standards for children in courts
• education and training in psychology and law, and
• ethical and legal contours of forensic psychology.

The volume also features a noteworthy appendix on specialty guidelines for forensic psychologists.
Psychology and Law collects a range of expert testimony in its thorough examination of the legal process, affording readers a unique survey of contemporary knowledge.

1. Psychology and Law: An Overview.- What Is Law?.- What Is Psychology?.- What Is Psychology and Law?.- The Roots of Psychology and Law.- The Historical Strands of Psychology and Law.- Conceptualizing the Relationship between Psychology and Law.- Haney’s Taxonomy.- Monahan and Walker’s Proposal.- Conflict between Psychology and Law.- How Much Influence Has Psychology Exerted on Courts?.- Psychology and Public Policy.- Mental Health Policy.- Other Examples.- Conclusion.- References.- I. Human Behavior in the Trial Process.- 2. Juries: The Current State of the Empirical Literature.- 3. Witnesses to Crime: Social and Cognitive Factors Governing the Validity of People’s Reports.- 4. Preventing Mistaken Convictions in Eyewitness Identification Trials: The Case against Traditional Safeguards.- II. Forensic Assessment and Treatment.- 5. Forensic Assessment.- 6. Predicting Violence in Mentally and Personality Disordered Individuals.- 7. Forensic Treatment: A Review of Programs and Research.- III. Issues in Civil Law.- 8. Civil Law: Employment and Discrimination.- 9. Best Interests of the Child: New Twists on an Old Theme.- IV. Ethics and Professional Issues.- 10. Preparing for Two Cultures: Education and Training in Law and Psychology.- 11. Ethical and Legal Contours of Forensic Psychology.- Appendix: Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists.