Reference no: EM132336466 , Length: word count:1800

Introduction to Forensic Psychology Assignment - Essay

Assignment overview - The purpose of this essay is to allow you to more deeply examine a specific aspect of forensic psychology and to gain additional insight into how psychology may be applied to the legal arena. Specifically, this assignment examines the challenges the legal system faces to use evidence from psychological research to effectively underpin justice processes.

Step 1: Choose your essay question

Choose one essay question from the following:

1. Would a possible offender lie during an interview? If so, how can we detect deception scientifically?

2. Are eyewitness identifications reliable?

3. Would a person confess to a crime they did not commit during an interview?

All three are legal questions seeking scientific verification.

Step 2: Familiarise yourself with the requirements

Take a look at the Assignment criteria for more detail on how your essay will be assessed. Keep it handy as you develop your essay.

Step 3: Identify the main area of psychological research that relates to the question you have chosen

Your essay question would have raised key topic areas and ideas which you can use to orientate your research for this essay.

The aim of your essay is to describe this research and then argue what role psychology can play in helping to answer this legal question. This area could be memory for eyewitness testimony, or communication for the deception question. Accordingly, use a case study to help communicate your response.

Step 4: Identify two factors within this main area of research

For example, you could select factors such as: gender, age, distractions, weapons focus or time since event, and how these factors may impact on memory, and therefore eyewitness testimony. If you choose the deception question, you could look at factors such as eye contact, paralanguage, body language, distance, gender or age.

Step 5: Construct your argument

In this step you will argue what role psychology can play in helping to answer the legal question you have chosen. You should provide a clear examination of the research on the selected factors using journal articles to back up your arguments.

Describe the factors you chose and support your argument with at least one journal article for each factor selected. Scientific studies are vital to the application of the law. You will need to find one article that relates to each factor you have chosen and summarise the research findings, then relate the findings to how they can help us understand the impact of each factor on either eyewitness testimony, detecting deception or false confessions. For example, for false confessions, you should evaluate current research into this area scientifically. Then in your response, consider the approaches used by psychologists to identify false confessions and also individual factors that may have contributed to such a confession.

Step 6: Discuss the legal implications of analysis

Given these questions are all legal in nature, ensure you consider associated implications from the position of the forensic psychologist. If they are to assist the court what major issues might they want to clarify to the jury?

Step 7: Write a conclusion to complete your draft essay

Once you have completed Steps 3-6, the bulk of your essay is complete. The next step is to write a conclusion.

What conclusions do you draw from your examination of these two factors to cohesively argue the role psychology can play in addressing the question?

Step 8: Finalise and submit your essay

Assignment criteria -

1. Introduction to research area and selection of case study.

2. Identification of two key factors within the research area.

3. Critical analysis of research area based on each of the two key factor outcomes.

4. Discussion of legal implications of analysis.

5. Structure, expression and use of APA style.

Attachment:- Forensic Psychology Assignment File.rar