🔑 Course Overview
Forensic Psychology 🎓: Application of psychological principles to the legal/criminal justice system - assessment, treatment, research, and expert testimony
🏢 4 Key Settings
- Courts - Expert testimony, competency, child custody, mental state
- Prisons - Assessment, treatment programs, rehabilitation
- Police - Profiling, interviewing, eyewitness, fitness for duty
- Community - Probation, parole, reintegration, victim services
🧠 4 Factors in Criminal Behavior
- Biological - Genetics, brain abnormalities, neurotransmitters
- Psychological - Personality disorders, cognitive distortions, mental illness
- Social - Family dysfunction, peers, poverty, trauma, culture
- Islamic - Nafs (soul stages), weak iman, Shaytan's influence
📊 Key Risk Assessment Tools
- HCR-20 - Historical, Clinical, Risk Management (violence)
- PCL-R - Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (20 items, Hare)
- VRAG - Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (actuarial)
- STATIC-99 - Sexual recidivism (static factors)
💚 5 Major Treatment Approaches
- CBT - Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (thoughts → feelings → behavior)
- DBT - Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Linehan, 4 modules)
- MI - Motivational Interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, OARS)
- Schema Therapy - Early maladaptive schemas (Jeffrey Young)
- TCs - Therapeutic Communities (peer support, milieu)
💔 Victim Support Essentials
- PTSD - 4 clusters: intrusion, avoidance, cognition/mood, arousal
- Restorative Justice - 4 types: VOM, FGC, Circle, Community Panel
- Special Populations - Children, DV survivors, elderly, disabilities
🚀 Emerging Areas
- Counter-terrorism - Radicalization, deradicalization, Moghaddam's model
- Cybercrime - Online offending, digital evidence
- Neuroscience - Brain imaging, neurolaw, responsibility questions
- Evidence-based practice - RNR principles, What Works
⚖️ Ethical Practice
- Dual relationships (client vs court)
- Confidentiality limits
- Informed consent
- Competence boundaries
- Cultural sensitivity
💡 Final Exam Tips
- Know key tools: HCR-20, PCL-R, VRAG, STATIC-99
- Understand RNR principles (Risk-Need-Responsivity)
- Remember treatment approaches: CBT, DBT, MI, Schema, TCs
- PTSD = 4 clusters (intrusion, avoidance, cognition/mood, arousal)
- Restorative Justice = 4 types (VOM, FGC, Circle, Community Panel)
- Islamic perspective integrates with Western approaches
- Evidence-based practice is the current standard