The field of forensic psychology explores the intersection of psychology and the law. The purpose of this book is to examine topics in the field using the powerful, multidisciplinary, conceptually integrated approach that the natural sciences have embraced for decades with great success.
Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is the meta-theoretical framework that unifies the field of biology. It unites research and understanding of the development, control, and organization of behavior. The study of humans, which includes all of the social sciences, is part of the field of biology. Darwin's theory provides a powerful meta-theoretical framework that can unify and energize forensic psychology, just as it has the biological sciences.
Evolutionary processes undoubtedly shaped physiological characteristics to help solve problems of survival and reproduction. The lungs, for example, with their vast surface area and moist membranes are marvelous adaptions for extracting oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. Natural selection is the only known process capable of shaping complex functional mechanisms. Just as it shaped physiological adaptations with specific problem-solving functions, it also shaped our thoughts and emotions to guide behaviors toward solving recurrent problems of survival and reproduction. With this logic, we can use knowledge of ancestral problems to guide our understanding of how the mind works.
Evolutionary Forensic Psychology is a necessary step toward a unified and complete understanding of psychology and the law. It recognizes that crimes such as murder, non-lethal violence, rape, and theft are manifestations of evolutionarily recurrent selectionwhen they gave individuals an advantage in competition for resources. Each of the chapters that comprise this volume has been selected to provide the first unified examination of important research contributions and future directions of Evolutionary Forensic Psychology.

This unprecedented study of delinquent behavior reversal challenges the widely held view that early delinquency becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. By identifying the variables involved in the turnaround process, the contributors provide an examination of issues such as: favorable effects of juvenile court adjudication; following up previously adjudicated delinquents; the post-intervention experience; delinquency and attachment; and evolution, devolution, and disruption of treatment in an antisocial child. The book is a significant and welcome addition to the literature that should stimulate more and better research on the juvenile justice system that will have a positive and constructive thrust. "Criminal Justice RevieW"

Adolescent delinquents can often experience a complete behavioral turnaround--even if their delinquent behaviors have become a pattern. This unprecedented study of delinquent behavior reversal challenges the widely held view that early delinquency becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. By identifying the variables involved in the turnaround process, the contributors hope to provide an understanding of this phenomenon--and to encourage its occurrence. They examine, from both personal and research perspectives, issues such as: favorable effects of juvenile court adjudication; following up previously adjudicated delinquents; the post-intervention experience; delinquency and attachment; and evolution, devolution, and disruption of treatment in an antisocial child.

The fight against terrorism is receiving increased awareness due to recent wor- wide large-scale terrorist acts, and only since then has some attention been directed specifically to victims of terrorism. Existing legal instruments of international b- ies like the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations c- cerning victims of terrorism are relatively abstract or include victims of terrorism under the broader heading of victims of crime in general. In addition, policies and legislation relating to victims of crime or victims of terrorism vary widely on the domestic level. Against this background, the European Union commissioned a project that should aim to develop more extensive standards for the aid and ass- tance of victims of terrorism at the European level. This study provides the basis from which more extensive standards could be derived. The study focuses parti- larly on developing standards in the field of continuing assistance, access to justice, administration of justice and compensation to victims of terrorism. A novel feature of the approach is that also the possible utility of restorative justice approaches is examined. An important question to address was whether there is a real need to adopt s- cific standards for victims of terrorism, thereby implying that their needs might differ from victims of ordinary crime.

This book aims to demonstrate how forensic psychology contributes to police investigations, providing practical information about the type of reports provided by psychologists and behavioural advisors, and set within a broader theoretical context. It asks the question 'What do practitioners actually do when they provide advice for the police and the courts and how do they do it?' The contributors to the book are all experts in the field of offender profiling and behavioural investigative advice. The chapters provide valuable insights into particular case details, the ethical and legal consequences of advice, coverage of the relevant theoretical context, explanations for conclusions drawn, practical difficulties in preparing reports, potential pitfalls, and an account of how cases are resolved.

Provides an in-depth understanding of how certain features of ASD may provide the context of vulnerability to engaging in a number of types of offending behaviours Written by a world-leading expert in the field of violent crime and its relationship to ASD Evidence-based, practical guide to working with Suspects, Defendants and Offenders with Autism, making it suitable for both researchers and professionals across Psychology and Legal domains

School shootings scare everyone, even those not immediately affected. They make national and international news. They make parents afraid to send their children off to school. But they also lead to generalizations about those who perpetrate them. Most assumptions about the perpetrators are wrong and many of the warning signs are missed until it's too late. Here, Peter Langman takes a look at 48 national and international cases of school shootings in order to dispel the myths, explore the motives, and expose the realities of preventing school shootings from happening in the future, including identifying at risk individuals and helping them to seek help before it's too late.

- The authors have direct experience of working in a wide range of statutory and non-statutory mental health, social care, housing and criminal justice agencies. - Will appeal to a broad range of scholars across the behavioural and social sciences. - Critically examines the concept of trauma, very much a hot topic, from a broad, societal standpoint.

Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry discusses a broad range of issues based around the psychiatric needs of adolescents and how these relate to offending behavior. Its well-structured approach looks at assessment, treatment, and outcomes for different disorders and highlights the importance of effective interaction between specialist agencies. Services supporting the assessment and treatment of children and young people within forensic mental health services are influenced by professionals in many areas; therefore, the book includes contributions by authors from a wide range of disciplines and specialties in order to cover every aspect of the field.
Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry examines the key influences that shape young people's attitudes and behavior and shows the association between different offending behavior patterns and psychiatric disorders. It includes a section on future strategies, including politics, service provision, and the impact of research. This book will be of special interest to people working with children and young people in secure care, and to those working with all looked-after children. It will be of value to all those involved in the development of the needs of children and adolescents within educational, social, mental health and criminal justice services.

Accessible, integrated text ideal for courses in forensic psychology Comprehensive academic and professional insight into field Includes case examples to bring psychology to life

This is the first book devoted to the use of social media and other internet-derived data in forming forensic clinical opinions of behavior. Designed for mental health practitioners, it outlines the challenges and the benefits of incorporating digital information in forensic assessments. It offers best practice guidelines geared to both criminal and civil psycho-legal questions. Each chapter includes a brief overview of the psycho-legal issues, clinical applications of consulting internet-based data, ethical and legal considerations and real life, de-identified case examples. This book provides guidance to the clinician in an emerging technological environment in which there are few resources, and ensures a more scientific and legally sound practice.

Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists are increasingly asked to provide expertise to courts and attorneys in the criminal justice system. To do so effectively, they must stay abreast of important advances in the understanding of legal standards as well as new developments in sophisticated measures and the methods for their assessment. Fundamentals of Forensic Practice is designed to address the critical issues that are faced by mental health experts in their role of conducting assessments, presenting findings, and preparing for challenges to admissibility and credibility.

Uniquely practical and comprehensive, this volume operationalizes legal standards and describes empirically validated methods for their evaluation. Not only is this essential for mental health professionals, but it is equally valuable to criminal attorneys. Lawyers require both clinical knowledge and understanding of legal standards in order to prepare their own experts and to challenge those on the opposing side. For both clinical and legal experts Fundamentals of Forensic Practice offers a full view of all phases of criminal proceedings:

- Pretriala "diversion, determinations of bail, waivers of Miranda rights, and the capacity to consent to searches.

- Triala "competency to stand rial and criminal responsibility. Beyond insanity, the latter addresses mens rea, automatism, and psychological context evidence, such as battered-woman syndrome.

- Post-triala "sentencing, capital sentencing, competency to be executed, and other post-conviction issues.

Other key features include:

- Chapters on specific criminal issues in a consistent format, with comprehensive coverage of legal standardsand relevant clinical methods

- Guidelines for conducting more effective forensic evaluations

- In-depth coverage of specialized assessments, eg. malingering, sexual predator cases, and the insanity defense.

- A detailed overview of direct and cross-examination strategies

This book is the second collaboration between Rogers and Shuman. As individual authors, each received the American Psychiatric Associationa (TM)s prestigious Guttmacher Award for their outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry.

Besides generating wealth, globalization makes victims, including victims of new forms of crime. In this edited book of scholarly essays, international lawyers and criminologists reflect on the legal challenges posed by these dark sides of globalization. Examples include transnational organised crime, human trafficking and corruption, cyber crimes, international terrorism, global corporate crime and cross-border environmental crimes. The authors reflect on the limits of domestic systems of justice in providing protection, empowerment and redress to the victims of these emerging forms of global insecurity. They argue for the need of better international or supra-national institutional arrangements such as legal instruments and actions of the United Nations or regional organizations such as the European Union.

In part I Jan Van Dijk and Rianne Letschert present an overview of trends in criminal victimization against the backdrop of globalization using a unique set of statistical indicators. By placing this issue in the framework of the human security concept, the authors draw out its broader political and normative implications. Theologist Ralf Bodelier explains how modern communication technologies have heightened sensitivities among the general public for human insecurities anywhere in the world. In his view, a new global conscience is in the making that may become the cornerstone of international solidarity and action. Marc Groenhuijsen and Rianne Letschert describe the emergence of national and international legal and institutional arrangements to offer remedies to victims of crime in an era of globalization.

In part II a selection of experts analyse the specific issues surrounding the protection and empowerment of victims of different types of international crimes such as human trafficking, organised crime/corruption, terrorism, global corporate crime and cross border environmental crimes. In part III focused attention is given to the special challenges and opportunities of protecting and assisting crime victims in cyberspace. Part IV deals with emerging victim issues in humanitarian law such as the accountability of private military companies and the implementation of the ambitious victim provisions in the statute of the International Criminal Court including the establishment of a global fund for reparations.

In the final part of the book some of its core authors formulate their ideas about the international institutional arrangements that should be put in place to offer justice to the victims of globalization. A concrete proposal is made for the transformation of the United Nations 1985 Declaration on the Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power into a full-fledged UN convention. In the final chapter further proposals are made for the increased involvement of regional organisations such as the European Union in the protection of victims of global crime.

Offender profiling is an investigative tool used to narrow down the range of potential suspects for a crime by predicting the personality, behavioral, and demographic characteristics that an offender is likely to possess, based upon information collected at the crime scene. While offender profiling has been popularized by TV shows and movies such as Criminal Minds, Silence of the Lambs, and Mindhunter, the real-world impact of offender profiling is largely unknown. This book discusses the history of offender profiling, summarizes research on offender profiling methods, and reviews offender profiling evaluations of accuracy and applied impact. This book also describes a promising new offender profiling methodology called evidence-based offender profiling. This new method relies upon empirical data and scientific methods to develop, evaluate, and replicate offender profiles, thereby increasing offender profiling's accuracy and utility for active police investigations. It uses prior information about statistical regularities between types of offenders and types of offenses to predict the characteristics of offenders in unsolved cases. A discussion of the future of offender profiling research and implications for law enforcement is also included. This book also explains how practitioners can benefit from the use of empirically tested and validated profiles in their unsolved investigations and how the use, continued research, and evaluation of evidence-based offender profiling can advance the quality, prestige, and utility of the field of offender profiling.

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A key resource for students, academics and practitioners, this concise guide brings together various concepts vital to the theoretical, policy and practical debates on forensic psychology and its relationship with crime, policing and policing studies. Covering issues such as criminal behaviour, police decision-making and crime scene investigation, each entry provides a succinct overview of the topic, together with an evaluation of the emerging issues. The text includes: * associated concepts and further reading from research and practice; * sample questions; * references and glossary. Accessible and comprehensive, this book is the go-to guide for those getting to grips with the relationships between forensic psychology, crime and policing.

This sixth volume "Advances in Criminological Theory "is testimony to a resurgent interest in anomie-strain theory, which began in the mid-1980s and continues unabated into the 1990s. Contributors focus on the new body of empirical research and theorizing that has been added to the anomie tradition that extends from Durkheim to Merton. The first section is a major, 75-page statement by Robert K. Merton, examining the development of the anomie-and-opportunity-struc-ture paradigm and its significance to criminology.

"The Legacy of Anomie Theory "assesses the theory's continuing usefulness, explains the relevance of Merton's concept of goals/means disparity as a psychological mechanism in the explanation of delinquency, and compares strain theory with social control theory. A macrosociological theoretical formulation

is used to explain the association between societal development and crime rates. In other chapters, anomie is used to explain white-collar crime and to explore the symbiotic relationship between Chinese gangs and adult criminal organizations within the cultural, economic, and political context of the American-Chinese community.

Contributors include: David F. Greenberg, Sir Leon Radzinowicz, Richard Rosenfeld, Steven F. Messner, David Weisburd, Ellen Chayet, Ko-lin Chin, Jeffrey Pagan, John P. Hoffmann, Timothy Ireland, S. George Vincent-nathan, Michael J. Lynch, W. Byron Groves, C. Ray Jeffery, Gilbert Geis, Thomas J. Bernard, Nikos Passas, Robert Agnew, Gary F. Jensen, Deborah V. Cohen, Elin Waring, and Bonnie Berry. "The Legacy of Anomie Theory \s "important for criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and other professionals seeking to understand crime and violence in culture.

This is a practical handbook on everything a medical professional needs to know in order to write a medico-legal report. It enables them to see how their knowledge and experience of psychiatry can be harnessed to answer the legal questions necessary for the administration of justice and the resolution of disputes and covers the training, skills and knowledge that are necessary to prepare expert psychiatric evidence for courts and other legal situations. A variety of rules, guidance and professional codes of practice must be complied with when writing expert reports and the requirements from all of these sources are brought together here in one single volume. Chapters suitable for all medical experts include: the role and responsibilities an expert witness; the medico-legal consultation; the structure and form of the generic report; going to court; and maintaining expertise. Other chapters focus more specifically on reports for criminal proceedings, in personal injury cases, for family cases and those involving capacity, plus reports for tribunals, inquests and for jurisdictions in the British Isles outside England and Wales. Appendices include several sample letters, a consent form and other documents that can be adapted by those starting out in expert witness work. This book is aimed at psychiatrists who wish to write medico-legal reports and become expert witnesses and will also be a useful resource for established expert psychiatric witnesses and the solicitors and barristers who instruct them.

Due to the extensive changes in family structure such as the increase of single parent families, a high divorce rate, and the decline of the extended family, support systems for young children are in decline. This decline disrupts the support systems' ability to shape children's prosocial values. Because of the fear of lawsuits and limited financial resources, community services and schools no longer provide the framework needed to balance changes in the contemporary family structure. This book provides insight into voids that have created social skills affecting this young population using an integrative approach to examine the casual factors of violent behavior in preteens. It offers suggestions for alleviating some of the causative factors that have created this nationwide problem.

Changes in family structure, the role of the community, the educational philosophy of schools, and the juvenile justice system are discussed as examples of casual factors of violent behavior in preteens. This timely book uses an integrative approach to examine these factors as well as to discuss the changes in the juvenile justice system in terms of punishment, treatment, and rehabilitation. A direct response to current events such as the Columbine shooting and recent elementary school shootings, DEGREESIChildren Who Murder DEGREESR will be of interest to practitioners, educators, guidance and educational counselors, lawyers, and parents.

This book provides a concise-yet-comprehensive overview of the broad-ranging topics in the field of violence and aggression. It uses a functional approach that acknowledges the evolutionary, cultural, and operant nature of violence and aggression. The book defines the nature of different forms of violence and aggression; examines epidemiology and risk factors; describes biological, cultural and individual causes; and discusses individual and societal prevention and treatment. Key areas of coverage include: Epidemiology of violence and aggression. Biological and social causes of violence and aggression. Cultural interventions, psychotherapies, and individual biological interventions. The effects of violence and aggression in special populations. Violence and Aggression: Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice is a must-have resource for researchers, academics, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in forensic psychology, public health, criminology/criminal justice, developmental psychology, psychotherapy/counseling, psychiatry, social work, educational policy and politics, health psychology, nursing, and behavioral therapy/rehabilitation.

Racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system is much debated and discussed, but until now, no single volume has covered the full expanse of the issue. In Bias in the Law, sixteen outstanding experts address the impact of racial bias in the full roster of criminal justice actors. They examine the role of legislators crafting criminal justice legislation, community enforcers, and police, as well as prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, and jurors. Understanding when and why bias arises, as well as how it impacts defendants requires a clear understanding how each of these actors operate. Contributions touch on other crucial topics-racialized drug stigma, legal technology, and interventions-that are vital for understanding how the United States has reached this moment of stark racial disparity in incarceration. The result is an important entry into understanding the pervasiveness of racial bias, how such bias impacts legal outcomes, and why such impact matters. This is an issue that is as relevant today as it was fifty-or even one hundred fifty-years ago, and collection editors Joseph Avery and Joel Cooper provide a glimpse at how to proceed.

The Therapeutic Community: Research and Practice brings together the diverse lens of these communities, illuminating and challenging current practice models and research. The book seeks to demonstrate the working collaboration between research-based and practice-based research, as well as filling the gaps for professions in behavioral health, neurobiology, corrections and workforce development. Each chapter explores how both environment and modality work together to change the quality of an individual's life. The reader is provided with a foundation and introduction to the language of 'Democratic' and 'Concept-based' TCs. This book presents case studies, protocols, fidelity measures and emerging research to help readers incorporate applications into their own practice.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"If a child falls victim to a crime, or becomes witness to it, they may well be questioned by the police. Perhaps even tasked with selecting a suspect from a line-up. But how reliable can a child be under such strenuous circumstances? In this book, Dr. Ben Cotterill explores practices and influences that can increase or decrease the accuracy of children's testimonies. Memory mechanisms and general developmental factors behind the capability of child witnesses are outlined, demonstrating their ability to describe or identify. Factors that affect jurors' perception of said children are also looked into in detail.There have been many instances in which poor interviewing practices with children led to false imprisonments. Said occurrences demonstrate how both situational factors and individual differences can potentially compromise children's eyewitness performance. Based upon what we now understand, can recommendations be made, so that, in a court of law, innocence is the key to achieving justice?