FOR 450Forensic Case Studies

This course will use selected case studies to explore the clinical aspects of psychological disorders as they relate to criminal behavior. By focusing on the issue s of sanity and competence, the course will take a practical approach to understanding psychological disorders and how they impact people in ways that lead to various kinds of criminal behavior. The course will also explore how the legal system attempts to process individuals with psychological disorders. Topics will include the implications for law enforcement in dealing with psychologically impaired criminals. The course will examine the current practice, techniques and applications of interviewing and interrogation in forensic settings. Students will learn current and relevant systemic influences for the solicitation of information which are the most accepted by the scientific and legal community. Ethical and reliability issues regarding torture and adverse conditioning factors will be explored. Specific areas to be covered include interpretation of verbal and physical behavior, causes of denial, deception and defensiveness as related to psychopathology, memory enhancement, recovered memory, psychological theoretical models of confession, false confessions, critical analysis of interrogator intuitive judgments and ethical considerations involved with interviewing and interrogation. Profiling will be discussed.