Can someone who has a drug felony get a job as a forensic psychologist

[Iluvmeandyou]

I am wanting to enter the field of forensic psychology. Unfortunately I ready charged with possession every Dangerous Drug which is a felony 4 years ago. I have since then completed probation and it drug program. I also all my life to NA, because I have been clean for three and a half years. I am also a sponsor and love what I do. Before all this happened my dream was to become a forensic psychologist and obviously I have put this on hold for a while. But now I want to pursue my dream. I've even thought about working and addiction the same that I have a little bit of experience with that field. But I'm mostly worried about is that I'm not be able to be licensed because of the fact that I have a drug felony. My entire life has changed and that's not me anymore and by the time I finish school I would have at least 10 years of sobriety. Does anybody know if that matters? Would having expunged help me any? Are pretty much did my dream just go down the drain the day I decided to use?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[erg923]

I am wanting to enter the field of forensic psychology. Unfortunately I ready charged with possession every Dangerous Drug which is a felony 4 years ago. I have since then completed probation and it drug program. I also all my life to NA, because I have been clean for three and a half years. I am also a sponsor and love what I do. Before all this happened my dream was to become a forensic psychologist and obviously I have put this on hold for a while. But now I want to pursue my dream. I've even thought about working and addiction the same that I have a little bit of experience with that field. But I'm mostly worried about is that I'm not be able to be licensed because of the fact that I have a drug felony. My entire life has changed and that's not me anymore and by the time I finish school I would have at least 10 years of sobriety. Does anybody know if that matters? Would having expunged help me any? Are pretty much did my dream just go down the drain the day I decided to use?

Felony convictions often prohibit licensure in many health care professions, psychology included.

 

[entitlement]

Licensure might be an issue although this could change in the future if we keep heading down the path of decriminalization of drug possession. However, it may not prevent you from being more of a forensic psychologist on the academic/research side of things.

 

[Iluvmeandyou]

Thank you. I personally thought that besides 8 years of schooling personal experience in some areas could possibly help me be better at my job. Especially if I did decide to go into addiction Counseling. But my dream was to become a forensic psychologist and I'm not going to let go of that dream. And just like you said love me change and I've got eight years to wait to see if they do thank you again

 

[PsyDr]

The vast majority of people interacting with a forensic psychologist are going to be unhappy with their work. Opposing counsel would be remiss if they didn't bring up your criminal convictions. Or run a background check to find even expunged records.

Criminal work has a high proportion of drug involved persons. If you worked for defense, opposing counsel would call you biased because of your past. If you worked for prosecution, defense would call you a hypocrite. Even if all of the drug laws change, you'd still have a history of breaking the rules to your own benefit. Which is exactly how a junior attorney would play it.

Civil work would just focus on how your judgement is not great, and that there is a history of rule breaking.

That might sound bad. But this is still attorneys playing nice. Imagine a lawsuit for $40 million. The attorney gets 35-40% of that if they win. You are the thing standing in their way. They have all the time in the world to discredit you by asking questions. 5 hours? Just starting. 16 hours? Not unheard of. 3 days of testimony? Pretty long, but not unheard of. Imagine all the things they can ask about you to make you look bad. They can criticize how you did your work. Try to make you look stupid by asking about every possible line of research. They can make you look incompetent. They can try to make you look anxious. They can make you look like you have poor judgement, or that you are lying, etc. What do you think they would do for $15 million?

Criminal work can be even worse. There's some attorneys would are advocates for various things. They throw people they like under the bus for their cause.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

The vast majority of people interacting with a forensic psychologist are going to be unhappy with their work. Opposing counsel would be remiss if they didn't bring up your criminal convictions. Or run a background check to find even expunged records.

The entire post applies, but I wanted to reinforce the nightmare it'd be to have to navigate opposing counsel…Every. Single. Time. when it comes to your background history. I get dragged into court/deposed a handful of times a year and dealing with opposing counsel is a PITA…and I have a spotless record and pretty decent/solid credentials to back me up. It'd be a nightmare to deal with hours of questioning about my background and having to respond to someone trying to smear my name in front of the court and have it recorded for all to review later.

The opposing counsel's job is to vigorously represent their client, and discrediting an expert witness due to their background is low-hanging fruit. Once you get hung out to dry in a case you will be burned, as future opposing counsels will look into old cases and know how to easily discredit you. Forensic work is the deep end of the pool and because of the stakes ($, freedom, etc), opposing counsel should and will bury anyone if they think it will help their case/client.

I don't think pursuing a career as a forensic psychologist is realistic nor feasible for anyone with a criminal record, particularly if drugs were involved.

 

[Iluvmeandyou]

Someone mentioned that there is another side of forensic psychology would that be more of a realistic choice for me or should I just let it all go. This is really devastating the choices we make in life I just truly to haunt us for the rest of their lives no matter how much you change

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I know one area is providing therapy and intervention services for incarcerated people. I'm sure there are more areas, but assessment and direct treatment are the two areas i've seen the most.

Navigating licensure will be the other major hurdle. You could call the licensing board of the state(s) you would want to practice and ask them how they would handle an applicant w your background.

 

[Istilldontknow]

Unfortunatley, your life choices do follow you. I have a masters in forensic psych and am in a doctoral program with plans to become a forensic psychologist. There is no way you would be able to work as one with your background. No jail or prison would let you and no lawyer would hire you. Even when i was only a volunteer at the DAs office, you had to have a perfect record. If there was anything on it, the application was thrown out.
You could become a peer counselor and provide support to offenders that way. Im not sure how else you could get into the field. Maybe a drug and alcohol counselor, but even then licensure would be an issue

 

[erg923]

Someone mentioned that there is another side of forensic psychology would that be more of a realistic choice for me or should I just let it all go. This is really devastating the choices we make in life I just truly to haunt us for the rest of their lives no matter how much you change

Life choices, especially ones as serious as knowingly engaging in illegal behavior, have consequences. If you were an adult when this happened, it is assumed you should have known better. Hence why we have a separation of the adult and juevenile justice systems. This is life, as unfortunate as it may be.

This will likely prevent you from being able to become licensed as a healthcare professional. And even if not somehow, your past will be used to smear you in your clinical/forensic work. It is much less likely to stop you from being able to apply to research only programs in psychology or criminology, however.

 

[temppsych123]

Licensure will be hard in most jurisdictions with a felony conviction. Additionally, to do a clinical psychology internship in a forensic setting (like a prison or a forensic psych hospital) the background checks are typically much *more* extensive than to work in other settings, like a community mental health center or a general private or public psychiatric hospital. All settings will do some level of background check, but the forensic settings are a lot more extensive and are (in my understanding) more likely to rule someone out on the basis of having a criminal conviction. Sorry, OP. It might be worth reaching out to someone who does work you'd like to do or who is in a field you're considering to see if there might be a way you could do the work you like while not being a registered psychologist; some fields might have masters-level clinicians who can work with people in forensic or drug and alcohol rehab settings and provide really great services but who don't have the same licensure process. There's also the option, if you want to go strictly into research rather than doing clinical work, to get a research-only forensic psychology degree; that means you could be a professor or a researcher and study things in that area, but you couldn't actually provide services to clients.

 

[Istilldontknow]

I just did a quick search on the Forensic Psych specialty site and one of the requirements basically says you can't have anything on your record. Also, there's only about 10 post-doc sites listed as eligible for the forensic specialty, none of which, I'd imagine, would allow a felon to work there.

I do want to ask what your 'dream job' as a forensic psychologist is? I'm curious because many people assume that we do things like profiling, which we generally don't. Depending on what you want to do, you may want to look into criminology.

 

[BuckeyeLove]

a colleague of mine had a previous drug-related misdemeanor from when he was 19. never held him up during grad school admissions, practicum placements, or even internship, where he was at a BOP site and had to go through the federal background checks and integrity interview. Where it is holding him up is with the board. has yet to get licensed, and is potentially going to have to hire an independent evaluator to eval him in order to obtain licensure, all while having to go through more red tape and more time. although i do think it is a bit unfair that this person is being held up because of something that happened to them over 15 years ago when they were essentially still an adolescent, I get and appreciate why the process is in place and is needed. the board don't mess around...do yourself a favor and google Stu Greenberg.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

a colleague of mine had a previous drug-related misdemeanor from when he was 19. never held him up during grad school admissions, practicum placements, or even internship, where he was at a BOP site and had to go through the federal background checks and integrity interview. Where it is holding him up is with the board. has yet to get licensed, and is potentially going to have to hire an independent evaluator to eval him in order to obtain licensure, all while having to go through more red tape and more time. although i do think it is a bit unfair that this person is being held up because of something that happened to them over 15 years ago when they were essentially still an adolescent, I get and appreciate why the process is in place and is needed. the board don't mess around...do yourself a favor and google Stu Greenberg.

And with the original scenario in the OP involving a felony, the hurdles will be even greater. The surest way to know if your past will hinder licensure is to contact the state board where you'd like to work. They may not be able to give you a definitive answer, but unfortunately, I would imagine things might look fairly grim when a prior felony is involved. Then again, the nature of the felony may also come into play (e.g., a board might view a drug-related felony differently than a conviction for, say, armed robbery or a fraud-related transgression).

I also agree with what others have said regarding assessment (criminal or civil) in a forensic setting. Unfortunately, a felony history may be a non-starter in that setting. As another member mention, serving in a treatment role might be an option, but passing the background check to work in a jail or prison would be difficult. Private practice outpatient work with prior offenders (e.g., those who need to be involved in treatment as a condition of their parole, folks who are looking to get their lives back on track after an incarceration, sex offender treatment, etc.) might be another option, if you're able to get licensed.

 

[PsyDr]

No jail or prison would let you ...

This is a very good point. When you go into prisons, they have you fill out a form about prior criminal history, if anyone you know is in prison, and if your family members are in prison. Has to be done every few years per prison. Often you have to meet with the warden, who eyeballs you and decides if he/she is going to let you into the facility.

 

[Lurking Oracle]

Health care positions are not the only ones that require criminal background checks. Academic faculty appointments, even those with no clinical responsibilities or licensure requirements whatsoever, often require a background check before being hired.

 

[T Brown]

I am wanting to enter the field of forensic psychology. Unfortunately I ready charged with possession every Dangerous Drug which is a felony 4 years ago. I have since then completed probation and it drug program. I also all my life to NA, because I have been clean for three and a half years. I am also a sponsor and love what I do. Before all this happened my dream was to become a forensic psychologist and obviously I have put this on hold for a while. But now I want to pursue my dream. I've even thought about working and addiction the same that I have a little bit of experience with that field. But I'm mostly worried about is that I'm not be able to be licensed because of the fact that I have a drug felony. My entire life has changed and that's not me anymore and by the time I finish school I would have at least 10 years of sobriety. Does anybody know if that matters? Would having expunged help me any? Are pretty much did my dream just go down the drain the day I decided to use?

Hi
Im in the field and currently in a PsyD Forensic Program. I'm not sure it if was mentioned because I did not read the whole thread

Be mindful that if you go the PsyD/PhD route you will have to complete training along the way and they background check heavy in the forensic field. The jails and prison inquire if you have ever been to either or if you have family members that are or have been incarcerated etc. They ask about gang ties and the list goes on and on. I have had a FEW classmates be denied practicum/externships because they had DUI's.
You might get into a program and not be able to complete training. Also, backgrounds will bar you from working with certain populations. An example would be if you had domestic violence in your background (victim or prep) in certain counties where I'm from you would not be permitted to work with the DV population.

Check into the substance treatment field (eg CADC).