Forensic Internships

[Indiana_Jane]

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Hi all! Hoping to get your input here. While reviewing APPIC data, I've noticed the forensic internships (particularly BOP) offer significantly higher stipends than other "types" of internships. I'm curious as to whether this is due to the nature of the work and environment, stricter requirements, or perhaps something else. I also wonder if maybe my preconceived idea that the environment isn't attractive is just my hypothesis 🙂. Any insight into why this might be? Thanks for your input!


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[Istilldontknow]

I disagree that it's because the sites are unattractive...there's a whole lot of people, myself including, who would love to have a forensic internship. In my experience. it pays more because there are more risks to those working at the sits.

 

[Indiana_Jane]

I am in the same boat - I've just noticed a prevailing belief in other posts that these sites aren't as frequently sought out as others (AMCs, Consortiums) and was inquiring as to whether that played a role in number of applicants and salary!


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[WisNeuro]

One measure of desirability, although far from perfect, is how many applicants do these sites get on average?

 

[WisNeuro]

Yeah, I picked out a random sampling (n=7) from the APPIC Directory, and there are some very low application totals for recent years for most of these, several were in the 15-25 range. The lowest I've seen for internship where I have worked has been in the high 80's, highest I've had was 130 something.

 

[Indiana_Jane]

@WisNeuro thanks for your input! Wow! That's interesting.


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[WisNeuro]

Yeah, only one of the random ones I checked had over a 100 applicants, but it also happened to be in a large metro area in a desirable locale as well.

 

[StellaB]

Many (but not all) forensic internships require in-depth background checks (especially BOP), higher hours of experience, and forensic practica experiences as part of the application process. I don't know whether that is part of the reason application numbers are lower, but it may play a role. I have also noticed that many people in our field prefer not to work with the type of clients you typically see in that type of environment (e.g. many grad students in my program automatically listed "sex offenders" when asked what type of client they feel they could not help). And as previous posters said, the environment you work in is typically far more physically hazardous than other types of sites. I have heard it said that forensic environments attract a bimodal split of the best and the worst professionals across fields - the best being the people who are very attuned to the serious ethical issues that constantly arise, are highly motivated and assertive, are passionate about SMI, the law, interdisciplinary work, etc - and the worst being people who are simply willing to work in a dangerous environment for more pay. It's not an environment where you see a whole lot of older psychologists - I'm sure both burnout and traumatic experiences contribute to higher rates of drop-out of professionals over time. That's probably more info than was necessary, but just my perspective!

 

[BuckeyeLove]

1. youre doing more work than at most places. (ie, essentially staff psych workload) 2. recruiting and retention. they neeeeed psychs badly, especially in places like yazoo, MS

 

[LPPSYD]

1. youre doing more work than at most places. (ie, essentially staff psych workload) 2. recruiting and retention. they neeeeed psychs badly, especially in places like yazoo, MS

Agree with all of this. Internship is the primary method for the BOP to recruit psychologists. Also, it likely has something to do with the government pay scale and being paid commensurate with your experience/level of education (BOP interns are paid as GS-9s).

 

[Indiana_Jane]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I really appreciate it!!


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