Forensic Psychology

[psydstudent2020]

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What are some good types of experiences to get in order to be competitive for forensic internships? My interests are in criminal law, ideally a job that contains a mixture of assessment, research, and work in a prison. I currently have two forensic-related practicums to choose from (both assessment), one works with adults (family law) and the other works with adolescents (juvenile evals).... Neither contain what I want to do long-term, but would either of these be good experience? or would I be better off working at a prison?

 

[StellaB]

Either of these experiences would be good. You want to have a variety of forensic experiences by the time you apply to internship. But keep in mind that you might be surprised by what you enjoy or don't enjoy doing when the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

 

[BuckeyeLove]

any experience you can get within a system in a forensic/psycho-legal context, will be huge. Also, if you have any chance to actual complete evaluations (supervised of course), such as CST, juvenile CST (these two will probably be the ones you have best chance to get experience with, the former more or so), jump on those chances, because you will be heads and shoulders above most applicants. Moreover, if you live in a state with an NGRI statute, do whatever you can to get any experience doing sanity evals. You have that experience, in conjunction with what you've already discussed, and sites will be salivating over you.

 

[psydstudent2020]

Either of these experiences would be good. You want to have a variety of forensic experiences by the time you apply to internship. But keep in mind that you might be surprised by what you enjoy or don't enjoy doing when the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

I had a professor (forensic psychologist) tell me I didn't even need any forensic experiences to be competitive for forensic internships... which didn't sound right

 

[StellaB]

I had a professor (forensic psychologist) tell me I didn't even need any forensic experiences to be competitive for forensic internships... which didn't sound right

It's not like you could not get a forensic internship site just because you had no prior forensic experience, but that would be an insane gamble to make. I will add that forensic work can take many different forms, so a "forensic" internship means different things to different people. A truly forensic site (i.e. One in which you will learn to write court reports and testify as an expert witness) is much more competitive than a site that is essentially just clinical work in a corrections environment. That is more accurately referred to as corrections psychology and it is much less competitive (but sill competitive, especially BOP sites).

 

[SummerReign]

Practicum experiences in forensics seemed especially helpful. I was asked a lot of questions about my experience with various assessments and types of therapy within those settings during the internship interview process. I agree with BuckeyeLove; try to get experience with CST, NGRI, and decerts if you can. I also completed a clinical practicum in a forensic juvenile residential setting. Many of the students that I interviewed with had comparable experiences across forensic settings.