Questions on Forensic Psyshology

[hawiandude]

Currently I am at a 2-year school and am looking to transfer somewhere that has a forensic psychology program. I have been looking around this forum, and for me, it raised more questions than answers. The main school I was looking into was John Jay, but from what I have read it seems like this school is not accredited which would make the degree relatively pointless. Also everyone seems to be saying you are a clinical psychologist first, and a forensic psychologist second. That being said, should I be looking for a clinical psychology program instead of a forensic psychology program? One of the most important things to me would be job security, and if going into a clinical setting instead of a forensic setting is more secure then I would go down that road. Sorry if this seems jumbled, but I am very confused and not entirely sure what to do. Thanks in advance to any replies

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[PsychBiker]

Very briefly, I recommend a clinical psych doctoral program that has a strong emphasis on forensics. Yes, you can get your PhD/PsyD in Forensic Psychology, and yes, you would learn more about forensics than the former route, but I feel like you would be less limited in future career options. That's just my opinion though.

 

[hawiandude]

That is actually something I am starting to consider. Maybe even possibly just going for clinical PhD and then doing more down the road if I decide to.
Are there any SUNY schools you could recommend?

 

[WisNeuro]

I'm sure they are out there, but I have yet to meet someone doing forensic work who went to a forensics program. Everyone I know doing the work got into forensics mid to late career . Also, forensics is a broad term, the people I know do IME's, depositions, and chart review for npsych cases.

 

[erg923]

"Forensic psychology" itself is very broad and can mean anything from doing disability evaluations or review of disability cases, to child custody evaluations, to sex offernder treatment, to court -order mediations, to competency and/or diminshed capacity evalauations for capital murder cases.

In other words, what do you want to do?

 

[WJPSYCH]

I always direct interested persons to start here. Karen Franklin gives a good overview, addresses a nuber of common questions, and dispels common myths.

Like others have mentioned, forensic psychology is a broad area. Think about what your interests are. There are experimental/social psych programs that will allow you to be heavily involved in legally-relevant research, whereas clinical psychology programs provide training in the general practitioner-type skills that can serve as building blocks for learning to perform common clinical-forensic tasks (e.g., forensic evaluations of compentency, mental status at the time of the offense, and risk of violence; child custody evaluations; evaluations of parental fitness, etc.). If your interests are more clinical, I recommend looking at programs that have a forensic emphasis/concentration/focus/specialization (Alabama, Drexel, Fordham, and Sam Houston State come to mind). However, many programs have a faculty member or two researching forensic issues, practicing clinical-forensic psychology, or both.

If your interest is forensic, you want a program that can foster those interests. If it is clinical, look for relevant practicum opportunities and a record of placing students in forensically-relevant internship sites. On the research end, look for researchers studying forensic issues related to your potential interests. There are many potential schools that fit these criteria, but I encourage you to consider your options a little more broadly than asking which SUNY school will satisfy this. Good luck (and read the Franklin post)!

 

[BuckeyeLove]

As stated above, get a basic understanding of what the field really looks like and what seems interesting to you (hint: it's not CSI, criminal minds, criminal profiling). Karen Franklin's website is an excellent resource for this, as among other things. A huge area of contention right now in the field is within the violence/ sex violence prediction literature, and the growing problems we are seeing in making reliably confident estimates of risk. I would also recommend examining in detail the possible prac sites at each program, specifically making note of the actual forensic duties you might get the chance to take part in. State hospitals and prisons primarily. I would avoid most outpatient forensic services placements (the report writing and analyses conducted are almost always subpar and often the trainees end up just doing psychosocial histories). More importantly, see if there are any boarded clinicians (ABFP) supervising. Considering there's only roughly 250-300 in the country, training under one will provide you with a leg up in almost every way come internship app time (also potentially provide you with future employers if they are in PP). If you can say you've completed (with supervision of course) your own CST, criminal responsibility, or violence/ sexual violence risk assessments [not withstanding the recent problems regarding the overall reliability with these actuarial instruments], come internship time, you almost always will be viewed as a desirable applicant.

 

[WisNeuro]

Heck, if you really want to make a good living, just sell your integrity and jump on the CTE litigation bandwagon. There's a forensic world that will be exploding for both sides in the near future.

 

[hawiandude]

"Forensic psychology" itself is very broad and can mean anything from doing disability evaluations or review of disability cases, to child custody evaluations, to sex offernder treatment, to court -order mediations, to competency and/or diminshed capacity evalauations for capital murder cases.

In other words, what do you want to do?

I was thinking more so on the treatment side of things. It almost seems like I would be better off getting a PhD in Clinical Psychology if that is my goal though.

 

[hawiandude]

I always direct interested persons to start here. Karen Franklin gives a good overview, addresses a nuber of common questions, and dispels common myths.

Like others have mentioned, forensic psychology is a broad area. Think about what your interests are. There are experimental/social psych programs that will allow you to be heavily involved in legally-relevant research, whereas clinical psychology programs provide training in the general practitioner-type skills that can serve as building blocks for learning to perform common clinical-forensic tasks (e.g., forensic evaluations of compentency, mental status at the time of the offense, and risk of violence; child custody evaluations; evaluations of parental fitness, etc.). If your interests are more clinical, I recommend looking at programs that have a forensic emphasis/concentration/focus/specialization (Alabama, Drexel, Fordham, and Sam Houston State come to mind). However, many programs have a faculty member or two researching forensic issues, practicing clinical-forensic psychology, or both.

If your interest is forensic, you want a program that can foster those interests. If it is clinical, look for relevant practicum opportunities and a record of placing students in forensically-relevant internship sites. On the research end, look for researchers studying forensic issues related to your potential interests. There are many potential schools that fit these criteria, but I encourage you to consider your options a little more broadly than asking which SUNY school will satisfy this. Good luck (and read the Franklin post)!

Thank you very much for the post, it helped clarify quite a bit. After reading this, it seems the most logical route would be to get a PhD in clinical psychology first. I also will definitely look into other schools, I just have no clue how to weed out the good from the bad other than looking to see if it is a certified program.

 

[bostongal109]

Not sure if this is mentioned elsewhere but if you look at the APAs law and psych division- they have a list of graduate programs with a forensic emphasis. That should help you to figure out what programs have forensic faculty and are APA accredited, however, as others said- there may be some faculty with forensic research but no forensic emphasis. But there's a good starting point!

 

[hawiandude]

Not sure if this is mentioned elsewhere but if you look at the APAs law and psych division- they have a list of graduate programs with a forensic emphasis. That should help you to figure out what programs have forensic faculty and are APA accredited, however, as others said- there may be some faculty with forensic research but no forensic emphasis. But there's a good starting point!

Thats extremely helpful, thank you!

 

[erg923]

University of Alabama

 

[vicstory]

Not sure if this is mentioned elsewhere but if you look at the APAs law and psych division- they have a list of graduate programs with a forensic emphasis. That should help you to figure out what programs have forensic faculty and are APA accredited, however, as others said- there may be some faculty with forensic research but no forensic emphasis. But there's a good starting point!

As per this comment, the PDF can be found here: http://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/education/programs/postdoctoral-guide.pdf

This was extremely helpful for me in narrowing down my choice of schools when I started the application process.

 

[hawiandude]

As per this comment, the PDF can be found here: http://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/education/programs/postdoctoral-guide.pdf

This was extremely helpful for me in narrowing down my choice of schools when I started the application process.

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you