Top Masters Programs in Forensic Psychology

Examine the role of clinical psychology in forensic evaluations. Introduction: mental status evaluations and assessment for competency to stand trial. Explore the impact of mental health disorders on the forensics process. Read and discuss related texts regarding legal and social issues related to forensics. Psychology 105 was suggested prior to taking this course. Instructor: Blackshear.

Forensic Psychology as a part of the MA Psychology program at New York University emphasizes the intersection where psychology and the legal system meet. In order to provide the judicial system with skilled psychological advice, psychologists who specialize in clinical, counseling, school, or other fields of psychology practice forensic psychology. It is a 36-credit program.

Forensic psychology requires expertise in the following three areas:

• Forensic including forensic ethics, methods for evaluating symptoms, response patterns, and capacities pertinent to legal issues, among other things.
• Clinical such as diagnosis, therapy, psychological testing, intervention assessment, prediction, and epidemiology of mental diseases.
• Legal in terms of understanding the law and the legal system, as well as knowing where and how to find pertinent legal information.

The program can be finished either full- or part-time as long as all coursework, as well as a comprehensive test or thesis, is finished within five years. All of the psychologists who teach forensic psychology have ongoing clinical practices and/or research programs. Some have postdoctoral credentials, including law degrees. They have a lot of experience with clinical-forensic evaluation, both inpatient and outpatient and psychotherapy. Academic researchers, consultants to law enforcement, correctional psychologists, evaluators for criminal or civil cases, expert witnesses, and more are all possible careers in forensic psychology.

The Program in Law and Forensic Psychology at Simon Fraser University offers experimental or clinical students unique research and applied experiences in the growing field of law and psychology. Students in both the Experimental Psychology and Law Stream and the Clinical-Forensic Stream enter the graduate training program in the psychology department through the normal procedures for the experimental and clinical training programs, respectively. In addition to the basic department requirements, students will enhance their experimental or clinical training by completing the requirements of the Clinical-Forensic or the Psychology and Law concentration, respectively. Students will be able to tailor the resources available through their respective concentrations to suit their intellectual and practical needs on an individual basis.

Although related in scope, course work, and other requirements, the concentrations of the two streams are quite different. Students in the Experimental Psychology and Law Stream will develop research and applied policy skills in law and forensic psychology. By contrast, the Clinical-Forensic Stream prepares those in clinical psychology with research and clinical skills unique to the forensic arena. Due to the overlap of the two areas, students in both streams will take many of the same courses and will develop similar research skills; however, students in the Clinical-Forensic Stream will further develop their clinical training to include forensic training and practice experience.

The University of California-Irvine offers a Master of Legal and Forensic Psychology (MLFP) Program. The program is offered together by the Departments of Psychological Science and Criminology, Law, and Society. Some features of the Master of Legal and Forensic Psychology program are:

• The professional program can be completed in two years with 52 credits.
• The program integrates psychology, forensics, and the law. 
• The program includes both core and elective courses. While most of the courses are compulsory, students are given the opportunity to choose their electives.
• Some of the elective courses include Law and Behavior: Compliance and Enforcement, Mental Health and the Law, Children and the Law, Violence, Anger and Psychopathology, Sexual Deviance and the Law, Race and the Law, Clinical Interviewing and Treatment, and Family and the Law.
• Students may choose a topic that is relevant to legal and forensic psychology and prepare a paper that exhibits creativity, thoroughness, and a systematic approach to the topic. 

The program also includes a capstone course. Students are equipped to utilize their skills and knowledge in research. They also learn to analyze and solve problems related to psychology and law and contribute to improving society as a whole.

The University of Miami's School of Medicine Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation offers a Med program in neuropsychology. Some of the attributes that students learn are:

• Pre-operative assessments and medical intervention services
• psychoeducational/school evaluations
• Academic and vocational assessments
• Neuropsychological and psychological assessments
• Medical professional consultation
• Individual and family psychotherapy 
• Cognitive rehabilitation

Neuropsychological testing allows students to examine the connections between the brain and cognitive ability. These assessments are an essential component of a comprehensive examination since they offer a reliable indicator of a person's cognitive and emotional strengths and weaknesses. Neuropsychological assessment offers a thorough evaluation of cognitive and emotional functioning utilizing a series of standardized tests and procedures. The program offers thorough diagnostic and treatment services by trained professionals to people with neurological diseases and chronic illnesses across the lifespan. Based on the strengths and weaknesses found in the assessment, treatment services are tailored to the individual's needs.

The Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology program at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, George Washington University includes 37 credits, including 25 credits in required courses, and 12 credits in elective courses. Some of the core courses include Psychology and the Legal System, theories of human behavior, psychopathology, and ethics in forensic psychology among others. The program also includes a practicum and internship. Additionally, 250 hours of externship training are required of all students. The externship sites include nonprofits, federal and local law enforcement agencies, clinical evaluation and treatment service providers, legal and social service providers, research facilities, and victim-offender organizations. Students study the social, cultural, and legal facets of mental health from a variety of angles.

The program is available in two tracks: Applied Forensics and Applied Psychology. The Forensics track prepares students for careers in law enforcement or homeland security. Some of the courses included in this track are:

•  Interrogation and Interviewing
• Psychological Profiling
• Police Psychology
• Counterintelligence

Applied Psychology prepares students for careers as providers of direct services to clients in organizations such as correctional facilities and community action organizations. Some of the courses offered as a part of this track are:

• Forensic Psychological Assessment
• Evaluation and Treatment of Sex Offenders
• Substance Abuse Evaluation and Treatment
• Victimology

The Graduate School of Professional Psychology at Denver University offers a Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology. The program can be completed with 60 credits. Some characteristics of an MA in Forensic Psychology are:

• The program is designed to prepare students to become mental health professionals. The program comes with a concentration on psychology and law. 
• Students engage in direct service through their field placements, working with diverse populations in a variety of settings.
• Graduates of the program work in clinical settings within the criminal and civil legal systems. Some other settings are Adult, juvenile, and child populations victim assistance, Police consultation, Correctional institutions, Domestic violence and child abuse programs litigation consulting, Crisis Intervention and Response Unit co-responder programs, and Specialty courts.
• Students engage with organizations that provide forensic mental health services. Working with incarcerated adults, child welfare cases, young people on probation, recently released adult offenders, offenders with neuropsychological impairments, animal cruelty cases, and people with competency concerns are among the current projects and partnerships.
• The program can be completed in two years. Students are also equipped with research and prepared for innovative programs and practices in forensic mental health.
• The program also includes workshops, training, and presentations to help students gain a better understanding of forensic psychology.

Marymount University’s master’s degree in forensic & legal psychology is a 39-credit program that can be completed in 18 to 24 months.

• Students gain knowledge in law enforcement, criminal investigation, and defense, public policy, matters involving miscarriages of justice, and national security. 
• The program also includes courtroom observations, site visits, speaker seminar series, and valuable internships that help students gain practical and professional experience.
• Students can also pursue the program with a concentration in Intelligence Studies. It is a 5-course track that helps students acquire skills in the intelligence community.
• Students can learn more by participating in the ethics component of each course in the curriculum.
• The program curriculum also includes experimental training areas like memory and identification, investigative interviewing, deception detection, false confessions, and juries.
• Some of the career roles of graduates of this program include Correctional case managers, Crime analysts, Intelligence analysts, Law enforcement agents, analysts, officers, Mitigation specialists, and Parole and probation officers.
• The program also comes with Study abroad opportunities in London and The Netherlands.

The Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology program at California Baptist University is a 57-credit program that can be completed in two years.

Some learning outcomes of the Forensic Psychology, M.A. program is:

• In settings intended to serve populations within the criminal justice system, nonprofit organizations, and local government, students will apply forensic psychology ideas.
•  Advanced qualitative and quantitative research techniques will be synthesized by students in order to guide forensic psychological practice.
• In their speech and behavior, students will demonstrate the fundamental principles, morals, professionalism, and ethics of the organization and the subject matter.
• Students will be able to explain their overall understanding of how to apply a Christian perspective to the concepts and methods of forensic psychology.
•  The intricate interactions between social and cultural systems that affect the viewpoints and experiences of various religious, cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, age, and philosophical groups will be critically examined by the students.

The Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology program at CBU, one of the few of its kind in the nation, trains professionals to provide crucial psychological services to the criminal justice system. Students who complete the curriculum will have a thorough understanding of criminal profiling, psychopathology, the biological basis of crime, and human development. In a forensic context, students participate in fieldwork and on-site supervision. 

 Graduates leave with the multidisciplinary knowledge necessary to create laws and regulations that take into account how people behave. Additionally, students gain knowledge of study technique and how it relates to forensic psychology.

The common objective of forensic psychology is to consider how the principles of scientific psychology are applied to legal issues at every level of the justice system. Clinical work in the forensic area may include assessments involving competency to stand trial, risk of reoffending, and treatment for drug abuse and mentally disordered offenders. Non-clinical work in the forensic area may involve research on memory, perception, child development, and decision making as it pertains to eyewitnesses, juvenile offenders, and police training and procedures. The goal of forensic psychology as a field is to support and influence law enforcement officers, attorneys, and judges to adopt and implement empirically based policies that increase accuracy and fairness in the justice system.