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Canyon College

online Legal Aspects of Forensic Psychology course at Canyon College Forensic Psychology department

COURSE SYLLABUS: Legal Aspects of Forensic Psychology

Course Title:
Department:
Instructor: 		PY508 - Legal Aspects of Forensic Psychology
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Jay Carlin, Psy.D., JD E-Mail -- Vita


Course Objectives:

This course is designed to cover the basic skills, techniques and professional legal issues involved in forensic psychology. Topics presented will include offender profiling, psychometric testing, expert testimony, psychological autopsy and psycholinguistic techniques.

Required Texts: Online Bookstore

Forensic Psychology, Gudjonsson and L.R.C. Haward, Rutledge, New York, NY, 1999
ISBN #: 0415132916

Course Requirements:

There will be two exams (one midterm and one final). The format of the exams will be essay and will cover the materials that have been presented in the text. The exams are expected to be completed no later than the last day of the week on week five and the last day of the week on week nine respectively.

The midterm exam will cover subjects covered in the first five chapters of the textbook and the final exam will cover the subjects from chapters six through chapter eleven only. It is not a cumulative final exam.

There will also be written assignments given for this class and these are a part of your final grade in this course. Each of the written assignments will focus on a concept fully discussed in your textbook. In order to gain the most benefit from this course, the student should attempt to treat these written assignments as representative examples of the types of questions that will be found on both the midterm and the final exams. The student is also reminded that they should answer these questions based on their own perspective and incorporate concepts found in the text with their own ideas as to how they would respond to a given situation occurring.

Course Schedule:

Week One:
Chapter One - Introduction
Chapter Two - Historical Background

- Written Assignment Number One - Covering Chapters one and Two

Week Two:
Chapter Three- Surveys into psychological evidence in court.

- Written Assignment Number Two - Covering Chapter Three

Week Three:
Chapter Four - Ethical and Professional Issues

- Written Assignment Number Three - Covering Chapter Four

Week Four:
Chapter Five - The roles of the forensic psychologist

- No Written Assignment - Study for Midterm Exam

Week Five:
MIDTERM

Week Six:
Chapter Six - Psychological Testing
Chapter Seven - Psychological techniques

- Written assignment Number 4 - Covering Chapters Six and Seven

Week Seven:
Chapter Eight - Civil Cases
Chapter Nine - Criminal Cases

- Written assignment Number 5 - Covering Chapters Eight and Nine.

Week Eight:
Chapter Ten - The assessment and the testing : A psychological perspective Chapter Eleven - Conclusions

- No written assignment - prepare for final examination

Week Nine:
FINAL EXAMINATION


Written Assignments:

Assignment One - Chapters One and Two - Week One

- Please descibe what is the Wild Beast Test ?

Assignment Two - Chapter Three - Week Two

- In Castells study about court reports and evidence, he concluded that educational psychologists produced more reports than clinical psychologists. He also found that clinical psychologists more often gave oral evidence in court. Please provide your thoughts on why this may be true.

Assignment Three - Chapter Four - Week Three

- In broad terms, what does the BPS code entail in relation to professional standards?

Assignment Four - Chapters Six and Seven - Week Six

- What is the primary purpose of psychological assessments in court proceedings?

Assignment Five - Chapters Eight and Nine - Week Seven

- As a forensic psychologist you will often be called on to provide your expert opinion in civil cases. Please describe why an attorney would utilize your testimony in a civil case and what the attorney would hope to garner from this testimony?


Grading Procedure:

Midterm Examination - 40% of final grade in course

Final Examination - 40% of final grade in course

Three Written Assignments - 20% of final grade in course
90 - 100%   A
80 - 90%     B
70 - 80%     C
60 - 70%     D
Below 60%  F