PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW CONCENTRATION
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A Concentration in Psychology and Law is offered to students in the Ph.D. Program in Psychology. We recognize that students may be interested in developing a knowledge base in psychology and law in order to conduct research and perform services to the legal system. Activities of psychologists who work in areas of psychology and law include (but are not limited to): conducting research in areas of law and psychology (e.g., jury decision behavior, criminal justice research, effects of law on everyday behavior, police research, validity of various kinds of testimony (including eyewitness testimony and children's allegations of abuse); serving as expert witnesses about psycho-legal issues; consulting on organizational issues for the courts, corrections and police; conducting program evaluations for the legal system; and serving as trial consultants to lawyers. There is today a growing need for such kinds of psychological practices. Although students' primary disciplines may, for example, be Social, Developmental, Experimental, or Industrial/Organizational Psychology, a Concentration in Psychology and Law would enhance their education and opportunities for employment.
The Psychology and Law Concentration serves as both a mechanism for offering courses and a structure by which students may claim specialization. Students in each of the ten Psychology sub-programs will be able to fulfill the full set of requirements for the Psychology and Law Concentration as well as satisfying the requirements of their respective sub-programs. Hence, students will be simultaneously trained in their psychology sub-program and in the discipline of Psychology and Law. This will allow for the cross-integration of theories and methods from each of the sub-programs with issues having to do with behavioral aspects of legal practices.
The Concentration in Psychology and Law
Some examples of the need for specialized training in Psychology and Law from among other basic disciplines in psychology are: (1) A developmental psychologist with expertise in psychology and law would be well-suited to conduct research on the development of children=s legal competencies to testify in court. (2) A developmental psychologist can evaluate methods by which allegations of sexual abuse had been obtained from children. (3) A social or experimental psychologist would be well-suited to conduct research on sexual harassment in the workplace, jury behavior/decision-making, or the reliability of eyewitness testimony and be able to offer findings to the courts, legislatures, and other public policy agencies. (4) Psychologists are often asked to consult to police, the courts, and other agencies in the public and private sectors. They conduct program evaluations for public policy organizations and engage in trial consulting for attorneys. Psychologists working in this field come from various traditional areas within psychology and represent a diversity of models, conceptualizations, and methodologies.
The Concentration is not designed to provide students with training to become forensic clinicians because that kind of clinically oriented, extensive training can not be offered in a concentration. Instead, the focus of the Concentration will be theory, research, evaluation, assessment, and policy. The primary academic obligation of students participating in the Concentration will be to meet the requirements in their sub-program areas. The Concentration will offer a group of courses for students matriculated in one of the doctoral sub-programs in Psychology. Many of these courses will be from offerings in the new Ph.D. Program in Forensic Psychology and some will be designed especially for the Concentration.
Four courses (12 credits) are required for completion of the Psychology and Law concentration. Although not required, one specific course, Experimental Psychology and Law, (80100) is recommended. The other course requirements can be completed with a variety of different options. The course requirements reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the Concentration. The following are examples of the kinds of courses that will fulfill the Concentration requirements:
Psych. 80100: Experimental Psychology and the Law (3 credits)
Psych. 80600: Introduction to Forensic Psychology (3 credits)
Two other courses in Psychology and Law (broadly defined) (6 credits)
Examples of courses meant to meet this requirement are: Psychology and Criminal Justice (CRJ 710); Experimental and Social Psychology in Criminal Justice (CRJ 83500); Eyewitness Research; Psychology and Policing ( CRJ 79600)
One course with a significant emphasis in substantive law or public policy (3 credits) .
Examples meant to meet this requirement include: Introduction to the Policy Process (P Sc 73700); Law and Public Policy (P Sc 83504); Organizational Behavior and Policymaking in Criminal Justice (CRJ 709);Conceptual Foundations of Criminal Law (CRJ 707); Constitutional Law, Gender and Law ( P Sc 72300)
Periodically, the Concentration will offer a Proseminar in Psychology and Law (1 credit) in which the faculty will discuss their research interests.
In addition, although not required, students will be expected to satisfy their sub-programs= requirement for a second- year research project and their dissertation on topics that are relevant to both the interests of the sub-program and the Concentration in Psychology and Law.
Although twelve credits is the minimum requirement for the Concentration, students can earn credits in the Concentration beyond the minimum number.
All of the seminars offered in Psychology and Law are open to all doctoral students. They do not need to be members of the Concentration to register for any of them.
Doctoral students already admitted and matriculating in any of the ten psychology sub-programs may apply to the Psychology and Law Concentration. Students typically will apply for admission to the Concentration during their first or second year of doctoral study.
The requirements for admission to the Psychology and Law Concentration are:
1) A letter from a student requesting admission to the Concentration and
2) A letter of recommendation from a faculty member from the student's sub-program.
Students who have met the requirements of the Concentration will, upon graduation, receive a formal letter from the Director of the Concentration confirming that they have satisfied the requirements for the Concentration in Psychology and Law.
Additional Activities of the Concentration. Students in the Concentration will have opportunities to meet with students and faculty in the Ph.D. Program in Forensic Psychology to discuss current topics in psychology and law, participate in journal clubs and attend colloquia. We hope to nurture a close relationship between students and faculty participating in the Concentration in Psychology and Law and related Ph.D. programs, such as Criminal Justice, Political Science, Anthropology, and Sociology.
Faculty in the Concentration in Psychology and Law hold leading positions in national organizations and committees and frequently are called upon as expert witnesses and consultants in the legal system. They conduct clinical practices in forensic psychology, author significant socio-legal studies in major scientific journals, author and edit important books in the field of psychology and law, and consult as experts in precedent setting cases having to do with how psychology informs legal practices. Six of them hold both J.D.'s and Ph.D.'s. The faculty and their areas of interest are:
| Faculty | Areas of interest |
| David Bearison, Ph.D. | Children's welfare (incl. testimony, custody, child sexual abuse and neglect, delinquency, and competency) |
| Angela Crossman, Ph.D. | Children's memory, suggestibility, testimony, & credibility; deception and false beliefs |
| Kay Deaux, Ph.D. | Gender discrimination |
| Michelle Fine, Ph.D. | Discrimination; prison education |
| Michele Galietta, Ph.D. | |
| Gwendolyn Gerber, Ph.D. | Police psychology; gender and personality issues in forensic psychology |
| Jennifer Groscup, J.D., Ph.D. | Legal decision making; jury and judicial behavior; expert testimony; scientific evidence |
| Margaret Bull Kovera, J.D., Ph.D. | |
| Tom Kucharski, Ph.D. | |
| Mathew Johnson, Ph.D. | Parental rights termination; examination of confession evidence |
| Joel Lefkowitz, Ph.D. | Police selection |
| Thomas Litwack, J.D., Ph.D. | Mental health law; assessments of dangerousness |
| Keith Markus, Ph.D. | Test validity; interpretation of quantitative models; structural equation modeling; discourse analysis; organizational structure |
| Maureen O'Connor, J.D., Ph.D. | Social psychology and law; gender; use of scientific evidence in court |
| Steven Penrod, J.D., Ph.D. | Legal decision making; jury behavior; eyewitness reliability; media and law; death penalty; scientific evidence |
| Chitra Raghavan, Ph.D. | Interactions among social and psychological conditions as risk factors for domestic violence; cross-cultural comparisons; traumatic consequences |
| David Rindskopf, Ph.D. | Statistics and law |
| Martin Ruck, Ph.D. | Children's perception of rights; school discipline; youthful offenders= views of the criminal justice system |
| Gabrielle Salfati, Ph.D. | |
| Louis Schlesinger, Ph.D. | Criminal behavior; sexual homicide; criminal psychopathology |
Barbara Stanley, Ph.D. |
Civil competency; aggression; suicide; research ethics |
| Kristin Sommer, Ph.D. | Jury decision making |
| James Wulach, J.D., Ph.D. | Mental health law; psychopathology of criminal behavior |
| Patricia Zapf, Ph.D. | Legal competencies and capacities; criminal responsibility; risk assessment; development and validation of forensic assessment instruments |
For more information about the Concentration in Psychology and Law contact Jennifer Groscup, J.D., Ph.D. at John Jay College, jgroscup@jjay.cuny.edu