What Is Forensic Psychology And How Can It Help Me?
When we find ourselves immersed in a judicial procedure, in addition to the most immense fears, we are assaulted by a sea of doubts about what to expect, how to proceed and who to turn to.
Terminologies are used that we are not used to and, among many other actions that must be carried out, It is common for our legal representation to recommend that we contact a forensic psychologist in order to have an expert psychological report, which only awakens more fears… What is a psychological expert? What do I need it for? What will it be used for? Let’s clarify concepts and resolve doubts.
Forensic Psychology is that branch of Legal Psychology that It takes place in the forum (from the Latin forensis, place where justice is administered) or, in other words, in the courts which is why it is also often called Psychology applied to the courts.
Recognized by the collegiate body since 1998, this discipline aims to issue expert reports, which justifies that this science is also known as Expert Psychology, which is practiced by forensic psychologists or expert psychologists.
Who is a Forensic Psychologist and what does he do?
Broadly speaking, a forensic psychologist is one professional graduated in psychology who has specialized training in the expert field and who applies his knowledge about human beings to the legal field
Their appointment can be made at the request of a party or by judicial appointment, that is, the person involved in the procedure may be interested in their services privately (both the plaintiff and the defendant), or a judge can do so through the use of the lists of professional intervention from the colleges of psychologists or requesting the participation of the technical advisory teams of the Administration of Justice itself (EATP, SATAF, etc.).
Be that as it may, the main function of the psychologist in the forensic field is to carry out psycho-legal assessments of the legal actors, issuing a Forensic Psychological Report with the ultimate purpose of advising judges in their decision-making (judicial resolution) without this meaning, in any way, conditioning such provisions, the exclusive jurisdiction of the judge.
What is a Psychological Expert Report?
The Psychological Expert Report or Forensic Psychological Report is a document that presents specific structural and content characteristics that are well differentiated from those of a clinical or traditional Psychological Report
Without wanting to go into details due to the complexity that each of the documents entails, the main difference between the two is that the Clinical Report, taking into account the objective pursued by Clinical Psychology, is conceived as a non-essential instrument in the field of health, while in the forensic field it is an end in itself, since the expert evaluation ends with its writing and subsequent defense at the hearing given its nature as judicial evidence.
In this sense, the Psychological Expertise tries to sustain and defend a thesis, so that It will serve as a means of evidence in a procedure, answering the questions that motivated its development which vary depending on the jurisdiction from which they derive: Civil and Family, Criminal or Labor.
In the Civil and Family Jurisdiction, forensic psychological reports are usually recommended in Guardianship and Custody procedures to evaluate the parental skills of the parents, the impact that the separation or divorce has had on the minors or make recommendations regarding the most recommended parent-child contact regime for each family unit.
Likewise, also in the civil sphere, after the recent entry into force of Law 8/2021, which eliminates the judicial incapacitation procedure, Psychological experts assess the person’s capacity for self-government and help determine the support measures that may be necessary to promote their autonomy.
In the Criminal Jurisdiction, forensic psychological examinations evaluate the circumstances that could modify the criminal responsibility (imputability) of the perpetrators, as well as the damage and psychological consequences, among others, of the victims. Also typical of this area is the Psychology of Testimony through which the expert psychologist will seek to determine the plausibility of the accounts of witnesses and victims of unlawful acts.
It is also common to request the services of forensic psychologists to specify psychopathologies or psychoaffective alterations in the workplace In this sense, in the Labor Jurisdiction, psychological expert reports help to elucidate the relationship of causality or concausality between altered psychological states and situations of workplace harassment (mobbing) or professional exhaustion (burnout) and others. Likewise, psychological examinations in this area can be used to justify the request for work-related incapacity (temporary or permanent), as well as to challenge discharges based on the psychological examination of the worker.
In short, Forensic Psychology aims to evaluate people in order to clarify their relationship with the facts that are being judged, either by determining what personal psycho-affective aspects have promoted the execution of the illegal act or have been altered as a result of the judged fact. .
Furthermore, it seeks to determine characteristic aspects that are relevant to the procedure, pursuing the ultimate objective of offer specialized technical advice to judges through the preparation of a Forensic Report that not only explains the examination carried out, but also offers conclusions and recommendations regarding the issues that motivated the forensic psychological evaluation.
Thus, if you need to technically justify some aspect when you are immersed in a judicial procedure, a psychological expert can be a great instrument.
