Psychology and the Law - A Critical Review of Research and Practice

• NCJ Number: 85648
• Journal: British Journal of Law and Society Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (Summer 1981) Pages: 1-28
• Author(s): S M Lloyd-Bostock
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 28 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This essay provides a general view of the range of current work in psychology and law in Britain and North America and raises some questions about the kinds of contributions psychology can offer lawyers, some of the difficulties that arise, and the ethics of this kind of involvement in law.

Abstract

The courtroom provided the earliest focus of psychology and law research, and courtroom processes have continued to attract a major share of psychological research, often out of all proportion to the legal significance of the issues investigated; e.g., a large amount of research has focused on the jury although only a tiny minority of cases are actually heard before juries. Most psychological research on pretrial processes has dealt with the elicitation and evaluation of evidence, particularly eyewitness evidence and confessions, as well as the methods of lie detection and forensic hypnosis. In the areas of disposition and treatment, research has considered the effects of prison, alternatives to prison, parole, predicting dangerousness, and behavioral approaches to treatment. Increasingly, psychologists are relating their research to issues of substantive law as well as legal procedure. Research topics also include compliance with law, legal and moral socialization, perceptions of justice, attitudes to law, the impact of legal procedures, and the effectiveness of legal solutions to disputes. Despite its internal differences and controversies, the inconclusiveness of much of its research, and the provisional nature of many of its theories, psychology does have distinctive approaches to explaining human behavior, and the vast body of research literature can give important insights, throw doubt on established beliefs, and clarify dimensions of a problem without necessarily prescribing the solution. The roles of psychologists as experts in legal proceedings are also outlined, and 111 notes and references are listed.