1 - Psycholegal Research: An Introduction

Summary

Psychology and law is still in a state of flux, but there have been considerable advancements in the field.

(Bartol and Bartol, 2004a:1)

In spite of the rhetoric about the interface between psychology and law, and the proliferation of scholarly writings about the two disciplines, in fact much of what forensic psychology purports to offer to the law is not taken up in the workday of the courts – sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not … The question that this generates is how welcome a guest really is at the legal table and how much the law is missing out on which could enhance its decision making processes?

(Freckelton, 2005)

The issues are not the relevance of psychology and law to each other but the extent to which the law and legal system should and are prepared, to embrace psychology and the extent to which psychologists should, and are prepared, to adapt their work to the needs and requirements of the legal system.

(Carson and Bull, 1995a:4)

INTRODUCTION: DEVELOPMENT OF THE PSYCHOLEGAL FIELD

The plethora of applications of psychology to law can be differentiated in terms of what has been defined as: (a) psychology in law; (b) psychology and law; and (c) psychology of law. According to Blackburn (1996:6), psychology in law refers to specific applications of psychology within law: such as the reliability of eyewitness testimony, mental state of the defendant, and a parent's suitability for child custody in a divorce case.