Question: How would you help young people in schools to understand forensic psychology better? I am a student who is interested in doing this as my future career so I would like to know how you would help students get a better insight into forensic psychology.

Hannah Fawcett answered on 8 Mar 2023:

Forensic psychology is the application of psychology research and theory to understanding crime and the legal system. I think a lot of students think it focuses on offender profiling but this is a bit misleading as offender profiling as portrayed on tv and film is actually very rare – it lacks clear evidence to show that it works. There have even been some high profile cases where profiling has been shown to actually harm the investigation! Moving away from this, and focusing on other aspects of forensic psychology is a great way to prepare students for a career in forensic psychology. There are lots of fascinating areas around assessing the needs of offenders and delivering treatment programmes, making prisons better environments for change, understanding false alibis, reducing juror bias, making police interviewing more ethical and effective, supporting individuals with disabilities to give evidence… It is really diverse and fascinating! I would love to share what psychology has been doing in these areas and discuss some real cases where psychology has made a difference!