Cops, courts and criminals

by Nicole Findlay

Broken down in layman’s terms, forensic psychology might be described as cops, courts and criminals. A group of Carleton researchers have banded together to examine issues in the field of legal, correctional and police psychology.

The mandate of the newly created Forensic Psychology Research Centre is to coordinate and disseminate research that examines the full law and order spectrum – from the inner workings of policing and court rooms to offender behavior and impact on victims.

“Our vision is to strengthen undergraduate and graduate training, collaborative research activity and most importantly, to build strategic partnerships with other academics, government and community agencies at the local, national and international level,” said Shelley Brown, current director of the center.

With seven full time professors, seven adjuncts and approximately 30 graduate students, Carleton’s Department of Psychology and Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice has one of the largest concentrations of forensic psychology expertise in Canada.

The new centre will formally link the individual research labs. These include:
Police Research Lab,
Gender and Crime Research Lab,
Aggressive Cognitions and Behaviour Research Lab,
Legal Decision Making Lab,
Psychopathy Research Lab,
Laboratory for Child Forensic Psychology,
Criminal Justice Decision Making Lab.

Research profiles of each of the forensic research psychologists will appear in This Week @ FASS over the fall term.