Police, Investigative

and Correctional UNIT 10 CORRECTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY1

Psychology

Structure
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Correctional Psychology: An Introduction
10.3 Roles of Forensic Psychologist in the Context of Correctional Psychology
10.3.1 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Prisons
10.3.2 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Court/ Trials
10.3.3 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Interrogation and Confession
10.3.4 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Death Penalty, Trials and Appeals
10.3.5 Role of Forensic Psychologist with regard to Sexual Harassment and
Discrimination
10.3.6 Role of Forensic Psychologists in dealing with Persons in conflict With Law
10.4 Let Us Sum Up
10.5 References
10.6 Key Words
10.7 Answers to Check Your Progress
10.8 Unit End Questions

10.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:

• discuss correctional psychology;

• discuss the role of forensic psychologist in prisons, court/ trials,
interrogation and confession; and
• describe the role of forensic psychologist in death penalty, trials and
appeals, sexual harassment and discrimination, and dealing with
persons in conflict with law.

10.1 INTRODUCTION
One of the important branches or sub fields of psychology is correctional
psychology. In this, basic psychological principles and techniques are applied
to help the justice system to classify the various mental health problems of
prisoners, treatment of the illnesses, and managing the incarcerated and the
accused individuals in such a manner, that the risk of their repeating the
crime gets reduced and thereby improve the safety and security of the general
public.

1
Prof. Vimala Veeraraghavan, Former Emeritus Professor, Discipline of Psychology, SOSS,
IGNOU, Delhi
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Correctional psychology can be explained as a branch of psychology in Correctional
Psychology
which the principles of psychology are applied to in the context of justice
system in order to classify, treat and manage offenders and to decrease the
risk to public safety and to bring about an improvement in the public safety
(Neal, 2018).
While there appears no specific training for correctional psychologists, it is
said that any psychologist, whether counselling or clinical , developmental or
social or cognitive, community psychologists can take up and handle
correctional psychology related issues. By and large correctional
psychologists are involved in post adjudication such as taking up research
projects along with psychological effects of prison on the inmates, as well as
probation conditions. They also take up cases for treatment of certain
disorders , and provide assessment services.
In the present unit, we will explain the concept of correctional psychology
and discuss the role of forensic psychologist in prisons, court/ trials,
interrogation and confession, and describe the role of forensic psychologist
in death penalty, trials and appeals, sexual harassment and
discrimination, and dealing with persons in conflict with law.

10.2 CORRECTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: AN

INTRODUCTION
Correctional psychology is a sub-system of forensic psychology and a
correctional psychologists is involved in the legal system and deal with
mentally ill persons in the prisons and other correctional institutions. It is
applied to law, in order to resolve legal, contractual and administrative
matters. It is applied to the justice system to inform the classification,
treatment, and management of offenders to reduce risk and improve public
safety.
In correctional psychology, the principles of psychology are applied for
correctional purposes and the is on the treatment and management of the
criminals or offenders and includes interventions for the inmates and
offenders. The correctional psychologists employed in prisons, not only
assess and diagnose both psychological and other emotional problems of the
prisoners, but they also treat and rehabilitate the prisoners when released
from prison after their term is over, psychological effect of the prison
conditions and environment on the offenders and so on. Correctional
psychologists also play a role in assessment and evaluation of the offenders.
Correctional psychologists working in prisons and correctional institutions
like those for delinquents etc. use many methods and psychological
techniques to counsel them with the final goal of rehabilitating them back
into the society. It is thus important for correctional and forensic
psychologists to help rehabilitate those prisoners, particularly persons kept in
judicial custody until their case is complete in court as well as those prisoners
who are referred to as under trials, serving prison term for many years
without any trial.
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Police, Investigative The main goal of correctional psychology is the rehabilitation and
and Correctional
Psychology reintegration of the offender. Reintegration here implies “the process of
returning a previously incarcerated offender to the community with the
proper skills and support to be productive member of society” (Harmening
and Gamez, 2016, page 11). And this objective can be achieved by having
various intervention strategies for the offenders like educational
opportunities, training programmes, interventions related to mental health
and substance use, skill enhancement programmes and so on. Often
correctional psychologists are also involved in crisis intervention as they
work with offenders. Research as well is a part and parcel of the job of a
correctional psychologist, as he/ she could carry out research on varied topics
like effectiveness of methods of incarceration, strategies for rehabilitation
and reintegration of the offenders and so on.

Check Your Progress I

1) What is correctional psychology?
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10.3 ROLES OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST IN

THE CONEXT OF CORRECTIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Let us now look at the role of forensic psychologists in the context of
correctional psychology.

10.3.1 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Prisons

Prisons are where the convicted criminals are sent to and they live in prison
for the period of time assigned to them. Prison can be a form of punishment
or means of removing the individual from the society for safety of others, it
can be incapacitation of the offender, rehabilitation and also denunciation to
imply that the behaviour as displayed by the offender will not be tolerated.
Prison includes a social environment as various offenders as well as the
guards interact with each other on day to day basis. The social climate of a
correctional system like prison has three main dimension according to Moos
(1987, as sited in Day and Marion, 2012, page 266):
- Relationship oriented: Includes support, involvement and expression.
- Personal development: Includes autonomy, practical orientation and
personal problems orientation.
- System maintenance and change: Includes order and organisations,
programme clarity and staff control).

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Prisons need to play an important role in rehabilitation of the offender and Correctional
Psychology
thus the environment needs to be created in such a way that it facilitates
positive behaviour change.
Often prisons are very crowded, humid, lack ventilation. Prisoners may also
be deprived of good food and may not have good sanitation, toilet facilities
and not enough water to bathe etc. many prisoners suffer from skin diseases
and other related ailments. There is no adequate health facilities to tend to
them. These prisoners more often than not live in fear. These negative
environmental factors combined with complete separation of prisoners from
their own families and friends, lead to mental health problems such as
depression frustration, anger, aggression and so on. Some prisoners do
manifest psychotic symptoms, in which case they are locked up for longer
periods. Thus, prisons do have higher percentage of mentally ill persons.
Quite a few of them also have problems in impulse control and thus end up
assaulting other prisoners and subsequently put in isolation for longer
periods. There are also prisoners who suffer from delusions and
hallucinations.
Furthermore, prisoners as pointed out above may live in very poor
environmental conditions that render them all the more susceptible to
developing psychiatric disorders. Psychotic disorders, substance abuse and
addiction are commonly found amongst the prisoners. The psychologists
working in prisons help diagnose and treat these patients and put in their best
efforts to rehabilitate them also.
There are also prisoners who are first timers and are in prison for the first
time. These prisoners suffer from adjustment disorders. The prison
population being very large and proportionately the number of psychiatric
cases being high, many remain undiagnosed and untreated for mental
disorders. While patients who have a propensity to develop psychiatric
disorders become worse in prison settings, those who suff r from mental
disorders deteriorate faster. On the other hand, those who suffer from
psychiatric disorders have been found to have a tendency to commit more
crimes than those who do not suffer from mental disorders.
Thus, the role of forensic psychologists in prison is very challenging. They
are involved in assessment of competency amongst prisoners to stand trial,
and they also assess to what extent the prisoner concerned is responsible for
the crime etc. They also make assessment and determine to what extent the
many defences put up by the prisoner or the accused such as being
intoxicated and not knowing what he/ she was doing etc. are valid defence
and appraise the court regarding the same.
Forensic psychologists though are highly involved in assessment, in a large
number of cases they take prisoners for counselling and psychotherapy so as
to treat them of mental disorders as well as work a great deal with prisoners
and even staff in reducing stress and anxiety. Forensic psychologists are
proficient in prisoner profiling and they give expert evidence in the court.

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Police, Investigative 10.3.2 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Court/ Trials
and Correctional
Psychology
Forensic psychologists bring psychology and behavioural research into the
court room. They have a very important role in criminal justice and they
work with the judges, the lawyers, attorneys, police, city planners, school
authorities, directors and officers in correctional institutions, military units
and private sector organisations. Forensic psychologists are involved in both
punishing criminals and preventing crime.
Forensic psychology is a combination of law and psychology. These
personnel are involved in research and investigation of various crimes and
criminals. They try to find out why a person commits crime, what are his/her
personality traits, what kinds of crime would a person commit , where and
when and how to prevent the same. Based on a lot of accumulated data of
large number of criminals and their profiles, forensic psychologists are able
to appraise the police as well as the court regarding the profile of the
criminals, where and how they may attack etc. They also recommend many
measures to the police and administration to prevent crimes from occurring.
Thus, forensic psychologists are required in the court system, law
enforcement agencies, correctional institutions and also in medical treatment
facilities. They deal with psychological theories to legal problems of varied
types, and study criminal justice in addition to clinical psychology. They
work closely with the justice system. As mentioned earlier, they conduct
screenings and assessments of prisoners. They diagnose psychological
disorders among persons who are accused and who are defendants. Their
duty is to examine the mental status of the accused and the defendant and tell
the court if they can stand trial in terms of their mental status. Forensic
psychologists testify in court on behalf of the accused and at times on behalf
of the defendants.
Where a defendant or accused is mentally ill, or where they need counselling
or psychotherapy, forensic psychologists take them on therapy and gets them
well and back in the court. If required they may take up both individual and
group therapy sessions to get them well. In some cases if needed family
members may also be taken up for sessions. For long term incarcerated
prisoners who may have been out of touch with other human beings and
normal social situations and interactional situations, half way home and day
care facilities may also be offered so that the prisoners get used to other
humans and learn to interact with them. These are a few of the rehabilitative
measures undertaken by the forensic psychologists.
As prison life is stressful for the incarcerated persons, it may lead to mental
health problems which are attended to by the forensic psychologists. While
doing so, forensic psychologists protect the rights of each of their clients who
are referred to them.
The roles performed by forensic psychologists thus are diverse, in the sense
that from creating criminal profiles for law enforcement agencies, to
understanding the behaviours of criminals in myriad ways in order to deal
with each of their unique personality to diagnosing why a criminal commits a
crime, to also finding out who are more vulnerable to fall victims to a crime
190 and finally to find ways and means to reducing crime in society.
Forensic psychologists are also responsible for assessing the mental stability Correctional
Psychology
of criminals who are standing trial. They inform the judges if the person
standing for trial is in a mental balanced state to answer the court. They
evaluate the accused and the criminals to ascertain if they are showing any
signs of mental disorders. They provide where needed psychotherapeutic
services to render the mentally ill person asymptomatic.
In addition to the above significant roles, forensic psychologists also conduct
child custody evaluations, visitation risk assessments, give testimonies in
lawsuits and finally handle custody cases and carry on work with family
courts.
Thus, forensic psychologists play important roles in both courts and during
trials, mainly because they are very well trained and have acquired skills,
viz.judging the mental state of the criminals, provide to the courts additional
evidence, providing the prisons with the type of treatment that the prisoners
should get if mentally ill in some way, thereby helping the criminal justice
system by submitting the many evidences needed, as well as provide
materials and documents to the court, to render justice to the victims and the
accused.
Forensic psychologists possess valuable skills that can help in improving the
criminal justice system. These include evaluation and reporting to the court
the mental state of the accused or the victim referred by the court and
presenting to the court more evidences that would help in fair judgement.
In the first case wherein the forensic psychologist evaluates and assesses the
mental state of the person concerned, the main focus is to ascertain if the
individual understands why he/ she is in the court, what crime had he/ she
committed and what is he/ she accused of and whether he/ she knows what
he/ she did was correct and whether he/ she can defend himself/ herself. If the
person's mental state is balanced and not disturbed, he/ she would be able to
stand the trial in the court. This is what the forensic psychologist ascertains
using psychological tests and interviews and reports his/ her findings to the
court whether or not the individual can stand the trial in the court.
In the second point where the forensic psychologist presents more evidences,
is based on the many psychological investigations and assessments he/ she
does and is able to present such evidence which cannot be obtained by mere
crime scene investigations by the police.
To conclude, it may be stated that forensic psychology which focusses on
criminal behaviour, helps the criminal justice system to render fair justice, by
providing the judicial system with materials consisting of clinical
assessments, many evidences that are based on psychological assessments,
eyewitness testimonies that are valid and reliable, and finally providing the
court with proficient and reliable treatment plan for the incarcerated persons
who develop mental disorders while in jail, and those who suffer from one
form of mental illness or the other.

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Police, Investigative 10.3.3 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Interrogation and
and Correctional
Psychology Confession
Interrogation as a subject matter has been dealt with in detail elsewhere in the
Unit 9. Interrogation is generally carried out by the police in order to discover
the truth about a crime. Quite often the interrogation is also aimed at making
the person confess to the crime. In cases of confession, the person concerned
would have even made false confessions in order to escape the police
coercion. A confession as is well known increases the possibility of
pronouncing guilty verdicts especially in all the cases where the accused has
been coerced to confess. In such cases the judge may even instruct the jurors
to ignore the confession. It must be kept in mind that confessions are much
more powerful than eye witness testimony, especially in criminal trials. To
overcome the pitfalls in judgement, where the judge finds the accused has
been coerced to confess, the court may ask for assessment by forensic
psychologist who may take up interrogation and find out the possibility of
false confession. Since there are many factors that lead to false confessions,
as for example, small uncomfortable room, soundproof space, with one-way
mirror to record all observations in regard to the accused and the process of
interrogation, and the situations as well as evidences both false and true being
presented, the strong suggestions made to the accused, etc. would all make
him/ her falsely confess to a crime that he/ she has not committed.
It is thus important to understand confessions and their importance in the
judgement and in the court of law.
Social science research on wrongful convictions has demonstrated that there
are four ways to prove a confession is false when it can be objectively
established that the suspect confessed to a crime that did not happen (for
example, the presumed murder victim is found alive); when it can be
objectively established that the defendant could not have committed the
crime because it would have been physically impossible to have done so (for
example, he/ she was in another location at the time of the crime); when the
true perpetrator of a crime is identified and his guilt can be objectively
established; or when scientific evidence conclusively establishes the
confessor's innocence.

10.3.4 Role of Forensic Psychologist in Death Penalty, Trials and

Appeals
Death penalty is the capital punishment that the Supreme Court pronounces
as judgement. Before that expert opinion is sought from professionals.
Forensic psychologists usually present their opinions on matters such as
competency to stand trial and insanity problem. They present violence risk
assessments to the general population. and also indicate the presence of
sexual predator to the public so that they remain on guard. In quite a few
cases, forensic psychologists interview the defendant and his/ her family and
review all the documents and related matters so as to help the court.
Despite all their efforts, at times wrong judgements could be given and
innocent person is convicted or executed. Almost all these wrongly convicted
192 cases also go through all the required and routine proceedings in the court of
law, using therein the expert testimony and investigations and assessments of Correctional
Psychology
the accused as well as the eyewitnesses, and the victims. While it is
imperative for the prosecutor to use the correct evidence for the argument in
court, they seek professional advice from the psychologist but must make
sure that the advice and statements given by the psychologist is absolutely
beyond doubt.

10.3.5 Role of Forensic Psychologist with regard to Sexual

Harassment and Discrimination.
Sexual harassment of women whether home, on the street or in a work place,
has been quite common not only in India, but globally too in quite a few
countries. While almost all governments around the world have tried to
prevent as well as reduce such sexual harassment, In India considerable
efforts by the government and passing of many legislations against such
harassment, have been done, and there has been some improvement in
treatment of women as an equal without discrimination in terms of gender
factor. It is well known that since industrialisation, sexual harassment of
women in industries has been a perennial issue and women had to put up
with the same because of their economic and survival needs. In India, in the
year 1997, the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgement wherein they put
down in clear terms guidelines for the industries and other establishments to
follow when there are complaints about harassment.
It is to be mentioned and remembered that a safe workplace for a woman is
her legal and fundamental right guaranteed by Articles 14 and 15 of the
Indian constitution, and sexual harassment constitutes a gross violation of
women‘s right to equality and dignity. The Laws in India provide women the
needed protection from harassment, yet women are likely to experience
intimidation, theats and abuse. Workplace sexual harassment creates an
insecure as well as a hostile work environment, which deters women from
working outside of her home. This adversely affects their social and
economic growth. This problem of sexual harassment is also termed as
problem of discrimination against women. It affects their safety, health and
their fundamental rights and it is highly offensive and makes the woman
exposed to all kinds of vulgarity. This also undermines their rights to equal
opportunity to work and earn.
In the context of workplace, we can also discuss about workplace bullying.
According to Einarsen et al (2020), workplace bullying is defined as
systematic negative treatment of an individual over an extended period of
time in situations which he/ she has difficulties to defend against.
Workplace bullying is an important risk factor that affects the health of the
person who is being bullied, reduces his/her work efficiency and makes the
person concerned helpless, depressed and frustrated. It requires effective
intervention from the organisation so that this problem is prevented as well as
reduced. Also workplace bullying needs a change in the mindset of people,
who harass others. They do not understand the impact of such bullying on the
victim, who suffers from all kinds of fears and apprehensions, feelings of
pressure to do things they don‘t want to, getting the blame for the bullying
193
Police, Investigative stating that the victim was responsible for having invited such sexual
and Correctional
Psychology advances, etc. It is important to realise and accept that it is easy and
convenient to blame the victim though she is not in any way responsible.
This means the blame has to shift from the victims on to the perpetrators for
such harassment
Also, many victimised employees, both male and female, hardly talk about
their indignity for fear of losing their jobs or jeopardising their future.This
attitude in turn perpetuates bullying. Such people lose their confidence, suffer
from anxiety and confusion even in regard to their own abilities.
The only way to manage a bully in a work place is to have enough evidences
and facts, gathered meticulously regarding each incident of bullying, as much
in detail as possible. If there had been witnesses, they should be requested for
help and support. Since bullying affects both physical and mental health ,
bullying has to be eliminated.
In a research conducted on how culture of civility affected the employees,
and how male and female perceived bullying and how they defended
themselves, the results showed that psychological bullying has the worst
impact on both males and females and incivility in the work place is a very
serious problem. In yet another research on bullying from psychological
perspective, it was found that there was a tendency amongst male workers to
invoke sex-based stereotypes. It was also noted that certain forms of sexual
harassment was directed towards only some females and not others. Another
finding was that where the organisational climate is tolerant of sexual
harassment and workplace bullying, there are more cases of such harassment
reported, and many women were found to be suffering from emotional and
psychological problems.
Social psychologists are of the view that sexual harassment is a joint product
of situation and person variables. They also found that stimuli commonly
faced in day to day situation, sometimes trigger uncontrollable cognitive
responses in some men that produce harassing behaviours.
The social cognitive model explains sexual harassment as occurring in two
stage process. In the first stage, the belief is that sexual assault is harassment.
But if the same exceeds the limit and the threshold of offensiveness, people
perceive it as harassment and do not bother to consider the cognitive activity
part of it.
Furthermore, there is also an aspect of self referencing. Each individual so
harassed, tries to analyse why he/ she became the target, and as one analyses,
they take into consideration race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation of the
observer, the harasser, and the complainant and see what all had led to such
harassment. Depending who the person is and what cultural and other
background he/ she has, plus the social aptitude and the power that the
harasser has, the analysis will also be highly influenced by those factors and
thus the accuracy of harassment judgements will also get affected. In
addition, factors like responsibility, strength, confidence and being a bully
also is associated with sexual harassment.
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Forensic psychologists help sexually harassed and bullied persons by Correctional
Psychology
psychological treatment interventions. Some of the mental health problems
faced by such persons include depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality
disruptions, attachment issues and even addictions. Not only these sexually
abused persons suffer from psychological scars, but also suffer from long
term health problems. Some of the physical injuries could be for instance,
knife cuts, injuries, broken bones, pain without a cause, headaches, etc which
all cause extreme discomfort.
Generally people cope with their trauma in many ways. It is also known quite
a large number of women and also men have survived sexual assault of
varied types. Those who have survived can be given counselling and other
psychological therapeutic help by forensic psychologists. Some of the
therapies used include psychodynamic psychotherapy, trauma-focused
cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT), and eye movement desensitisation
and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) for the treatment of patients following
sexual assault and abuse.
In this context we can discuss about the five-phase model of therapy. This
therapy consists of the following phases:
Phase 1: Assessment and education
Phase 2: Rapport and strengths
Phase 3: Cognitive intervention
Phase 4: Emotion focussed intervention
Phase 5: Trauma narrative
The important aspects of this five phase treatment is
a) The effective assessment skills especially the strengths and assets of the
victim.
b) The focussing on the detailed history of the victim and the complex
trauma that has resulted in so many symptoms.
c) Empowering and encouraging the victims to stand up and face the world
and her own physical and mental conditions.
d) The empathic strength based approach and using both Cognitive
Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
(REBT).

Further, development and maintenance of trusting relationship between the

victim and the therapist could bring about a positive change in the victim
towards accepting his/ her trauma and wanting to do something about it to
overcome the same. Another helping technique is to make the victim
verbalise and recount the assault event again and again so that the debilitating
symptoms could be reduced which are due to post traumatic stress. The
therapists also teach the victims other skills such as anger management,
assertiveness and communication. The focus is more on the current situation
and how to solve the present problem rather than going into the past or into
the future. The ability to solve the present problem provides the victim with
confidence and strength to overcome many of the emotional upheaval he/ she
195
Police, Investigative faces. There are thus many treatment modalities that are used by forensic
and Correctional
Psychology psychologists in helping victims overcome their trauma. The choice of
treatment intervention is based on the characteristics of the victim, the
duration and severity of the symptoms, as well as the response to therapy.

10.3.6 Role of Forensic Psychologists in Dealing with Persons

in Conflict with Law
In the last decade and more, there has been a tremendous increase in the area
of forensic psychology. It is pertinent to note that American Psychological
Association recognised forensic psychology as a specialty in 2001, and
recommended re-certification in 2008. Interestingly, over the years, the
practice of forensic psychology has become quite different from that of the
traditional psychological therapies (Monahan, 1980), one reason being the
Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists that were developed and
published in 1991 (Committee on Ethical guidelines, 1991). These Specialty
Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists have also been getting revised, so as to
benefit forensic practitioners and improve the quality of forensic
psychological services to the beneficiaries. .
Forensic psychologists apply scientific, technical, and specialised knowledge
of psychology to the law and help in legal, contractual, and administrative
matters. The forensic psychologists thus provide expert advice to judicial,
administrative, and educational systems including, how to handle persons
after the legal proceedings. They offer expert opinion about psychological
issues to judicial, legislative or administrative bodies.
They also serve as a trial consultant and offer expertise to expertise to
attorneys, the courts, or others. They also undertake research studies , they
collect information on various legal issues, and disseminate the same to the
concerned personnel and groups. They also explain the practical implication
of these research results.
Forensic psychologists are also trained in treatment interventions such as
psychotherapy etc, and they provide these services as required to the accused
or the victim and as directed b by the courts.
However, it may be kept in mind that psychological testimony that is solely
based on the provision of psychotherapy and not involving any legal matter
or issue, will not be considered forensic practice.
Even though forensic psychologists are dealing with persons coming in
conflict with the Law, they strive for accuracy, honesty and truthfulness and
resist any partisan pressures that may lead to wrong conviction or judgement.
By and large their being impartial and fair helps the courts to rely on their
statements and forensic psychologists not only recognise the adversarial
nature of the legal system but make sure that they weigh all information and
statistics, in an impartial manner. They also avoid conflict of interest and
ensure public confidence and trust.
Forensic psychologists recognise the importance of obtaining a fundamental
and reasonable level of knowledge of legal and professional standards , laws,
rules, and precedents. They also manage their professional conduct in a
manner that does not threaten or impair the rights of affected individuals.
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Forensic psychologists recognise their own cultures, attitudes, values, beliefs, Correctional
Psychology
opinions, may affect adversely their ability to practice in a competent and
impartial manner. Hence they take extra care to keep these in check while
serving their clientele. Similarly they also are aware of the adverse effect of
age, gender, disabilities affect their effectiveness in serving people, and thus
take undue care to ensure these do not come in the way of their providing
service to the courts, or to people who need legal services.
Forensic psychologists enter into explicit agreement with their clients in
terms of the scope of their services, time frame, and remuneration for their
services. If the client acts in a way that would make the forensic psychologist
to violate any norm or legal or professional obligations, they would terminate
the agreement with the client. Forensic psychologists keep updating their
clients regarding the case etc. and where necessary consult their clients and
get feedback regarding the service being offered to them and what
improvements do they consider to be effected, so that the psychologists could
give satisfactory services to their clients.
Though service offered by the forensic experts is for a certain period of time,
the client and the psychologist may decide to end their relationship either
because the problem is resolved or because the agreement has been violated
in some ways. Forensic psychologists ensure confidentiality, privacy clauses,
and privileged information to be also kept confidential by the client as well as
self, and ensures there is no conflict of interest. They also recognise the
potential conflicts that may arise between self and the client concerned and if
any conflict do arise, an effort is made to minimise any detrimental effect and
if necessary may even limit their obligations consistent with professional
responsibility
As for their expertise in therapeutic / psychological interventions, when
requested for the same they do provide and if the client needs therapy which
may require other than psychotherapy, the forensic psychologists may refer
them to the concerned therapists for betterment of the client.
When ever a client, or an accused or a victim needs to be tested and
investigated further in regard to their mental status or any other aspect related
to the psycholegal issue, forensic psychologist explains the same to the client
concerned, particularly what the test contains, how it would be administered
and how their responses will be used and the possible conclusions they may
arrive at, etc. They make sure that the confidentiality of the entire process is
explained to the client in advance, and also informing the client to whom
these results will be disclosed and the permission of the client to report the
results to the concerned authorities. These in turn help to make sure of the
cooperation of the client. In certain cases the client may refuse to give his
consent to the process of testing or diagnosing or treatment recommended
etc. in which case the forensic psychologist puts in extra effort to explain to
the client the need for the testing etc. and persuades the client to give his/her
consent for the entire process. While doing so, the forensic psychologist also
ensures that the rights and welfare of his/ her client are well protected.
If and when forensic psychologists face any conflict with the legal
authorities, or the client or even the public, they make sure the conflict is
197
Police, Investigative resolved by following the standard guidelines and the court directives
and Correctional
Psychology provided to them.
When there arises any conflict with the public or otherwise in regard to any
case referred to them, forensic psychologists remain consistent with legal and
ethical requirements, and make sure that there is no distortion of any
information obtained by them in regard to the case concerned. They provide
reports and other statements, evidence and testimonies to the courts and other
authorities, in as fair and justified manner as possible.
It is important to keep in mind that forensic psychologists very clearly
indicate what all they had observed, and how and what they inferred from the
information and data they had gathered, and why and how they had arrived at
a certain conclusion. They link these with the legal issues and facts of the
case. In addition they also clearly show the various sources from where they
obtained the needed information.
All these measures and steps ensure that forensic psychologists are able to
effectively deal with varied types of persons who are in conflict with the law.

Check Your Progress II

1) Describe the three dimensions of social climate of a correctional system
like a prison.
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2) Mention the phases of five phase therapy.
…………………………………………………………………………….
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10.4 LET US SUM UP

In the present unit, we mainly discussed about correctional psychology.
Correctional psychology is one of the important branches or sub fields of
psychology is correctional psychology. In this, basic psychological principles
and techniques are applied to help the justice system to classify the various
mental health problems of prisoners, treatment of the illnesses, and managing
the incarcerated and the accused individuals in such a manner, that the risk of
their repeating the crime gets reduced and thereby improve the safety and
security of the general public. The unit mainly focused on the role of forensic
psychologist in prisons, court/trials, interrogation, confession and the role of
forensic psychologist in death penalty, trials and appeals, sexual harassment
and discrimination, and dealing with persons in conflict with law.
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10.5 REFERENCES Correctional
Psychology

Bartol, C.R. and Bartol, A.M. (2008). Introduction to Forensic Psychology.

Research and Application. (2nd edition). Barnes & Nobles, NY.
Canter, D. (2017). Criminal Psychology. New York: Routledge.
Committee on Ethical Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists. (1991).
Specialty guidelines for Forensic Psychologists. Law and Human Behaviour.
15, 655-665
Einarsen, Kari; Nielson, Morten Birkeland; Hetland, Joren; et al (2020).
Outcomes of a Proximal Workplace Intervention Against Workplace
Bullying and Harassment: A Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled
Trial Among Norwegian Industrial Workers. Frontiers in Psychology 31st
August.
Harmening, W and Gamez, A. M. (2016). Forensic Psychology. Delhi:
Pearson.
Haward, Lionel and Gisli H. Gudjonsson (1998). Forensic Psychology:
Practitioner's Guide. NY: Routledge
Huss, M. T. (2014). Forensic Psychology: Research, Clinical Practices and
Applications. USA: Wiley.
Monahan, J. (Ed). (1980). Who is the client? The Ethics of psychological
intervention kin the criminal justice system. American Psychological
Association, Washington DC.
Neal, T.M.S. (2018). Forensic psychology and correctional psychology:
Distinct but related subfields of psychological science and practice. American
Psychologist, 73, 651-662. doi: 10.1037/amp0000227
Polizzi, D and Draper, M. R. (2016). Forensic Psychology Reconsidered: A
Critique of Mental Illness and the Courts. New York: Routledge.
Shipley, A.L and Arrigo, B. A. (2012). Introduction to Forensic Psychology:
Court, Law Enforcement and Correctional Practices. New York: Elsevier.
Veeraraghavan, Vimala (2009). Handbook of Forensic Psychology. Select
Scientific Publishers, New Delhi.
Walker, L., & Shapiro, D. (2004). Introduction to forensic psychology.
Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers.

10.6 KEY WORDS

Correctional psychology: In correctional psychology, the principles of
psychology are applied for correctional purposes and the is on the treatment
and management of the criminals or offenders and includes interventions for
the inmates and offenders.
Workplace bullying: According to Einarsen et al (2020), workplace
bullying is defined as systematic negative treatment of an individual over an
extended period of time in situations which he/ she has difficulties to defend
against.
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Police, Investigative
and Correctional
10.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Psychology
Check Your Progress I
1) What is correctional psychology?
In correctional psychology, the principles of psychology are applied for
correctional purposes and the is on the treatment and management of the
criminals or offenders and includes interventions for the inmates and
offenders.
Check Your Progress II
1) Describe the three dimensions of social climate of a correctional system
like a prison:
The social climate of a correctional system like prison has three main
dimension according to Moos (1987, as sited in Day and Marion, 2012,
page 266):
- Relationship oriented: Includes support, involvement and
expression.
- Personal development: Includes autonomy, practical orientation and
personal problems orientation.
- System maintenance and change: Includes order and organisations,
programme clarity and staff control).
2) Mention the phases of five phase therapy.
The five-phase model of therapy consists of the following phases:
Phase 1: Assessment and education
Phase 2: Rapport and strengths
Phase 3: Cognitive intervention
Phase 4: Emotion focussed intervention
Phase 5: Trauma narrative.

10.8 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Explain the role of forensic psychologist in prison, court/trials,
interrogation, confession.
2) Discuss the role of forensic psychologist in death penalty.
3) Describe the role of a forensic psychologist in sexual harassment. and
discrimination.
4) Discuss the role of a forensic psychologist while dealing with persons in
conflict with law.

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