Forensic Psychology Jobs

Forensic psychology jobs are available in a variety of work places. Forensic psychologists can work in just about any criminal justice setting, depending on what they need to do. A good portion of jobs in forensic psychology are within the court system, as forensic psychologists help counsel families and testify in criminal cases. If you are looking into a job in forensic psychology, you will inevitably work in the court at some point in time. Here are a few scenarios you may encounter along the way.

Forensic Psychology Jobs in Civil Courts

Civil courts are meant to handle small court cases, usually between two independent individuals. Forensic psychologists are called on to counsel and evaluate litigants to ensure the best results possible in a case. Forensic psychologist jobs in civil courts may involve the following duties:

• Assessing emotional factors in sexual harassment
• Evaluating personal injury cases
• Evaluating IME second opinions
• Assessing emotional factors in discrimination
• Providing psychological autopsies
• Evaluating civil competency cases
• Evaluating worker’s compensation cases

Forensic psychologists may also counsel individuals going through difficulties related to their court cases. Common issues with these individuals include:

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Phobias related to traumatic events
• Anger management
• Chronic pain (assessing psychological factors)
• Adjustment counseling following trauma
• Desensitization
• Trauma related to couple’s counseling

If you decide to work with civil courts, you could come across any one of those situations during your forensic psychologist jobs.

Forensic Psychology Jobs in Family Courts

Family courts usually center around parental rights, custody battles, and child abuse cases. Jobs in forensic psychology related to this sector of the court system often evaluate personal evaluations to ensure children are in safe home. Forensic psychologists may be responsible for any of the following duties:

• Developing family reunification plans
• Assessing visitation risks
• Evaluating child custody cases
• Evaluating the termination of parental rights
• Evaluating grandparent visitation cases
• Mediating parental conflicts related to children
• Evaluating child abuse cases
• Evaluating adoption readiness cases
• Family counseling between parents and children
• Training patients in parental skills
• Counseling those with anger management problems
• Training parents in communication
• Supervising therapeutic visitations
• Counseling families after divorce

You may experience any one of those situations if you decide to work in the family court system.

Forensic Psychology Jobs in Criminal Court

Criminal court cases make up the bulk of criminal justice careers for forensic psychologists. The purpose of criminal court cases is to penalize guilty defendants for their actions and clear the names of those who are innocent. This is the court system that most people imagine when they think about going to court, even if criminal cases happen less often than civil cases. Forensic psychologist jobs in this sector may involve any of the following duties:

• Evaluating adults before a sentence
• Counseling individuals who violate restraining orders
• Evaluating juvenile waivers
• Counseling juveniles on probation
• Assessing sexual offenders
• Evaluating the credibility of child witnesses
• Counseling individuals awaiting trial
• Evaluating juveniles accused of criminal acts
• Counseling adults and juveniles on probation
• Evaluating juveniles on probation
• Evaluating competency and diminished capacity
• Providing psychotherapy for sex offenders
• Counseling victims of crimes
• Training violent offenders to control their anger
• Counseling restraining order violators

If you do not mind working around potentially dangerous individuals for the betterment of society, this may be the employment sector for you. You do not always have to worry about being in danger as you will have police officers near by in those situations. Nevertheless, you will be working with criminals and somewhat irrational individuals. Think about your protection every step of the way if you choose to enter this career path.

Conclusion

Forensic psychology jobs are available well out of the court system, but most forensic psychologists work in that sector at some point in their careers. Many of them will work in a private practice on the side as they are commissioned to do work for the courts. You may spend part of your time counseling traditional psychology patients, and then the other part will be spent working with the courts. You never know until you get out there. If you feel that this is the line of work for you though, you should have no shortage of job opportunities in the future.

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