Legal psychology

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Legal psychology is a field focused on the application of psychological principles within the legal system and its interactions with individuals. Professionals in this area are involved in understanding, assessing, and questioning suspects, evaluating potential jurors, investigating crimes and crime scenes, conducting forensic investigations, and handling other legal contexts. The term "legal psychology" distinguishes this practical branch of psychology from the more theory-oriented field of clinical psychology.

Together, legal psychology and forensic psychology form the field more generally recognized as "psychology and law". Following earlier efforts by psychologists to address legal issues, psychology and law became a field of study in the 1960s, though that originating concern has lessened over time.^[1] The multidisciplinary American Psychological Association's Division 41, the American Psychology–Law Society, is active with the goal of promoting the contributions of psychology to the understanding of law and legal systems through research; as well as providing education to psychologists in legal issues and providing education to legal personnel on psychological issues. Further, its mandate is to inform the psychological and legal communities, along with the general public, about current research, education, and services in the field of psychology and law.^[2] There are similar societies in Britain and Europe.