So what is forensic psychology, anyway?

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Most folks think of television or movie portrayals of forensic psychological practice, such as seen in Criminal Minds or Law and Order, SVU.

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Many professionals define it loosely as “the intersection of law and psychology.”

At Shadow Side Insights, it is the evaluation of a person’s behavioral health for purposes of answering a question posed by the legal system or another interested party. A few examples are;

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• assessing whether a person will be violent in the future

• evaluating whether a person’s symptoms prevent them from participating in criminal proceedings, or 

• describing mitigating circumstances in adjudication of a criminal act, such as mental state or behavioral health symptoms

• determining the extent to which an adverse event impacts a person’s ability to work or otherwise function as they have before the event  

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