Psychology and the law: a critical review of research and practice.

Abstract

Along with the other social sciences and the law, psychology and law has been expanding very markedly indeed in the past fifteen years or so, especially in North America but also in Britain and elsewhere. One clear indication of the extent of this expansion in the English speaking world is the phenomenal increase in publications appearing in psychology journals on topics related to law: it has been estimated that the annual total of such articles has risen from little more than one hundred in 1965 to number now in thousands rather than hundreds per year. [1] Other indices of increasing interest and investment in the area in North America and Britain include a proliferation of relevant conferences; the establishment of societies, professional bodies and committees; and an increase in money available for research. [21 With few exceptions work in the psychology and law field is essentially applied. Certainly most lawyers and probably also most psychologists see the field as one which aims eventually to "improve" the law, by offering practical help and advice to lawyers in the various tasks for formulating and applying the law, or more rarely, by increasing legal awareness and competence amongst ordinary citizens. At the same time, there is as might be expected considerable ambivalence amongst psychologists about whether, in fact, psychology has any practical contribution to offer, and about the ethics of such a role. Lawyers, if they are aware of developments in the field at all, often remain sceptical of their value. This paper aims firstly to give a broad overview of the range and types of research and other activities being carried out in psychology and law. These are divided into two sections, the first focussing on research and the second on the closely related role of psychologists as experts. The review is confined almost entirely to work in the English language, and the developments discussed are very largely North American or British. The third section of the paper then moves on to discuss some of the reasons why many psychologists and lawyers are ambivalent or sceptical about whether psychology can and should be applied in legal contexts.