Forensic Psychology certificate

This programme is designed for anyone interested in understanding the use of psychological principles to understand the behaviour of criminals and the value of psychology in the detection of crime.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are to;

• Recognise how different research methods can help us research criminal behaviour
• Understand current theory in relation to the committing of offences
• Describe typical personal traits of offenders and how profiling can assist detection of crime
• Examine witness testimony and the behaviour of witnesses in the courtroom
• Review the use of forensic psychology in prevention of re-offending

The course is designed for home study or distance learning and is comprised of comprehensive printed course notes presented in an A4 ring binder, together with course assignments and study guide. Tutor support and a student helpline facility are integral to the course, and students have a full 12 months in which to complete their studies. Actual study time will be of the order of 90-100 hours.

The course is divided up into five study units, each with one tutor marked assignment to be completed. Each assignment contains approx 8-10 written tasks to be completed which are then submitted to a subject tutor for marking. Where required assignments can be re-submitted after amendment in the event that the assessment standards are not full met on first submission

The course units and topics are as follows:

Unit 1 Introduction to Forensic Psychology

• History of development of Forensic Psychology

Unit 2 Research Methods in Forensic Psychology

• Research Design and Methodology
• Critical evaluation of psychological research

Unit 3 Theories of offending

• Introduction to theories of offending
• Theories of sexual offending
• Theories of violent offending
• Theories of fire-setting behaviour

Unit 4 Personal Attributes of Offenders

• Personal characteristics of offenders
• Personality disordered offenders
• Psychopathic offenders
• Mental Illness and offending

Unit 5 Forensic Psychology in Police Investigations – Offender Profiling

• An Introduction to Offender Profiling
• Approaches to Offender Profiling
• The Effectiveness of Offender Profiling

Unit 6 Forensic Psychology in the Courtroom

• Eye-witness testimony
• Expert Witness testimony
• Attitudes towards victims

Unit 7 Forensic Psychology in Practice

• ‘What works’ literature in reducing re-offending
• Interventions to reduce risk of re-offending
• Incident management (Crisis Negotiation)

This programme is designed for anyone interested in understanding the use of psychological principles to understand the behaviour of criminals and the value of psychology in the prevention and detection of crime. It is suited to learners studying for general interest as well as people seeking to work in a crime or forensic science occupation on a voluntary of employed basis.

There are no study pre-requirements as the course is intended for learners who have not studied this topic beforehand.

It is suited to learners studying for general interest as well as people seeking to work in a crime or forensic science occupation on a voluntary of employed basis, and prpvides recognition of learning in the form of certification issued by a leading UK awarding organisation.

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Certificate of completion

Digital certificate - Included