I am a freshman here at the University of Rochester, and my career plans include law school. Thus I am a political science major, but upon consideration of what I would like to minor in, I decided that psychology would not only be interesting, but also very helpful to my career. I didn't really know that that aspect of psychology was so popular, nor that I was called "forensic psychology". When looking over the list of possible mini-courses I came across one that at first I disregarded after seeing that it had to do with forensic psychology (not knowing what it meant). After reading the explanation I realized that it was a perfect course for me to take. I could see how to properly connect psychology and law, and how others had done it before me. I could also see what other aspects there were to forensic psychology. So I put number 6 at the top of my mini-course list and waited.
A photo of a group conducting psychotherapy.
Cover of The Psychological Clinic, the first journ...
English: Group Rorschach used by the Office of Str...Wednesday the email came, I got in.
I went to Wilson Commons and entered a conference room with a long rectangular table and took my seat. We had all been asked to bring in an article referencing forensic psychology, and at our meeting we shared a brief synopsis with the others. Some people brought in articles about particular cases, others about forensic psychologists, and others about the field in general. Mine in particular was about a forensic psychologist who was one of 55 national criminal profilers.
Criminal profiling, although in some warped way can be connected to law, it is not the most direct way that forensic psychology affects it. It is a common misconception that forensic psychology is mostly criminal profiling. I must admit that I had the same thoughts about it before I took...