The Forensic Psychology Diploma – Level 3 Course focuses on the use of psychology to the criminal justice system and is designed to give the student an understanding of the psychological processes related to criminal behaviour. There are fifteen units in the course which will explore different aspects of forensic psychology.

Forensic and criminal psychologists will often work with criminal investigations and profiling although this is only one part of a role that can also cover the assessment and treatment of criminal behaviour, working with offenders and working with other professionals involved in the judicial and penal systems.

This highly engaging course starts with an Introduction to research methodologies followed by an introduction to statistics for research. The course then examines the psychology of violent crime, and gives the student an opportunity to conduct their own investigation into the connections between a specific mental disorder of their choice and violent crime, before making a brief examination of serial murder and the different causes detailed as contributory factors in the development of a serial killer.

The course will then test the student to use their knowledge along with further research, to explore three serial killers, and to produce an essay of approximately 500 words, which will examine the character of their chosen subject in association to the popular urban myths identified by the FBI, and explain why these myths can hinder an investigation. The course also inspects criminal activity focusing on the links between substance misuse and abuse within the community.

On successful completion of this course, students will receive an accredited Level 3 Certificate Award.

The course includes the following units:

Unit 1 – Introducing Research Methods

Unit Objectives:

• To understand the importance of research design
• To have an understanding of the differences between exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research projects
• To understand why it is necessary to standardise the experiment
• To have an awareness of different research methods and instruments.

Unit 2 – Introduction to Basic Statistics

Unit Objectives:

• To have a basic understanding of probability
• To understand what is meant by the independent variable
• To understand what is meant by the dependent variable
• To have a basic understanding of relative frequency
• To be able to construct a simple Likert scale
• To be able to construct a simple histogram
• To understand what is meant by the terms random sample and population.

Unit 3 – Psychology and Violent Crime

Unit Objectives:

• To have an awareness that perceptions of mental disorder as a cause of violent crime are distorted
• To have an awareness that research suggests serious violent behaviour is not frequent among people with schizophrenia
• To have an awareness of the personality traits that characterise the psychopath
• To have an awareness of the emotional aspects of violence
• To conduct research into a possible psychological cause of violent behaviour.

Unit 4 – Serial Killers

Unit Objectives:

• Understand that there is no single definition of a serial killer
• Understand the difference between serial murder, mass murder and spree killing
• Understand that there are a number of urban myths about serial killers
• Conduct research and produce a report that tends to prove or disprove these urban myths.

Unit 5 – Crime and Substance Abuse

Unit Objectives:

• Understand that not all drugs are illegal
• Understand that abuse of legal substances can have high social and economic costs
• Recognise the links between crime and substance abuse
• Have a basic understanding of government approaches to the reduction of crime resulting from substance abuse.

Unit 6 – Child Abuse

Unit Objectives:

• To have a basic understanding of the different types of child abuse
• To have a basic understanding of the signs of child abuse
• To have a basic understanding of the effects of child abuse
• To have an awareness of some of the explanations of sexual offending and their incomplete nature.

Unit 7 – The Evidence of Children

Unit Objectives:

• Have an awareness of the factors considered to make a child’s evidence unreliable
• Have an awareness of the flaws in the concerns about the reliability of a child’s testimony
• Have an awareness of the current arrangements for the giving of evidence by children
• Have an awareness of the defects in the current arrangements for children to give evidence in court.

Unit 8 – Criminal Responsibility and Psychiatric Defences

Unit Objectives:

• Have a basic understanding of the role of the psychologist/psychiatrist in cases involving mentally disordered offenders
• Have a basic understanding of what is meant by mental disorder
• Have a basic knowledge of the insanity defence.

Unit 9 – Mental Disorder as a Defence

Unit Objectives:

• To have a basic understanding of dissociative identity disorder
• To have a basic understanding of dissociative amnesia
• To have a basic understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder
• To have a basic understanding of what is meant by dangerous people with severe personality disorder
• To be able to conduct research into dissociative identity disorder.

Unit 10 – Eyewitness Testimony

Unit Objectives:

• To recognise that eyewitness memory is highly fallible
• To recognise that memories are considered a product of conceptual systems
• To have a basic understanding of some of the research into perception, memory and eyewitness testimony
• To examine and report on personal perception and memory

Unit 11 – Psychology in a Correctional Setting

Unit Objectives:

• To have a basic understanding of the effects of imprisonment on the psychological and physical health of offenders
• To have an awareness of the psychological effects of imprisonment on female offenders
• To have an awareness of the psychological effects of imprisonment on young offenders
• To have an awareness of re-offending risk assessment and its purpose
• To conduct research into psychology in a correctional setting.

Unit 12 – Psychology and Police Selection, Recruitment and Training

Unit Objectives:

• To have a basic understanding of the issues involved in the recruitment, selection, training and retention of police officers
• Understand the advances that have been made in police training
• Recognise the links between relevant and continuous training and the promotion process
• Understand why such major changes in training within the police service were necessary.

Unit 13 – Police Stress

Unit Objectives:

• Have an awareness of what is meant by stress
• Have an awareness of some of the contributory factors of stress
• Have an awareness of some of the research around stress
• Have an awareness of the contributory factors of stress in your own workplace or a familiar workplace.

Unit 14 – The Decision to Assist

Unit Objectives:

• Understand what is meant by an unresponsive bystander
• Understand what is meant by an impulsive bystander
• Understand how various models have been constructed to explain bystander behaviour
• Conduct own research into how the behaviour of the authorities might affect bystander behaviour.

Unit 15 – The Research Proposal and the Research Project Report

Unit Objectives:

• Understand what is meant by a research proposal
• Produce a research proposal
• Understand what is meant by a research project report produced a research project report.

To find out more about This Forensic Psychology Diploma Course visit course provider website.