Program Description
The Law Enforcement concentration within the Clinical Forensics Psy.D. program prepares students to apply psychological principles and theories to the law enforcement field. Coursework covers such topics as hostage negotiations, theories of criminology, and psychological interventions in law enforcement. Students explore major areas of police psychology, such as law enforcement culture, professional concerns, diversity, and the role of the psychologist in this setting. Appropriate and effective intervention techniques for the, oftentimes, high-stress field of law enforcement as well as the situations they encounter are explored.
The Clinical Forensic Psychology Psy.D. program prepares students to apply the art and science of psychology within the legal system and related fields. Students in the Chicago Campus program have the unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience at The Chicago School Forensic Center, which provides high-quality forensic psychological services and programming to improve the health and well-being of individuals within diverse communities. Through a range of community partnerships, the Center provides students powerful opportunities to put classroom learning into practice in real-world settings-including victim-related trauma treatment for women transitioning from correctional facilities into the community, job readiness preparation for adult offenders, psycho-educational training workshops for parents who have abused or neglected their children, and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy to help reduce the risk of future incidents of abuse and neglect. Students also benefit from a range of applied learning experiences rarely available at other schools-such as providing expert witness testimony in front of practicing judges and attorneys during a realistic mock trial experience, and participating in a realistic hostage negotiation simulation.
Graduates of the Psy.D. program are qualified to sit for national licensure as a clinical psychologist and to provide a broad range of assessment and treatment services within the community and for the criminal, civil, and family court systems. The program integrates the eight core competencies informed by the educational model of the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (NCSPP), helping prepare students to sit for the national licensure exam in clinical psychology. Students may tailor their coursework to meet particular educational and professional goals.
* Will be offered Fall 2011
Department
Forensic Psychology
Concentrations
Licensure
Prepares students to sit for the national licensure exam in clinical psychology
Total Credits
104
Fieldwork Requirements
Sample Courses
Psychological Assessments in Law Enforcement
Examines the assessments conducted in the field of law enforcement, including pre-employment screenings, Fitness for Duty evaluations, and special unit screenings. Special unit teams have additional responsibilities and unique stressors, requiring individualized screening and assessment. Special unit teams include detective, SWAT, Hostage Negotiation, under-cover operations, and the bomb squad. Special emphasis is paid to ethical concerns, and the unique professional issues inherent in psychological interventions for law enforcement.
Theories of Criminology
Provides an overview of theories regarding crime and criminal justice. Socio-cultural, personality, and environmental factors underlying criminal behavior are examined, including white collar crime, violent crime, organized crime, and sexual violence.
Psychology of Law Enforcement
The field of law enforcement has its own unique culture and organizational structure. This course addresses how the dynamics within law enforcement influence decision making and can lead to and/or sustain stress, acute stress disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. Students explore major areas of police psychology, such as law enforcement culture, professional concerns, the role of the psychologist, diversity, pre-employment selection, and an overview of fitness-for-duty evaluations in this specialized area. Special attention is paid to critical incidents and critical incident stress debriefing techniques used with this population.
In order to deepen their understanding of law enforcement, students participate in an experiential service learning project in the field of law enforcement. Students attend a day of tactical training with a local law enforcement agency, in which they observe the tactical exercises, engage in discussion, and perhaps participate with law enforcment in the drill of the day. At the end of the semester, incorporating the knowledge and experiences from both the classroom and the tactical training day, students provide a training module to the law enforcement agency.
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