Course Title: Forensic Psychology

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Forensic Psychology

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

BESC1429

City Campus

Undergraduate

150H Health Sciences

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015,
Sem 1 2016

BESC1429

City Campus

Undergraduate

173H School of Health and Biomed

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2019,
Sem 1 2020,
Sem 1 2021,
Sem 1 2022,
Sem 1 2023,
Sem 1 2024

BESC1432

City Campus

Postgraduate

150H Health Sciences

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015

BESC1539

RMIT University Vietnam

Undergraduate

173H School of Health and Biomed

Face-to-Face

 Viet1 2023,
Viet2 2024

Course Coordinator: Dr Mervyn Jackson

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 7367

Course Coordinator Email: merv.jackson@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Bundoora West


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Enforced Pre-Requisite Courses

Successful completion of:

OR

Note: it is a condition of enrolment at RMIT that you accept responsibility for ensuring that you have completed the prerequisite/s and agree to concurrently enrol in co-requisite courses before enrolling in a course.

For information go to RMIT Course Requisites webpage.


Course Description

This course will cover a range of issues relating to forensic psychology. You will consider a variety of aspects of relationships between psychology and law. In psychology of law enforcement, you will consider psychological profiling and police interview techniques. The psychology of the legal system includes topics on mental impairment, expert and eyewitness testimony, jury dynamics, and victims of crime. You will also review the psychology of offenders in the course topics. The psychology of corrections will be discussed with psychological interventions for offenders in conjunction with contemporary justice and jurisprudence perspectives.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the development of the following Program Learning Outcomes for BP154 Bachelor of Applied Science (Psychology):

  • PLO 1:  Understand appropriate and relevant fundamental and applied evidence based knowledge and undertake lifelong learning to improve personal and professional practice 
  • PLO 2: Demonstrate a capacity to employ a variety of approaches and procedures to research to permit judgements and decisions to be supported by appropriate evidence that places practice within a global and local context.
  • PLO 3:  Applies knowledge to diagnose and solve problems in a wide range of diverse situations, with an ability to work independently or with others and incorporate the analysis of evidence based scientific literature to solve psychological problems.
  • PLO 6: develop collaborative partnerships with colleagues, other professionals and the community that build on the capacity of others and develop open and flexible relationships that adapt to evolving needs and aspirations.


On successful completion of this course you should be able to:

  1. Compare and contrast approaches of psychology, psychiatry and law in the area of forensics.
  2. Describe the legal aspects of some major psycho-legal issues which must be demonstrated in court.
  3. Identify issues related to some investigation and assessment issues in forensic psychology.
  4. Explain implications for management in the legal system of some major psychological disorders.
  5. Relate psychological theories of aetiology and psychological approaches to management of selected offender groups.
  6. Critically evaluate the contribution of psychology to criminal justice at investigative, judicial, and correctional levels.


Overview of Learning Activities

Your learning activities include a mixture of interactive lectures, practical group work, and independent study. Your learning activities are designed to will build on your knowledge and provide a solid theoretical and practice driven basis for your learning. You will be expected to read widely the academic literature related to your areas of study. Tutorial activities provide you with an opportunity to engage in applications of theoretical and conceptual material and also support your assignment. Students will be required to complete preparatory reading and contribute to these sessions in the form of role play, discussion, critical appraisal, and problem solving activities. Lecture outlines, readings, and tutorial resources will be available via the MyRMIT Canvas website.

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course.


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task 1: Case Study and Applications 
Weighting 20% 
This assessment task supports CLOs 4, 5 & 6 

Assessment Task 2: Major Written Assignment (Laboratory Report) 
Weighting 50% 
This assessment task supports CLOs 3, 5 & 6

Assessment Task 3: Quizzes
Weighting 30% 
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2 & 3 

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.