Use this Forensic Psychologist job description to advertise your vacancies and find qualified candidates. Feel free to modify responsibilities and requirements based on your needs.
Forensic Psychologist responsibilities include:
- Assessing individuals to establish cognitive abilities and behavioral/mental health
- Helping those in need by performing competency, triage, and suicide risk assessments
- Compiling quantitative and qualitative reviews of each patient
Job brief
We are looking for a Forensic Psychologist who is observant and empathetic to assist our team with psychological assessments and to conduct a range of tests to support our team.
Forensic Psychologist responsibilities include providing expert opinion on competency for trial, performing psychological assessments on inmates to help them transition back into society successfully once released from incarceration (or prison). If you enjoy interacting with patients and care about the justice system, we’d like to meet you. Please share your past experience along with your application.
Ultimately, you will be able to put personal feelings aside during an evaluation and maintain highly detailed results on each patient. You will remain unbiased in evaluations of an applicant’s competency or recidivism risk level.
Responsibilities
- Provide expert oral and/or written testimony as required by the court
- Take on difficult cases with empathy and professionalism
- Complete reports, documentation, and other tasks according to applicable standards
- Act as a consultant for multidisciplinary teams and coaching psychology students
- Educate clinical teams on psychological issues
- Create, evaluate, and initiate correctional programs
- Administering, scoring, and reporting the results of testing
- Be on-call as needed
Requirements and skills
- Proven work experience as a Forensic Psychologist or similar role
- Excellent people skills
- Proficient understanding of mental and behavioral diversity
- Excellent problem-solving skills
- Ability to make tough decisions in stressful situations
- State licensure
- Proficient organizational skills
- Outstanding communication skills, both verbal and written
- Doctoral degree in psychology
Frequently asked questions
What does a Forensic Psychologist do?
Forensic psychologists are an essential part of the criminal justice system by protecting the rights of their clients. Forensic psychologists are often called upon to support theories about criminal intent. They do this through evidence-based assessments, psychological evaluations, and courtroom testimony in court cases where the defendant is accused of committing a crime.
What are the duties and responsibilities of a Forensic Psychologist?
A Forensic Psychologist is a scientist who uses psychology to help solve crimes. They use their knowledge of people’s personalities, habits, and criminal tendencies to create profiles that can anticipate risk of future criminal activity or identify those with past convictions.
What makes a good Forensic Psychologist?
A good Forensic Psychologist needs both solid scientific knowledge as well as investigatory expertise. Since they work with law enforcement agencies, Forensic Psychologists are experts in the science and techniques behind criminal investigation. They must combine these skills with an inquiring mindset that helps them collect reliable evidence for trials.
Who does a Forensic Psychologist work with?
Forensic Psychologists work with law enforcement agencies and can often be called to testify in court, on the basis of their professional expertise in criminal psychology and intent.