VHS Course Catalog

Description

New course coming for 2025-26! Updates will be provided in Spring 2025.

Students will learn how psychology applies to questions and issues relating to law and the legal system. The course will include all aspects of the legal system including police, the trial and corrections. Topics will include: recovered memories, children as victims and offenders, violence and murder, strategies for interviewing witnesses, expert testimony, and factors influencing the credibility of witnesses, victims and offenders and insanity. Students will also examine the relationship of psychology and law in the educational and work settings.

Prerequisites

Students must be mature enough to handle some violent, sensitive and graphic subject matter
Please Note: This course contains an end-of-course proctored exam. Instructions for students to identify an appropriate adult proctor are included in the course lessons.

Course Objectives

Students will:

Explain the connection between the fields of psychology and law.
Describe the specific roles assumed by forensic psychologists in the legal system.
Examine the roles of forensic psychologists in schools and the workplace.
Analyze the influence of psychological traits in interrogations, confessions, and eyewitness testimony.
Explore the technology used in the field of forensic psychology.
Apply the standards for mental competency and insanity to case studies.
Explore the role of psychological testing in law enforcement.
Evaluate the usefulness of forensic psychologists in the treatment of victims and offenders.
Use profiling techniques to assess dangerousness levels and profile suspects.
Complete a research project on an aspect of forensic psychology.

Details

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Discipline: Social Studies

Level: High School Honors

Program: High School

Grade: 11, 12, 13

When Offered: Fall, Spring

Duration: 15 weeks

Lab Kit Purchase Required: No

Accredited: Certified by NCAA for initial-eligibility (VHS Learning School Code:221356), Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges