Legal psychology is a subfield of psychology that focuses on how psychological principles, methods, and research apply to the law and legal systems. It sits within the broader area of psychology and law and overlaps with forensic psychology, but it is not the same thing.
At its core, legal psychology is about understanding the human behavior, thought processes, and decision-making that play a role in legal contexts. It covers areas such as:
Eyewitness testimony — how accurate people’s memories are, what factors affect reliability, and how testimony can be influenced.
Jury decision-making — how jurors evaluate evidence, deliberate as a group, and what biases or heuristics may affect verdicts.
Police investigations and interrogations — studying false confessions, suspect interviews, and investigative decision-making.
Expert testimony — psychologists providing courts with specialized knowledge (e.g., about memory, risk assessment, or mental states).
Public policy and lawmaking — applying psychological research to improve laws and legal procedures.
Unlike forensic psychology, which is more clinical and often involves direct assessment of individuals (e.g., competency evaluations, risk of reoffending), legal psychology is more experimental and research-oriented, focusing on general psychological phenomena relevant to the legal system.
In short: Legal psychology is the scientific study of how psychology interacts with the law — especially in areas like memory, decision-making, persuasion, and justice.
Shervan K Shahhian
LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 