Investigative Psychology

Abstract

The domain of investigative psychology covers all aspects of psychology that are relevant to criminal or civil investigations. Since the early 1990s, the field has established itself as a rigorous empirical science that aims to understand the psychological processes involved at all stages of an investigation, and provide new methodologies for integrating the behavioral sciences more closely with police investigations. Its focus is on the ways in which activities may be examined and understood in order for the detection of crime to be effective and legal proceedings to be appropriate. As such, investigative psychology is concerned with psychological input to the full range of issues that relate to the management, investigation, and prosecution of crime. Detectives and others involved in these investigations become decision makers at each stage of the process, and need to identify the possibilities for action on the basis of the information they can obtain. Investigative psychology can thus be summarized as the systematic, scientific study of investigative information, its retrieval, evaluation, and utilization; police actions and decisions, their improvement and support; and the inferences that can be made about criminal activity, its development, differentiation, and prediction, with the objective of improving criminal and civil investigations. The field has since the early 1990s established itself as a rigorous empirical science that aims to understand the psychological processes involved at all stages of an investigation, and has provided new methodologies for integrating the behavioral sciences more closely with police investigations.