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D E S C
R I P T I O N
The Swiss Society
of Psychology and Law (SSPL) is composed of psychologists who operate
professionally, research and teach in the field at the interface of Law
and Psychology. The SSLP encourages ongoing training of its members as well
as collaboration with professionals from the legal world.
All its members are
licensed by the Swiss Federation of Psychologists (FSP) of which the SSPL
is itself a chartered component. Members are held to the rules and regulations
of the FSP and must further abide by the more stringent ethical code of
the SSPL.
Our society's complexity
requires specialists in legal and forensic psychology capable of bridging
the understanding of human problems and the constraints of the legal system.
These specialists possess the necessary knowledge of the mutual influences
of human behaviour and the web of juridical rules that regulate society
as a whole.
The forensic psychologist
is interested in many social phenomena, such as:
- deviant behavior
by adults and juveniles
- violence as an expression
of psychological problems and criminal behaviour
- dangerousness and
its prediction
- sentencing and committments
of all types
- physical, sexual
and psychological abuse of adults and children
- the credibility
of victims and witnesses
- issues pertaining
to competence and the exercize of civil rights, as well as the modalities
of their legal suspension
- situations of divorce
(guardianship, visitation rights, personal relations, etc.) and adoption
- forensic evaluations,
psychological testing and/or treatment of all persons in contact with
the judicial world
- the inner working
of organizations, such as the police, the courts and the pre/post trial
institutions
SSPL members work in various fields of
activity as:
- forensic mental
health experts serving the judicial system by performing
evaluations on adults and minors at the request of the courts at all
levels of jurisdiction. Amongst others, these evaluations include, in
the civil judicial sphere, reporting on issues of guardianship and custody
and visitation rights; and in the criminal justice system evaluating
issues such as criminal responsibility, prediction of dangerousness,
victim credibility, intellectual, neuropsychological and psychopathological
dysfunctions, and the assessment of recourse to court-ordered case management
and treatment.
- clinicians/therapists,
in institutions or in private practice, working with and reporting on
adult and juvenile clients who are court-ordered to submit to treatment
or other forms of social control
- consultants
providing analysis and advice in numerous institutions related to the
judicial world, sentencing authorities, child protection services, etc.,
as well as in prevention programs and legislative task forces.
- teachers
in the continued education of psychologists, social workers, physicians,
professionals working in the prison system at large, lawyers, judges,
etc.
-
research
scientists involved in national and international projects.
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