Wrightsman's Psychology and the Legal System

by Edith Greene, Kirk Heilbrun

WRIGHTMAN'S PSYCHOLOGY AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM shows you the critical importance of psychology's concepts and methods to the functioning of many aspects of today's legal system. Featuring topics such as competence to stand trial, the insanity defense, expert forensic testimony, analysis of eye witness identification, criminal profiling, and many others, this best-selling book gives you a comprehensive overview of psychology's contributions to the legal system, and the many roles available to trained psychologists within the system. Available with InfoTrac Student Collections

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, School, Textbooks, Science, College, Reference

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[August Rackham · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ easy to read and understand but some of the statistics could be updated and expanded upon. I read this for a Social Psychology of Justice class and I am glad my professor went outside of this to include things like the Innocence Project and racism in the justice system.

[Ella Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good solid textbook. Lots of information tho and small text. Loved the updated a real world examples (ex. January 6th, Ted Bundy, etc)

[Taylor Davidsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very easy textbook read.

[Kaliseviltwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a textbook. As far as textbooks go, this one was easy to read, well-organized, and presented concepts well. The chapters end with a summary as well as key concepts (vocabulary words). It also contains an index, and index of cited researchers, a bibliography, and a glossary.

The book covers research in psychology and social psychology and how behavioral sciences relate to the criminal justice system. Areas of the criminal justice system covered include the philosophy of the U.S. justice system, the psychology of criminals (and the various theories about what causes crime), the psychology of the police (police-community relations, personality testing, burn-out), the psychology of being arrested (why some people over others, racial profiling, interrogation methods, Miranda, etc.), the psychology of being a defendant (proving competence, insanity defense, issues with eye-witness testimony, etc.), the psychology of choosing or being in a jury, the psychology of victims/survivors, the psychology of juvenile criminals, and the psychological mechanisms around detention and imprisonment.

This is a broad overview of where the touch points are between the behavioral sciences and the criminal justice system. For that, the book does its job well. If you're looking for a more detailed analysis, this may be a good reference for landmark cases, the names of researchers, and some broad information about their studies.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was a pretty good textbook. Most of the subject material was very interesting, and there were plenty of real life cases discussed that were relevant to the subject at hand. Lots of research was discussed in every chapter, and provided support to a lot of the things the book was teaching about.

I read this book on the Kindle, and while I think the Kindle formatting leaves a little bit to be wanted, I still think I prefer it to a regular book.

This is a pretty decent textbook and very good for those interested in criminal justice and/or psychology. I learned a few things that I was not aware of, and saw more support for things I have already learned in other classes.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. My girlfriend used this textbook for an undergrad course in psychology and law. I thought it looked fascinating, so I stole it off her shelf. And it was fascinating. The textbook references a wealth of studies on the places where psychology intertwines with legal matters, and every chapter was full of interesting research. The one drawback is that it is entirely black and white, but that's a minor complaint.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read textbook, not dry.

[Michelle C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually hate the way textbooks relay information, but this one is amazing!

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just a regular textbook. I don't feel like it was particularly interesting, but it wasn't bad either.