Forensic Psychology

The Post-doctoral Fellowship (Residency) Program in Forensic Psychology offers fellows a year of seminars and supervised clinical and research experiences that are intended to prepare scientist-practitioners for a career as Forensic Psychologists. We anticipate that we will have 2 positions for the 2010-2011 Academic year (September - August). The Program is directed by Ira K. Packer, Ph.D. and Thomas Grisso, Ph.D.

Entering its 22 nd  year, the Fellow Program is administered by the Law-Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS). The program is funded by a contract from the Commonwealth's Division of Forensic Mental Health (Department of Mental Health). The Commonwealth is committed to training that will maintain the high quality of forensic mental health services in the public sector in Massachusetts. Upon completion of their training,  many of our fellows have taken early-career positions with the Commonwealth's forensic mental health services, while others have taken both applied and academic positions in other States.

The Law-Psychiatry Program at UMMS trains both forensic psychology and forensic psychiatry fellows. While the applied forensic experience and supervision are somewhat different for these two sets of fellows, they participate in one didactic program which includes clinical and legal components.

The Program's objectives are consistent with recent trends in training in psychology, which encourage a general pre-doctoral internship followed by a post-doctoral year of training in a specialty. In many states, these two years satisfy the experience requirements for licensing as a psychologist. The Program is also designed to provide the necessary supervised experience for certification as "designated forensic psychologist," which is required by state regulations for public sector forensic mental health positions in Massachusetts.

Our Forensic Psychology Fellowship focuses on the application of clinical psychology in service to the legal system, to individuals about whom the legal system must make decisions, and to other clinical populations for whom clinical decisions may be of legal importance. These populations include, for example, adults with mental illnesses in criminal and civil cases, disturbed and delinquent juveniles, and children and families who come before the courts on questions of child welfare. While all of these areas are covered in our didactic training, the focus of the clinical experiences for the fellows in the Program is on adults within the criminal justice system as well as those facing civil commitment.

The Program provides training and experience in forensic clinical assessment, especially in evaluations for questions such as competence to stand trial, criminal responsibility, violence risk assessment, sentencing, and civil commitment. In contrast, the Program's ability to provide treatment experience with forensic populations is limited, due to the Program's structure and current placement resources.

Advanced study in forensic psychology requires the development of a thorough knowledge of mental health law, both federal and state, related to forensic clinical populations and forensic evaluations. Equally important is an understanding of the relevant legal and mental health systems and agencies. In addition, fellows are trained to apply psychological principles and knowledge to the legal system. The Program provides fellows the opportunity to acquire this knowledge through various practicum placements and didactic training.

Forensic psychologists with specialized post-doctoral training should bring to their future work setting an enhanced capacity for applied research on forensic questions and populations. Fellows in the Program are provided time, resources, and supervision to develop their research abilities by performing research on forensic and mental health law issues. Topics may be developed by the fellows or through their collaboration with faculty in their on-going research projects.