ABSTRACT
Psychology and criminology In a story I rather like, James McGuire (2004) opens his textbook on psychology and crime with a tale about a conversation with a well-known criminologist who tells McGuire that he had never had much use for psychology. McGuire’s fi rst reaction is to assume that this is an unusual comment, it not being a view that he has heard before. However, he then goes on to say that the more familiar he became with criminology and criminologists, the more he came to see how widespread such views seemed to be. There is something about psychology, or what some think psychology is, or stands for, that turns certain types of criminologists against the discipline. By contrast, the rise to prominence in recent years of Crime Scene Investigation and related programmes ( NCIS, Burn Notice, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, etc.), with their focus on forensic techniques and technologies, and on individual psychological traits, has undoubtedly drawn a new generation of students to crime-related studies.
