ABSTRACT
The contribution psychology can make to criminological issues reflects the strengths and limitations of the discipline as a whole. Criminological psychology is an example of 'applied' rather than 'pure' psychology. Pure psychology refers to the type of research usually carried out by academics in universities pursuing answers to questions about the basic processes of thinking and behavior. In criminological psychology, theories and research findings from pure psychology are applied to the questions raised by real-life legal and criminal problems. A forensic psychologist was asked to provide an assessment as to whether the complainant was manufacturing the evidence in order to satisfy some psychological need. Criminological, criminal and legal psychology all refer in a general way to the application of psychology to crime and the law. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
