NCJ Number
72929
Journal
Professional Psychology Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1980) Pages: 64-71
Date Published
1980
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Results reported from a survey of all American Psychological Association-approved internship programs to determine if the training experiences expose the intern to the interface between psychology and law.
Abstract
To assess what types of legal/forensic experiences are currently available, an open-ended questionnaire was sent on November 1, 1975, to all 120 internship sites listed as being either approved by the American Psychological Association or on probation in the November 1975 issue of the 'American Psychologist.' The site population contacted, therefore, consisted of 118 approved programs and 2 programs on probation. The questionnaire examined what aspects of the regular internship program involve interface between law and mental health services and what optional internship activities involve such an interface. With 55 percent of the reporting sites (71 percent response rate) indicating some legal/forensic experiences for their interns, there is apparently some professional awareness of the need for such experiences and training. With few exceptions, those training sites offering and requiring the greatest amount of legal/forensic exposure are large State hospitals servicing a high number of court committed patients. No attempt was made to assess the quality of the reported training experiences. Tabular data and 10 references are provided.