About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

15 Legal & Criminological Psych. 1 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/legadclpy15 and id is 1 raw text is: f The
Legal and Criminological Psychology (2010), 15, I-3  Psycholog ical
snwSociety
© 2010 The British Psychological Society
www.bpsou rnals.co. u
Introduction: What works in investigative
psychology?
Par Anders Granhag'* and Aldert Vrij2
'University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
2University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK
This is an introduction to the special issue entitled 'What works in investigative
psychology?', guest edited by Par Anders Granhag and Aldert Vrij. This special issue
focuses on eight research themes and aims to discuss how psychological research can
help solve concrete problems that occur in investigative contexts.
What do we want to achieve with this special issue?
Investigative psychology 'covers all aspects of psychology that are relevant to the
conduct of criminal and civil investigations' (Canter, 2000, p. 1091). Although
'investigative psychology' is a term that recently emerged within the broader field of
'legal psychology', several research themes found under the investigative psychology
umbrella are not new. For example, research on eyewitness testimony and deception
detection dates far back in the history of legal psychology (e.g. Sporer, 2008). Yet,
during the last decade the many research themes of investigative psychology have
attracted increased interest at major scientific conferences on 'psychology and law',
such as the European Association of Psychology and Law and the American
Psychology-Law Society conferences. Further evidence for the popularity of
investigative psychology can be found in a recent journal overview where it was
concluded that the proportion of papers relevant to investigative psychology published
in five major 'psychology and law' journals (Behavioural Sciences and the Law,
CriminalJustice and Behavior, Law and Human Behavior, Psychology, Crime & Law,
and Legal and Criminological Psychology) has increased steadily over the last three
decades (Snook, Doan, Cullen, Kavanagh, & Eastwood, 2009).
In this special issue, the focus is on eight research themes within investigative
psychology; most of which have occupied researchers for a long period of time (e.g.
how best to interview witnesses), but a few of the themes have not until recently caught
the attention of psycho-legal researchers (e.g. offender profiling and malingering
*Correspondence should be addressed to Pdr Anders Granhag, Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg,
PO Box 500, SE 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden (e-mail: pag@psy.gu.se).

DOI:10.1348/1 35532509X477757

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most