to legal issues, it was important for students to have a
foundational knowledge in the area. Students should
get experience in performing research both in the lab-
oratory and in a real-world setting. They should also
be familiar with rudimentary and sophisticated statis-
tical techniques.
Third, doctoral programs should encourage the
acquisition of legal knowledge. Acquiring legal
knowledge does not simply mean that students should
be familiar with the law but that they should be com-
fortable and able to act as active participants in an
interdisciplinary field with psychologists, lawyers,
and judges. Doctoral programs that offer this type of
training will allow their graduates to better address
legal questions in ways that are psychologically
meaningful and legally relevant.
Fourth, doctoral programs training psycholegal
scholars should train them in substantive legal psy-
chology.An education in substantive legal psychology
should comprise coursework across a variety of differ-
ent topics and domains. This approach should give
students an understanding of the integration of the two
disciplines by encouraging them to read empirical and
nonempirical work in the area, examine some of the
historical underpinnings of the application of psychol-
ogy to the legal arena, and become familiar with the
role of specific statutes and case law in social science.
Finally, the conference recommended that one of
the crucial objectives in training doctoral students
should be immersion in scholarship and training.
Doctoral programs should educate students in con-
ducting their own original research and scholarship.
Students should present at scholarly conferences and
publish in professional journals. This experience
should culminate with their doctoral dissertation in an
area of interest to them. Training should not be con-
fined to production of scholarship but should also take
place in real-world settings.Employment Opportunities for
Graduates of Doctoral Programs
There are a host of different employment opportuni-
ties for students who graduate from psychology and
law doctoral programs. However, the employment
opportunities depend on the specialty area, the train-
ing model, and the available opportunities in the doc-
toral programs. One of the most common areas of
employment for graduates of doctoral programs in
psychology and law is academia. Many graduates ofthese programs become professors in undergraduate
and graduate departments. They continue to teach and
conduct research and scholarship with students who
have similar interests. Because of the interdisciplinary
nature of psychology and law, graduates may teach in
psychology departments, law schools, criminal justice
departments, or a variety of other social science
related areas.
Clinically trained graduates may be employed as
forensic clinicians. They may work in prisons, foren-
sic hospitals, or private practice, conducting evalua-
tions and providing treatment for individuals with
mental health issues. For example, a forensic clinician
may run a group for individuals who have been con-
victed of sexual assault to reduce the likelihood that
they will sexually re-offend when they are released
from prison. The clinician also may conduct an evalu-
ation to assist the court in determining whether a
defendant is competent to stand trial or is not respon-
sible by reason of insanity. Forensic clinicians are rou-
tinely called on to testify in court as expert witnesses
in order to explain their findings to judges and juries.
Some graduates of doctoral programs in psychol-
ogy and law work as trial consultants. Trial consulting
includes a wide range of activities, such as preparing
witnesses to present themselves in the best possible
manner, educating attorneys on presentation of their
evidence, and selecting juries. Trial consultation
involves the direct application of psychological
knowledge to the practice of law. Trial consultants
may work for one of the many large trial consulting
firms, work internally for a large law firm, or have a
primary position as an academic while providing trial
consultation as a secondary part of their job.
Other graduates of doctoral programs in psychol-
ogy and law solely conduct research in the area. Some
researchers function primarily as policy evaluators
and work for state agencies, where they may assess
the ongoing effectiveness of sex offender treatment,
evaluate the impact of a child welfare program, deter-
mine whether the detention of juveniles in a juvenile-
only facility is more effective than their detention
along with adult offenders, or identify psychological
research that is relevant when a state or the federal
government is proposing new legislation. Researchers
also may work for federal agencies such as the Secret
Service or the Federal Judicial Center to assist law
enforcement and the courts by conducting research on
violence prediction or various issues relevant to the
federal courts.236 ———Doctoral Programs in Psychology and LawD-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:42 PM Page 236