Unit Synopsis
Forensic Psychology is the area of behavioural science concerned with psychology and the law. In this unit, you will discuss how psychological principles and practices can be applied to topics such as personality and crime, suspect interviewing, pathways to offending, courtroom practices and witness reliability, understanding criminal behaviour, mental competency, and justice. You will also discuss general psychological principles as they relate to the legal systems within Australia and other countries as well as specific case studies.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
96 credit points Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Group Work | 40% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 45% |
| 3. Online Test | 15% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 88.89% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 46.15% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Student comments in class and personal reflection.
Students found doing a violence risk assessment (group project) on a person from a real-world case thought-provoking and enhanced their understanding of the importance of accurate risk assessments.
Continue to utilise a real-world case for the risk assessment group project.
A real-world case was used for the risk assessment group project.
Source: Student unit teaching evaluations.
Some students found the group project challenging due to the large number of students in the group (six). They suggested that it would be easier for group members to navigate timetables if the number was limited to four.
Reduce the number of students assigned to each group.
The number of students assigned to each group was reduced from six to four.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation report.
It was suggested that the marking criteria could be more comprehensive and provide clearer guidance for students.
Develop a more detailed marking criteria document and enhance the grading rubric to include more specific descriptors for each performance level.
In Progress
Source: Student feedback during lectures.
Students enjoyed discussions about real-world cases that are presented during weekly lectures, and some stated this helped them understand the content.
Continue to present real-world cases during weekly lectures.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Describe the similarities and differences underlying the disciplines of psychology and the legal system.
- Describe and critically evaluate how psychological theory and research have been applied to the legal system.
- Identify challenges that psychologists face when interacting with the legal system.
This unit addresses Foundational Competencies as specified by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) and specifically aligns to:
1.1 Comprehend and apply a broad and coherent body of knowledge of psychology, with depth of understanding of underlying principles, theories and concepts in the discipline, using a scientific approach, including the following topics: (i) the history and philosophy underpinning the science of psychology and the social, cultural, historical and professional influences on the practice of psychology; (ii) individual differences in capacity, behaviour and personality; (iv) psychological disorders and evidence-based interventions; (xi) culturally appropriate psychological assessment and measurement.
1.2 Apply knowledge and skills of psychology in a manner that is reflexive, culturally appropriate and sensitive to the diversity of individuals
1.3 Analyse and critique theory and research in the discipline of psychology and communicate these in written and oral formats.
1.4 Demonstrate an understanding of appropriate values and ethics in psychology.
1.5 Demonstrate interpersonal skills and teamwork.
1.6 Demonstrate self-directed pursuit of scholarly inquiry in psychology.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Group Work | • | • | |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • |
| 3 - Online Test | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | |
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |