Forensic Psychology
Forensic psychology applies psychological theory, research methods, and assessment skills to questions that arise in legal and criminal justice contexts. It is concerned with understanding criminal behaviour, assessing risk, supporting victims, advising courts and parole boards, and developing evidence-based rehabilitation programmes for people who have offended. The field sits at the boundary of psychology and the law, requiring graduates to understand both the science of behaviour and the institutional frameworks within which that knowledge is applied.
At the University of Chester, this three-year degree provides a thorough grounding in psychology across the core areas required for Graduate Basis for Chartership with the British Psychological Society, alongside specific modules in forensic psychology. You will study cognitive, developmental, social, and biological psychology, developing the scientific and research skills that characterise the discipline, and then apply those frameworks to topics including offending behaviour, eyewitness testimony, risk assessment, victimology, and the psychology of interrogation and confession. Research methods and ethics are central to the curriculum, equipping you to engage critically with the forensic psychology literature.
The programme includes a year abroad, which gives you the chance to experience forensic psychology in a different legal and criminal justice context, broadening your comparative understanding.
Forensic psychology as a registered specialism requires postgraduate training and supervised practice, and this degree provides the BPS-accredited foundation needed to proceed to a Doctorate in Forensic Psychology or to Master's-level training. Graduates who continue to qualification work in prisons, secure hospitals, probation services, and other settings within the criminal justice and mental health systems, assessing and working with people who have offended. Those who complete the undergraduate degree without proceeding immediately to clinical training find roles in criminal justice, victim support, social work, and research that draw on their psychological knowledge.
Policing, security services, and policy roles in the Ministry of Justice are further destinations.