Forensic psychology involves the application of psychological principles to legal issues. It can involve evaluating a child's competency to testify in court or determining factors that impact the reliability of children's reports, such as language development, memory skills, and suggestibility. Forensic psychologists also assess credibility and detect deception. When dealing with victims of sexual violence, forensic psychologists require skills such as knowledge of human sexuality, communication skills, and cultural sensitivity to conduct a full medical forensic examination.

1. FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
Anjana joshy
1st year MSc Psychology
St. Marys College Thrissur

2. DEFINITIONS
• Forensic psychology is a unique combination of medical psychology
and criminal justice
• American psychological Association defines forensic psychology as the
use of clinical specialities Indian legal system . Forensic psychologist,
applies psychological principles, data Research and theory to provide
and Exploration for criminal act and behaviour

3. Working with Child and Adult
• Child testimony process: child must be deemed as completed in order to
testify in court . With regards to children competency refers to children’s
capacity and relative intelligence their ability to distinguish between truth
and lie and their duty to tell the truth .
• In order to determine a child competency four factors may be considered
1. the child’s ability to distinguish between truth and the life alone with the
duty to speak the truth
2.Child’s ability to perceive the occupants accurately during that time
3.The child’s ability to independently recollect the experience and events
4.The child’s ability to verbally translate their memories of the occurrence
and to insert symbol questions about the event

4. Factors impacting children’s report
Language development :children’s communicative competency can be
minimized by better and clear instructions as well as bi more through
Preparation before the trail
Memory skills :the consist of children’s memory potentially create a
problem with the reliability of children’s reports. Children younger
than the age of 6 also tend to be remember a higher proportion of deal
in accurately in in their reports then compared to two children’s of age
and 10 .Alone the problem of poor memory development at a young
age this is a problem with remembering information accurately after a
certain period .

5. • Susceptibility to suggestion :the Degree to which encoding storage retrieval
and reporting of event can be influenced by internal and external factors.
Repetition of questions can have a large impact on young children’s
reports .
• Truth lie competency :there are three traditional method to assessing a
child’s ability
• to differentiate between truth and lie
• define two concept
• explain the difference between truth and lie identify examples of truth and
lie statements
• Credibility and deception detection : the legal system take care to ensure
that children’s are sufficiently competent before Testifying . It is still
difficult to determine a child’s credibility

6. Skills for dealing sexual violence patient
• A knowledge of normal human sexual responses,geniti as Anatomy
and physiology
• A knowledge of medical and collegial terms for sexual organs and
sexual acts
• A basic knowkedge of the dynamic of sexual violence
• Good communication skills
• An under standing of relevant cultural and religious issues
• empathyand sensitivity

7. Assessment and examination Of adult victim
of sexual violence
• Individuals who have suffered sexual Violence Irrespective of the
point at which They present within the health sector, should be
offered a full medical forensic examination, the main component
• An initial assessment
• assessing the priorities (health worker)
• informed consent
• a medical history included an account of the events described as a
sexual violences
• top-to-toe physicall examination

8. • A detailed genito-anal examination
• recording and classifying injuries
• collection of indicated medical specimens for daignostic purposes