Abstract

Forensic psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology that applies theory, research, or practice of psychology to problems and issues related to the legal and criminal justice system. Recently, public interest in the area has grown immensely, but lack of clear understanding and use of multiple terminologies resulted in public confusion and misunderstanding of the field. Therefore, starting with historical events, the current study discussed development of the terminology, definitions provided by scholars and academic organizations, and a comparison between other related areas of research domains in order to provide full description of the field of forensic psychology. In addition, this paper examined how other scholars explained research domains of forensic psychology and described education and training as well as ethical guidelines of North American countries in order to examine what types of education and training should be provided in Korea. Lastly, policy changes related to forensic psychology and policy implications in Korea were also discussed.