AP-LS Mission, Vision and Core Values

The American Psychology-Law Society aspires to excel as a valuable, effective and influential organization advancing the science of psychology-law and the translation of psychology-law knowledge into practice and policy, serving as:

  • A uniting force for psychology-law science and practice;
  • The major catalyst for the stimulation, growth and dissemination of psychology-law science and practice;
  • The primary resource for all psychology-law scholars and practitioners and for members of other disciplines with interests in psychology-law science and practice;
  • The premier innovator in the education, development, and training of psychology-law scientists, practitioners and educators;
  • The leading advocate for psychology-law knowledge and practice informing practitioners, policy makers and the public to use psychology-law knowledge in the pursuit of justice for all citizens;
  • A principal leader and global partner promoting psychology-law knowledge and methods to improve justice in diverse, multicultural and international contexts; and
  • An effective champion of the application of psychology-law to promote human rights, dignity and justice.


Mission

The mission of the American Psychology-Law Society is to enhance well-being, justice, and human rights through the science and practice of psychology in legal contexts.

Core Values

The American Psychology-Law Society commits to its vision through a mission based upon the following values:

  • Continual pursuit of excellence
  • Knowledge and application based on methods of ccience
  • Outstanding service to its members and to society
  • Social justice, diversity and inclusion
  • Ethical action in all that we do

Strategies for Fulfilling Mission and Vision

Encourage interdisciplinary research on important social problems, promote cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration, and encourage interdisciplinary research across different societies, divisions and disciplines.

  • Promote and advocate for federal research funding for Psychology-Law issues.
  • Disseminate important findings and promote evidence-based approaches to practice and policy.
  • Provide research mentoring for junior colleagues and students.
  • Encourage diversity and inclusion in research training.
  • Support international engagement in psychology-law training.
  • Promote the ethical conduct of psychology-law research.
  • Develop reporting standards for empirical research and encourage the sharing of research data and meta-data. Continually assess the need for new psychology-law publications.
  • Develop a section of the website that offers resources for clinicians such as practice documents or links, to practice documents.
  • Develop a web page that directs members-with explanations-to a collection of free sites for looking up cases, statutes and regulations.
  • Develop focused forensic psychological listserves.
  • Develop an online forum for brief, lightly edited practice-oriented articles in an “open journal” format.
  • Disseminate information about cases relevant to forensic psychology practice.
  • Develop a forensic mentoring service.
  • Publish a listing that identifies members by a limited number of specialty practice areas, made accessible to attorneys.
  • Continue to maintain a strong focus on professional growth and development for students and early career professionals
  • Continue to develop and distribute materials that help support and advance innovative teaching and pedagogy.  
  • Continue to recognize teaching and mentoring excellence in psychology and law.
  • Continue to help further the careers of junior- and senior-level professionals in the field of psychology and law.  
  • Continue to provide continuing professional education in psychology-law for psychologists and explore avenues for providing continuing education for attorneys.
  • Continue and bolster efforts to attract new members, improve our efforts at member retention, and diversity membership with particular attention to under-represented groups and professions.
  • Continue efforts to serve our current membership through programming, services, and other efforts directed toward underrepresented groups, students, early career professionals, practitioners, attorneys and researchers.   
  • Continually reviews governance operations with the goal of improving effectiveness and efficiency.