About

The American Psychology-Law Society outlines three goals that reflect the many activities, specialties, and contributions made by our members:

1. Advancing the contributions of psychology to the understanding of law and legal institutions through basic and applied research.
2. Promoting the education of psychologists in matters of law and the education of legal personnel in matters of psychology.
3. Informing the psychological and legal communities and the general public of current research, educational and service activities in the field of psychology and law.

More information about the research conducted by psychologists, legal professionals and others can be found through these links (and other places throughout our website):

• Research Activities
• Research Topic Links
• Funding Resources

More information about the education and training options available to psychologists and legal personnel can be found through these links (and other places throughout our Web site):

• Graduate Training Programs
• Syllabus Collection
• Teaching Resources

More information about the activities of psychologists, legal professionals and others can be found through these links (and other places throughout our Web site):

• Publications
• Awards & Recognition
• Research in the News

For more information about AP-LS, you can read the July/August 2006 article in APA Monitor, A Closer Look at Division 41: Science for practice (by Erika Packard)

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.
• An effective champion of the application of psychology-law to promote human rights, dignity, and justice.

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 science
• Outstanding service to its members and to society
• Social justice, diversity, and inclusion
• Ethical action in all that we do

• 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 listservs.
• 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.