The past two or three decades has witnessed a surge in exploration of the relevance of psychological theory and research to matters pertaining to the criminal and civil justice systems. Much of this effort has concerned the assessment and treatment of criminal offenders, but there has been some interest in issues like the psychological profiling of criminals and juror selection. These topics, and many more, form the basis of what has come to be known as forensic psychology.

Research and writing within personal construct theory can be traced to at least the same time period. Personal construct investigators, at least until the past few years, have not presented a complete or integrated account of the accomplishments and possible contributions of Kelly's theory to forensic psychology. Houston's (1998) Making Sense with Offenders was arguably the first to make such an effort. A number of us, generally clinicians who work with forensic clients, would argue that PCT has much to offer forensic theory and practice.

At the XVth International Congress in Huddersfield this summer, a number of papers were presented that outlined applications or concerns of PCT relevant to forensic psychology. Anger, while not solely a forensic concern, was described from a PCT perspective by Peter Cummins, who also described an anger treatment that he operates in Oxford. David Winter and Guillem Feixas examined violence, both theoretically and empirically, from the standpoint of PCT. Adrian Needs, who worked in the U.K. prison service before heading up an M.Sc. training programme in forensic psychology at Portsmouth, critiqued a popular approach to forensic treatment, cognitive-behavioral therapy. Amy Francoeur and I described a domestic violence treatment program, as well as initial research results from a program evaluation that I fashioned after PCT psychotherapeutic principles.

Also this summer, a book was released by Brunner-Routledge, Personal Construct Perspectives on Forensic Psychology (Horley, 2003), in which we (e.g., Horley, Houston, Winter) address some of the areas within forensic psychology from a constructivist position. Chapters on violence, sexual offenders, psychologically disordered offenders, stress among police, and treating offenders in the community and institution suggest strongly that PCT does have much to contribute in this field. We can only hope at this point that enough of our colleagues in the broader forensic arena recognize the potential of PCT and begin to adopt the perspective, assessment approach, and types of therapy in their work with offenders and various justice systems.

Purchase Dr. Horley's book at our online bookstore.