University of Gothenburg
The Department of Psychology
The Department of Psychology
The picture shows the closure of a crime scene.
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  2. The Department of Psychology
  3. Our research
  4. Legal Psychology

Legal Psychology

Our aim is to conduct research that contributes to psychological theory as well as being applicable to the legal system.

Research group: Criminal, Legal and Investigative Psychology (CLIP)

About us

Criminal, Legal and Investigative Psychology (CLIP) is a research group within the area of forensic psychology. CLIP was established in 2000 and is situated at the Department of Psychology.

Our aim is to conduct research that contributes to psychological theory as well as being applicable to the legal system.

To reach out, members of the research group are continuously involved with further education and training for police investigators, prosecutors, judges, and other groups of professionals. We also engage in the public debate and participate in public events. 

The group also initiated and teach courses in forensic psychology at all levels at the University of Gothenburg.  

International collaboration

Research agenda

The research group conducts research on a broad range of topics, unified by a direct applied relevance for the legal system. For presentational purposes, our research has been categorized into five overarching themes:

Our research
Deception and interrogations
People try to detect deception in everyday life and in forensic settings. Everyone attempting to detect lies has beliefs…
Our research
Psychological aspects of victimology
Victims of crime play a central role in the judicial system, typically providing information critical to criminal…
Our research
Memory and interviewing
Research on human memory has a long tradition. Although memory failures like forgetting can be bothersome in everyday life,…
Our research
Preventing future crimes
This theme consists of two related areas: (a) true and false intent and (b) how to interview to elicit intelligence. Both…
Our research
Decision making in legal contexts
The criminal-law process can be construed as a chain of sequential decisions. Starting with investigators’ initial…

Learn more

True or false? Through crime novels, news reports and true crime TV shows, we hear about crimes, police methods, witness testimonies and court decisions. But what does legal psychology tell us about these topics?

Our research
Videos: MYTHS and FACTS about legal psychology

Members

Associate professors

Postdoctoral researchers

PhD students

PhD students (Erasmus mundus)

  • Alejandra de la Fuente Vilar (Maastricht)
  • Minhwan Jang
  • Bruna Calado (Maastricht)
  • Jennifer Kamorowski (Maastricht)
  • Enide Maegherman (Maastricht)

Courses

At the Department of Psychology there are several courses in legal and investigative psychology (at all levels), initiated and run by members of CLIP. In addition, CLIP members are continuously involved with further education and training for police investigators, prosecutors, judges, and other groups of professionals.

Master’s level
Legal psychology current research
All courses and programmes in Psychology
Psychology is the science of people's thoughts, feelings and behavior, thus relevant to every aspect of society.
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