Legal psychology

Legal psychology involves the application of empirical psychological research to legal institutions and people who come into contact with the law. Legal psychology is a field that takes basic social and cognitive theories and principles and applies them to issues in the legal system such as eyewitness memory, jury decision-making, investigations and interviewing. The term "legal psychology" has only recently come into usage, primarily as a way to differentiate the non-clinical focus of legal psychology from the clinically-oriented forensic psychology. Unlike forensic psychology, legal psychology's primary focus is in the application of topics of experimental research in social psychology as well as in developmental psychology, perception and memory, and areas related to these topics.