Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice program (FPAC)

A career-focused and multi-faceted approach to criminal behaviour, law, and the criminal justice system.

About The Program

The Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice (FPAC) program offers students the opportunity to study criminal behaviour and criminal justice in a uniquely diverse way. In this program, students take courses from the Departments of Psychology, Child and Youth Studies, and Political Science to learn about the individual, social, cultural, and systemic factors that influence criminal and aggressive behaviour, and the institutions that make up the criminal justice system.

Through either a four-year Major or Honours degree, FPAC prepares students for a variety of interesting and engaging careers, including law, corrections, counselling, policing, criminology, policy analysis and administration, and advocacy.

Students will work with dynamic, award-winning professors dedicated to teaching and research, and FPAC offers practicum opportunities to gain real-world experience with our community partners in law enforcement, forensic research, and clinical settings.

Program Overview

Program Description

Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice (FPAC) approaches the study of criminal behaviour and criminal justice from multiple theoretical perspectives. This transdisciplinary program will include the study of individual (psychological) factors, social and cultural factors, and factors relating to the criminal justice system and other relevant institutions.

Students will take courses from the Psychology, Child and Youth Studies, and Political Science departments. Our program combines the approaches of these disciplines to the study of criminal and aggressive behaviour. Rather than assuming that a behaviour, or a system’s response to behaviour, stems from any one factor or perspective, FPAC is premised on the idea that factors across disciplines are required in order to provide more nuanced, critical, and complex understandings of behaviour and responses.

Courses specific to the FPAC program include a transdisciplinary course at the third-year level that examines crime from multiple perspectives, a quantitative methods course (third-year), and a qualitative methods course (third-year).

Psychology

Students will learn about the study of human behaviour in relation to psychological theory. First- and second-year courses will provide the background knowledge needed for the third- and fourth-year courses that focus on various types of aggression, antisocial, and criminal behaviour.

Child and Youth Studies

The Child and Youth Studies contribution to FPAC is three-fold. First, the Child and Youth Studies department is, itself, transdisciplinary in nature. Students will get their first exposure to transdisciplinarity through the introductory courses that focus on multiple approaches to the study of children and youth. Child and Youth Studies courses address issues and topics that are rooted within psychology, sociology, and other theoretical perspectives. Upper-year courses in Child and Youth Studies that are included in the FPAC curriculum focus specifically on children and youth in relation to the criminal justice system. Importantly, issues are placed within broader social, economic and political contexts and the effects on marginalized social groups .These courses are taught from a critical sociocultural and criminological perspective.

Political Science

Finally, courses housed in Political Science will provide students with a background in how the criminal justice system operates. Through the required political science courses, students will also gain knowledge regarding policy and government, providing them with a backdrop for the more senior courses that focus on the criminal justice system. As in Child and Youth Studies, the Political Science department houses a wide variety of ontological, philosophical, and methodological approaches.

Link to 2024 course calendar

Undergraduate Programs

Brock’s Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice Program offers two degree options:

Honours BA in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice
BA with Major in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice

Link to 2024 course calendar

Experiential Learning

In FPAC, you will have the chance to engage in experiential or hands-on learning. Here are some of the experiential learning opportunities:

Course: FPAC 4F95 Honours Thesis

In the Honours thesis course, students have the opportunity to conduct research with a faculty member relating to forensic psychology and criminal justice. This experience provides them with the necessary research skills for going on to graduate school.

Course: FPAC 4F92 Practicum

Students also have the opportunity to complete a practicum in an appropriate community organization, which may include law enforcement, mental health, or other relevant agencies. This course provides students with practical skills that are directly relevant to their chosen career path.