On a typical workday, Abigail Koller ‘17 works with perhaps half a dozen migrants to help determine whether and how much they would be traumatized if they had to return home.
To do this, she and her colleagues consult psychological literature, legal statutes, and immigration experts. They consider hardships the individual has endured, their health, any criminal history, and the politics and crime of their home country. Are there children in the picture? Abusive partners back home? Did they enter the U.S. in good faith?
Attorneys representing the individual use the findings to help with next steps, including applications for asylum. “I’ve had almost 300 cases. They’re people; they’re memorable,” says Koller, director of psychology testing at the Center for Forensic and Clinical Psychology of New Jersey. “We’re a neutral party. But what I hear sometimes kills me inside. There’s no guarantee our report will help, but at least we have a chance to make a difference in their future.”
Like many students in the Saint Rose forensic psychology program, Koller once watched the TV show “Criminal Minds” and dreamed of being an FBI profiler. Instead, she works in immigration and earned a master’s degree in forensic psychology from Farleigh Dickinson University. She is now pursuing a second master’s degree from University of New Haven to become a licensed professional counselor. She hopes to treat immigrants and refugees.
Associate Professor of Forensic Psychology Katlyn Farnum, who leads the Saint Rose program, says graduates consistently push the boundaries of the evolving field, which combines the study of psychology and the legal system.
“They go into counseling, or law, or criminal justice. Some work as psychologists, some work in the prison system. They counsel criminals to give them a chance to better themselves,” says Farnum, who came to Saint Rose in 2016. “They can do research. I just heard from a student who became an animal cruelty investigator.”
“The common thread is knowledge of the law,” she adds. “It’s really a double major in psychology and criminal justice. We build a pathway that merges them together.”
Among the College’s fastest-growing majors, forensic psychology is so expansive, Farnum says, that students largely pursue something they were unaware of when they entered. Saint Rose offers one of just 20 such undergraduate programs in the country and ranks among the top five nationally in the number of undergraduate forensic psychology degrees granted. New enrollment in the program was up 60% in fall 2022.
The broad portfolio of courses includes statistics, the courts, sexuality, policing, ethics, and stress and coping. Students may choose concentrations in the law, law enforcement, clinical, or social/ developmental psychology. They may earn a forensic psychology minor. The courses and research opportunities, meanwhile, often weigh important questions making the news.
And because the program is so rigorous and distinctive, students come from throughout the United States. With the degree, they have little problem entering the workforce or graduate school. Cassidy Dill ’22 is a witness advocate at the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts. She briefs victims of crime on how the system works, their court dates, and support services.
She is disappointed in the system when an egregious case results in just a small financial settlement or an abuser gets a slap on the wrist. But Dill also sees people receive justice and is gratified by those who leave harmful relationships and take other steps to empower themselves.
“I can refer them to shelters and other places that can help them,” she says. “It’s very good to be able to help, even in the smallest ways.”
Dill is also pursuing an online master’s degree in counterterrorism and homeland security from American University. So far, she says the program is a natural progression from her studies at Saint Rose, where she was a research assistant to Farnum.
Among their projects, they examined whether people of color and individuals with developmental disabilities were more likely than others convicted criminals to be sentenced to the death penalty.
“The research experience really helped. Now that I’m doing my master’s degree, I’m able to really read and understand the studies,” says Dill. “Katlyn was a real mentor.”
But no matter where they land, Farnum says students still largely come in with the dream of profiling criminals, just like the characters on “Criminal Minds,” or doing forensic analysis, like the ones on “CSI.” At open houses and accepted student events, she lets people know that those wanting to become crime scene investigators should find the College’s forensic science program presentation.
“A few always walk out!” she says.
Forensic science, she explains, examines the biology, chemistry, and physics in the legal system (including DNA and blood splatter analysis). In addition to forensic science and forensic psychology, Saint Rose also has a strong criminal justice program, which prepares students for careers in law enforcement, law school, or other criminal justice roles.
The fields overlap and forensic psychology students benefit from classes in those programs as well. Students from all three programs intern at the College’s Cold Case Analysis Center, one of just six such centers in the country – and the only one in New York State – dedicated to solving crimes that may date back decades. Glesaidys Eve, a senior forensic psychology major, did an internship at the center.
“I never imagined seeing a victim’s body exhumed,” says Eve, referring to a local murder case re-opened recently when new evidence surfaced. “We had an officer talk to us on the case and the process. No other college would have offered the undergraduate major and the center.”
After graduating, Eve is not planning to hunt down killers. Instead, she wants to enter law enforcement as a victim advocate. “(Victims) are often re-traumatized by their interactions with police,” says Eve, who is from New York City. “There is definitely a lack of people to help them.”
Farnum says forensic psychology is a newer specialty with the American Psychology- Law Society, founded in 1968. The field has evolved as the legal system recognized the need to link treatment to those who break the law and those victimized by criminal behavior.
Practitioners address the rights of children, trans individuals, and those wrongly convicted of crimes. They lobby Congress for changes to the law on behalf of these populations and others. They evaluate whether someone who has committed a violent crime can safely be released on parole. Forensic psychologists have entered the dialogue about the pros and cons of cash bail.
The Saint Rose program has expanded this academic year with the addition of Assistant Professor Lillian Rodriguez Steen, who specializes in children in the legal system.
“There is a line of research that looks at psychosocial maturity – a central component to a lot of crime,” Farnum says. “You don’t hit that maturity until your mid-20s, but it wasn’t until 2004 that you couldn’t put someone under 18 to death.”
The field delves into civil law, as well, addressing workplace harassment, LGBTQ rights, and discrimination in housing and education.
“The civil system is still the legal system,” says Farnum, who researches harassment in the workplace.
The Saint Rose professor did not enter forensic psychology because of a crime show. As a junior majoring in psychology at the University of Evansville (Indiana) she attended a talk by Maggie Stevenson, a forensic psychologist who had joined the faculty, and knew she’d found her niche.
Farnum went on to earn both a master’s degree in legal studies, (which she jokes makes her one-third a lawyer), and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Psychology and Law program. She became interested in workplace harassment, she says, because the behavior is so pervasive and tough to document. Her research includes perceptions of objectification in sexual harassment cases; age discrimination in the workplace; and retaliation against those who report discrimination at work.
“How do juries see the cases, how do they make decisions, what aspects go into believing the victim or not believing them?” she asks. “It’s a psychologically impactful event, but I’d say the majority of cases don’t have legal standing, not because harassment or discrimination didn’t happen, but because there’s often no concrete evidence beyond what the victim reports.”
Delving into such problems gives her students realistic, if humbling, experiences they can only get from applying both psychology and the legal system. This was true when they looked into the stories of a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple and faith-based organizations that bar same-sex couples from adopting children.
These are among the practices students feel strongly about but are not considered illegal. Farnum says their dismay is not necessarily a bad thing.
“I have to tell my students, ‘I like the spirit, but I don’t think this would make it in the legal system,'” she says. “But then we’ll talk about how we could change the legal and criminal justice system to allow us to consider what we know from psychology. Students want to be advocates for change, and the way we help them achieve that is by identifying disconnects between psychology and the law and how we can better try to bridge these two areas.”
It’s very good to be able to help, even in the smallest ways.” -Cassidy Dill, forensic psychology program graduate
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site, we will assume you have agreed to our policy.
