Profiling or Guessing- the role of criminal profiling is certainly one in the popular press and media. Television shows such as CSI or Bones bring the task of forensics into the mainstream living room, but these shows tend to focus more on the sexier forms of criminology as opposed to the gray area of forensic psychology. A professional forensic psychologist, though, understands that a typical profile is not meant to be an exact science -- for example, white male, middle age, college educated, frustrated at work, may have had social adjustment issues while an adolescent -- we have just described both a typical serial killer as well as eighty percent of American males born between 1955-1970. Similarly, psychological autopsies, like forensic evaluations tend to be more narrowly focused, interested more in accuracy of events than supposition. For example, often suicides are cases in which a psychological autopsy would be conducted in order to assess some reasons behind the suicide as opposed to the more clinical cause of death.

Sanity Determination -- One of the major roles of the contemporary forensic psychologist is to ascertain the psychological health of a subject as to their ability to understand the legal process, whether they were legally sane when the crime in question was committed, and whether they know the intellectual and societal definition of right and wrong. Often, the advanced sociopathic personality is able to mask responses in standardized psychological tests -- they are bright enough, studied enough, to fool the test and therefore invalidate basic tests. Thus, the task of the forensic psychologist is to remove those barriers and focus on the actual pathology of the subject in question; which is not only difficult, but never completely definable.

The Dark Side -- Dealing with deviant behaviors is also one of the tasks of the forensic psychologist....

The human psyche has a large range of behaviors, and unfortunately some of them result in violence, child abuse, sexual offenses, and behaviors so bizarre that most reasonable people can only understand the results by forming the impression that the perpetrator is insane. The goal for the forensic psychologist is often to assess the risk/threat behavior, and to reply to the Court or law enforcement whether there is a public danger or menace, as well as assess individual situations for possible dangers to individuals or families.
In line with this, it is also important to note that there is a clear need within the psychological profession that also focuses on research, keeping current with new trends and bibliography, and, whenever possible, adding to the general knowledge of the field as appropriate. In particular, this is important because the working forensic psychologist is in the "trenches" enough to find issues that need further research and explanation.

Syndromes and Child Abuse -- Battered women, PTSD, Rape Trauma and other syndromes are in the purview of the modern forensic psychologist and are often used to explain or elaborate on behaviors or victimology. Some of these theories remain controversial, yet it is important for the forensic psychologist to keep an open mind and aid in the defense of the battered victim during the trial situation, as well as support and recommend appropriate victim support and psychological therapy. In any scenario, child abuse issues are difficult, heartrending, and yet someone must stand up and become the advocate for the minor. There are four major roles that the forensic psychologist has within this construct: evaluation of the child, assessing competency and/or mental health to testify, helping to prepare the child for testimony, and testifying as an expert witness based upon a sound psychological examination of the child.