Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology at DeSales University, and has published 24 books, including The Forensic Science of CSI; The Criminal Mind; and The Science of Cold Case Files. She writes for Court TV’s Crime Library and co-wrote The Unknown Darkness with Gregg McCrary (ret'd FBI). 

Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers: Why They Kill; Cold Case Files; and A Voice for the Dead are Dr. Ramsland's most recent books. Dr. Ramsland's 25th book, the entire history of serial killers, will be published in October.

See Archives for Web Mystery Magazine articles by Dr. Ramsland.

Her website is katherineramsland.com. Direct correspondence to Editor.

             When I first watched CSI – before it was “discovered” and turned into a major hit – I realized that it was going to have a phenomenal impact on more areas than just television programming. I was already writing in the forensic arena for Court TV's Crime Library, and I quickly penned The Forensic Science of CSI for a publisher. The program spun off two more shows and kids around the country starting viewing their futures through the microscopic lens, so to speak, looking for programs that would turn them into criminalists or criminologists. Along with that was the popularity from the 1990s of criminal profilers, so forensic psychology was another subject that grabbed the attention of high school students. Then I was invited to start such a program.

             When I first arrived at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, in 2001, they had a criminal justice program, but “forensic” was the key word and no one was yet acknowledging that. In addition, the psychology and science programs were lacking any forensic component. Nevertheless, students were interested and said so in surveys. Many had expressed a desire to go into a field that would get them close to what they were seeing on graphic television programs showing autopsies and corpses, as well as wanting to learn more about the sleuthing aspect of crime scene investigation. Since forensic psychologists were often misrepresented by popular writers, there was clearly a need to provide better education. I had written The Criminal Mind for that reason, and now I had the opportunity to translate my ideas into the classroom.

             Around the country at that time, there were some notable undergraduate programs in forensic psychology, notably at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, but few professors could teach the subject from a rich background. Most just assigned a textbook and attempted to go along with that material. That's not a very effective way to get students enthused.

             When I arrived at DeSales, I had a master's degree in forensic psychology and was publishing articles on various topics in forensic psychology, forensic science, homicide investigation, and serial killers. I had also been a research assistant for former FBI profiler John Douglas (Mindhunter) and forensic psychologist Barbara Kirwin (The Mad, the Bad, and the Innocent). It was not my intention to return to teaching, having already taught philosophy for years at Rutgers University, but a colleague, Dr. Richard Noll, invited me to try to get a forensic program going at DeSales. It was a small place with less than 2,000 students, but I knew that as long as there was support, it could become a flagship program.

             I started out with a basic introductory course in forensic psychology, which filled right away with about thirty students. In that one, I emphasized psychological issues in court cases. I added a course the following semester in antisocial personalities, which covered psychopathy, stalkers, and the differences among mass, spree, and serial killers. It's probably no surprise that this course grew to 65 before I begged the registrar to cap it. Then I planned how to use these two courses as the basis for expansion.

             I designed a program that included some of the fundamental psychology courses, such as research design, psychopathology, human development, and psychopharmacology. Then I designed a course in death investigation, showing how psychologists, forensic scientists, and other investigators work together to process death scenes. I also added a criminal justice course to ensure that students received good background in the American court system. With all of this, I was able to create a forensic track in our undergraduate psychology program for students who wanted to show graduate schools that they had focused in this area.

             While I was getting the program off the ground, with enthusiastic support from the administration, I then started what came to be called the DeSales Forensic Forum, a schedule of speaking programs. The point of this was to expose students to forensic professionals and to invite the surrounding community to see that DeSales was a place where they could hear internationally acclaimed forensic investigators. My first speaker was Gregg McCrary, another former FBI profiler with whom I was completing a book of his cases, The Unknown Darkness. Since I was also writing about a number of prominent professionals in the forensic science discipline for Court TV, I managed to interest a few in helping to get our Forensic Forum off the ground. James E. Starrs, Frank Bender, Cynthia Ferguson, and Zachary Lysek presented programs ranging, respectively, from exhumations to forensic art, forensic nursing, and the job of coroner. In three years, the students have been exposed to a wide range of forensic disciplines. Then in class, I would point out the psychological angles.

             The most challenging aspect of this has been to find appropriate teaching instruments for undergraduates. I've looked through the available textbooks, and many are outdated, too restricted, overly ambitious, or written in such a dry academic style that I despair of keeping up undergraduate enthusiasm. My own book was written for other writers, so while it covers a variety of areas that I want to address, it's not sufficiently rigorous for undergraduate work. So I ended up using several shorter books per course for different purposes, including some of those that I've named above, mixed with videotapes of cases and guest speakers.

             In my basic forensic course, I include subjects such as expert witness issues, mental state at the time of the offense (e.g., insanity), competency evaluations, repressed memory issues, false confessions, and psychological alterations in eyewitness testimony. In the death investigation course, the emphasis is on consulting, profiling and psychological autopsies. I'm working to make these courses into hybrids with computer programs so that I may eventually offer this program for distance learning.

             Our next step is to combine the strengths of our clinical and forensic resources into a unique master's program. While several schools offer a master's degree in forensic psychology, and more are developing a way to do so, we already have most of the resources we need, as well as a strong undergraduate program, to prepare students to learn assessment skills for work in such places as prisons, clinics, and psychological testing centers. Whether “The CSI Effect” continues to inspire students to go the distance and continue their education toward an actual career remains to be seen.

             For those who may wish to offer a forensic psychology course or two without developing it into the more ambitious program we offer at DeSales, I suggest the following:

•   Find a textbook that provides a broad range of activities for psychologists and includes case details;

•   Talk with people who do this work, so as to get a sense of what the issues are, especially where the philosophies that provide a foundation for traditional psychology may be at odds with what forensic psychologists are expected to do;

•   Acquire a cache of videotapes from various programs that will illustrate the issues for students (such as the Andrea Yates insanity case or Designer Defenses);

•   Locate professionals in your community who work in the court system and who would be willing to speak in one of your classes (attorneys, judges, social workers, psychologists, victim advocates);

•   Learn about computer programs that may be available for assisting students with interactive studies;

•   Design some problems that students must solve in a way that will teach them what skills they will need if they hope to pursue forensic psychology as a career;

•   Be alert to what students are watching on television, so that errors may be corrected.

             There's no doubt that forensic psychology will continue to be a popular choice among students, so those of us with background in the subject need to strive to encourage young minds to use their enthusiasm in the pursuit of professional goals.

Copyright 2005 by Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.
Professor of Forensic Psychology, DeSales University