Theoretical basis of the forensic psychology at the workplace in Spain

Open Access

Abstract

Legal psychology, as a psychologist´s professional specialty, has had an exponential development in recent decades, establishing itself as a consolidated field within applied psychology. Forensic psychology is a very important part of legal psychology, mainly because of its strong practical essence and it has begun to acquire special relevance in developed countries over the last couple of years. This specialty serves as technical support resource for judges and courts in matters where psychological aspects are important or even transcendental, criminal and civil areas being ones where forensic psychology has shown the greatest tradition up to date. However, forensic psychology is not limited only to criminal or civil jurisdictions; it is becoming more relevant in other domains (e.g., military, canonical), and especially in labour environments, together with social and administrative litigation jurisdictions, which are also related to the labor relationships field. In this theoretical review, the intention is to analyze the fundamental aspects of forensic psychology in the workplace and the situations in which it acquires more relevance, such as the assessment of working capacity or the implication of psychosocial factors (stress in the workplace, burnout, mobbing) in employee´s health and its forensic repercussions.