This book takes a new and innovative approach to looking at the commonalities and disparities between counselling/psychotherapy and forensic psychology. It aims to develop a critical understanding of the themes and issues related to crime and therapy that are highly relevant to theory and practice, yet are often ignored or neglected.


While the title of the book will either attract or repel potential readers, undertaking a critical review of counselling and forensic psychology is to be welcomed. Contributions by expert psychotherapists and clinical, counselling and forensic psychologists working in a multiplicity of forensic settings alongside academics, many with practitioner experience, ensures that a range of views, disciplines and approaches are fully explored.  With chapters covering issues such as media representations, identities, sexual offending, diagnosis, treatment, therapeutic practice and prevention, this book is a highly recommended read for students, academics and practitioners interested in mental health and its relationship with criminality.


This collection sheds new light on the problems of people with mental health difficulties in the criminal justice system. It carefully shows that we cannot just label people as "mad" or "bad" but must instead consider a complex set of interacting social, psychological, legal and circumstantial factors, in order to understand how people become caught up in crime. This outstanding book will be essential reading for students or anyone interested in the complicated relationship between mental health, contemporary social life and criminal justice.

A quite remarkable and very well-researched book, in both its range and depth of exploring how our legal and psychiatric systems are used to control people who are different. The tensions between punishment and treatment are thoroughly examined. Critical socio-psychology at its finest!

Andreas Vossler is Director of the Foundation Degree in Counselling and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the Open University. He is also a systemic trained couple and family psychotherapist. His current research activities focus on therapeutic work with couples and families, infidelity, Internet infidelity, and counselling and psychotherapy. Andreas is co-editor of the Counselling and Psychotherapy Research Handbook (2014) and Understanding Counselling and Psychotherapy (2010; both Sage). He has authored three textbooks and published 17 book chapters and 19 articles in peer-reviewed papers on topics related to counselling and psychotherapy (family therapy, infidelity, online counselling, health psychology, psychiatry) and research methods. Andreas is on the editorial board of Counselling Psychology Quarterly and Forum Community-Psychology.   Catriona Havard is a Senior Lecturer at the Open University. She has investigated how accurate people are at recognising faces, in the forensic context of eyewitness identification from line-ups. The aim of her research is to make eyewitness evidence more reliable, especially for children and older adult (over 60 yrs) witnesses, and to reduce misidentifications that could lead to wrongful convictions. Graham Pike is an academic with interests in forensic psychology, critical criminology and applied cognition, whose research focuses on issues of evidence and harm within the criminal justice system. He is Professor of Forensic Cognition at The Open University, Deputy Director of the Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative and Associate Director for the National Centre for Policing Research and Professional Development. His research has led to changes in the PACE Codes of Practice, numerous guidelines for policing practice and also development of the VIPER identification system and E-FIT software. He has a passion for public engagement, whether it be producing Apps (see Photofit-me and OU Brainwave in the Apple and Android stores), MOOCs (www.futurelearn.com/courses/forensic-psychology), blogs (oucriminology.wordpress.com) or participating in public lecture tours (see www.crimiknowledge.com). Twitter: @Graham_Pike Meg-John Barker is the author of a number of popular books on sex, gender, and relationships, including Queer: A Graphic History, Gender: A Graphic Guide, How To Understand Your Gender, Life Isn’t Binary, Enjoy Sex (How, When, and IF You Want To), Rewriting the Rules, The Psychology of Sex, and The Secrets of Enduring Love. They have also written a number of books for scholars and counsellors on these topics, drawing on their own research and therapeutic practice. Websites: rewriting-the-rules.com, megjohnandjustin.com. Twitter: @megjohnbarker, Instagram: @meg_john_barker. Bianca Raabe is an academic with interests in Social, Developmental and Counselling psychology, whose research interests have focused on young people’s constructions of citizenship and identity, and is currently interested in ‘wild’ therapy, and therapy in open spaces.  In maintaining her therapeutic practice Bianca is involved in both short term (3 session counselling) and long term psychotherapy.  She is a Staff Tutor based in the North East of England, at The Open University, Gateshead. In her role as a Staff Tutor she has particular interest in collaborative teaching and learning and working with complex group dynamics.