About the American Psychology-Law Society

AP-LS Vision Statement

The American Psychology-Law Society aspires to excel as a valuable, effective and influential organization advancing the science of psychology-law and the translation of psychology-law knowledge into practice and policy, serving as:

A uniting force for psychology-law science and practice;

The major catalyst for the stimulation, growth and dissemination of psychology-law science and practice;

The primary resource for all psychology-law scholars and practitioners and for members of other disciplines with interests in psychology-law science and practice;

The premier innovator in the education, development, and training of psychology-law scientists, practitioners and educators;

The leading advocate for psychology-law knowledge and practice informing practitioners, policy makers and the public to use psychology-law knowledge in the pursuit of justice for all citizens;

A principal leader and global partner promoting psychology-law knowledge and methods to improve justice in diverse, multicultural and international contexts; and

An effective champion of the application of psychology-law to promote human rights, dignity, and justice.

AP-LS Mission Statement

The mission of the American Psychology-Law Society is to enhance well-being, justice, and human rights through the science and practice of psychology in legal contexts.

AP-LS Core Values

The American Psychology-Law Society commits to its vision through a mission based upon the following values:
   Continual Pursuit of Excellence
   Knowledge and Application Based on Methods of Science
   Outstanding Service to Its Members and to Society
   Social Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion
   Ethical Action in All That We Do

AP-LS Strategies for Fulfilling Mission and Vision

Encourage interdisciplinary research on important social problems, promote cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration, and encourage interdisciplinary research across different societies, divisions, and disciplines.

Promote and advocate for federal research funding for Psychology-Law issues.

Disseminate important findings and promote evidence-based approaches to practice and policy.

Provide research mentoring for junior colleagues and students.

Encourage diversity and inclusion in research training.

Support international engagement in psychology-law training.

Promote the ethical conduct of psychology-law research.

Develop reporting standards for empirical research and encourage the sharing of research data and meta-data.   Continually assess the need for new psychology-law publications.

Develop a section of the website that offers resources for clinicians such as practice documents or links, to practice documents.

Develop a web page that directs members-with explanations-to a collection of free sites for looking up cases, statutes, and regulations.

Develop focused forensic psychological listserves.

Develop an online forum for brief, lightly edited practice-oriented articles in an “open journal” format.

Disseminate information about cases relevant to forensic psychology practice.

Develop a forensic mentoring service.

Publish a listing that identifies members by a limited number of specialty practice areas, made accessible to attorneys.

Continue to maintain a strong focus on professional growth and development for students and early career professionals

Continue to develop and distribute materials that help support and advance innovative teaching and pedagogy.  

Continue to recognize teaching and mentoring excellence in psychology and law.

Continue to help further the careers of junior- and senior-level professionals in the field of psychology and law.  

Continue to provide continuing professional education in psychology-law for psychologists and explore avenues for providing continuing education for attorneys.

Continue and bolster efforts to attract new members, improve our efforts at member retention, and diversity membership with particular attention to under-represented groups and professions.

Continue efforts to serve our current membership through programming, services, and other efforts directed toward underrepresented groups, students, early career professionals, practitioners, attorneys, and researchers.   

Continually reviews governance operations with the goal of improving effectiveness and efficiency.