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NEW YORK
THE CRIMINAL MIND haunts us. In high-profile murder trials and psychological thrillers from Hollywood, we are attracted to the idea of demons among us who are capable of unspeakable deeds. What we most want to know is, Why do they do it?
That question holds a particular fascination for 273 graduate students at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. They are enrolled in what is thought to be the nation's only master's program in forensic psychology, an emerging specialty that blends the study of human behavior, law, and criminal justice.
Students in the two-year program take such courses as "Psychology of Criminal Behavior," "Social Psychopathology," and "Psychology and Treatment of the Juvenile Offender." Homework assignments include watching GoodFellas and The Silence of the Lambs before classroom discussions about antisocial personalities. An internship requirement lets the students put their skills to the test, working in clinics, prison hospitals, and juvenile-treatment centers.
The program was created in 1976 to distinguish the college's psychology department from those of other liberal-arts institutions, says Abe Fenster, a professor of psychology at John Jay, where all of the academic programs focus on criminal justice or public service.
"If the college was going to make a mark, it was not going to be in general psychology," Dr. Fenster says. John Jay gambled that the area where law meets psychology is a rich-enough subfield to "stand on its own two feet," he says.
THE FEEL OF LAW SCHOOL
Now the gamble has paid off. Since 1990, the master's program has grown from 75 students to more than three times that number.
Officials here know of no other graduate program in forensic psychology. John Jay also offers one of the few undergraduate majors in the field, although many colleges offer courses in it at the graduate or undergraduate level.
Some of the classes at John Jay have the feel of law school. In "Psychology and the Law," Alan M. Goldstein, an associate professor of psychology, paces in front of his students, detailing the legal history of Miranda rights-the ones rattled...