Law enforcement officials suffer from enormous amounts of stress as a result of their jobs. Their stress levels could lead to health problems, drug and alcohol abuse, spousal violence and suicide. A forensic psychology dissertation might address the stress levels of particular members of a local police force or local FBI branch. Students could examine the effect of stress by gender or race.
Divorce can have a devastating effect on a child's life. Custody evaluators are mental health professionals who have been certified to assess how a child's custody arrangements are affecting him. A forensic psychology student could use his dissertation to research what kind of impact these custody evaluators have and whether such evaluations are effective.
Forensic psychologists are often called upon to provide assessments of whether an individual might be violent. There are a number of tools currently in use to appraise the risk of violence. A possible dissertation topic might look at how effective these assessment tools are, and whether other tools could do a better job.
After the brutal murder of a young girl in New Jersey by a convicted sex offender, the federal government passed a law which required such criminals to be registered upon their release from prison. In addition, the community into which the sex offenders would move into would be notified of the offender's presence. Since the law was passed, there has been a debate as to whether this statute is effective or not. Forensic psychology students could study how well the law works, its impact on communities with registered sex offenders, and the rate of recidivism for registered offenders.
Malingering is when a patient or plaintiff is involved in either the treatment or judicial process for personal gain. His behavior is not the result of a medical or psychiatric disorder. However, malingering can have a negative effect on the outcome of a trial, which is why forensic psychologists have tried to develop methods to detect it. A possible dissertation topic might be whether current malingering detection methods are effective, and if not, how they could be improved.