The author generally reviews crucial problems which, in his opinion, appear in a psychology‑law relationship, and formulates his own theoretical theses against this background. Thus, he discusses (1) the relationships of psychology with law, (2) a psychological and legal approach to behaviour analysis, (3) a methodological perspective of what is objective, general and idiosyncratic in psychology, (4) a notion of “special information” as a criterion and reason for appointing expert witnesses, (5) the subject and tasks of a forensic psychology, (6) some methodological and crucial problems of a psychologist as an expert witness, (7) as well as ethical‑professional
problems of an expert witness psychologist.

The paper presents issues concerning participation of expert witnesses in criminal proceedings, their role and limits of their competences. The author notices that although a criminal court enjoys a broadly set legal and factual independence (Article 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure), there are circumstance which require the court to collect expert evidence, especially in matters of mental health of the accused. The paper than presents legal institutions of the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure
and other statutes which require or necessitate the participation of expert psychiatrists and/or psychologists.

Both psychology and law include the expertise practice and the number of research initiatives which aim is to explore and describe the psychological constructs, useful for achieving basic social functions of the law. The diagnosis of the motivational processes is the great example of the new challenges and unused opportunities of forensic psychology. The author tries to prove that it is possible (taking into account the actual status of knowledge) to use the notions of contemporary theories of motivation in the process of psychological‑criminal diagnosis. The eclectic view is especially useful in the practice of forensic psychologist as well as using developing theories, for example The Regulation Personality Theory by Reykowski. The attempts to operationalise and conceptualise the construct of motivation in the justice system is particularly useful in specific situations: opinions of person’s accountability, decision of medical‑protection intervention, the state of physiological affect, sexual crimes. It is also proved that there is a link between the motivational processes of the perpetrator and the elements of the crime structure which are pointed in the criminal law science. Moreover, by introducing the „motivation” concept to Penal Code, it became the special forensic conception, which requires the additional operationalisation of its meaning and scale. Moreover the court is obliged to answer the question why the man who disturb the law order does it. These are very important questions about the motivation of separate criminal behavior.

Of all the interesting topics in the field of forensic psychology, psychopathy probably generates the most fascination. The research showed that the term psychopathy could be legitimately used because of the existing diagnosis differences between discerned
personality types. The review refers to the construct of psychopathy which is of increasing relevance for forensic psychiatry and psychology, especially empiric studies on legal prognosis and predictors of opinion making and therapeutic efficacy. Psychopathy
is related to early‑onset delinquency, number and severeness of violent crimes, number of sexual victims in rapists, and unfavorable legal prognosis. Recent research has also indicated that the treatment of psychopaths is complicated by low levels of motivation and
high rates of attrition. In psychological and psychiatric‑diagnostic terms, psychopathy is related to substance abuse and dependency and to cluster A and B personality disorders, especially to antisocial and borderline. More so, as the behavioral component proves least important in explaining the intensity of psychopathic traits and lawbreaking.

The aim of the research was to obtain the answer to the question: can we distinguish different types of intrafamily violence perpetrators considering a specified profile of personality factors and temperament traits and how they cope with stressful situations? The research was conducted on a group of 325 men convicted for harassment over family members. The following personality traits of violence perpetrators were categorised: locus of control, self‑acceptance, aggressiveness, hostility, IQ and temperament traits. The research techniques employed in the study were: the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Berger’s Self‑Acceptance
Scale, the Delta Questionnaire by R. Drwal, the SABD Questionnaire — Buss‑Durkee, Formal Characteristics of Behaviour — Temperament Inventory (FCZ‑KT) by J. Strelau, the WCQ (The Ways of Coping Questionnaire) by R.S. Lazarus and S. Folkman, a categorised interview and an analysis of court records. Resultantly, four subgroups (clusters), differing in terms of selected personality traits, were specified: reactively aggressive perpetrators, perpetrators of low preventive competences, psychopathic and retaliatory, and perpetrators with a big adaptive potential. Next, the groups were characterised in terms of stress‑coping strategies, and psychological processes of coping with stress proceeded differently in the research group.

It is the natural and characteristic need of man to ask questions about personality dimension and questions related to one’s own existence, its sense and value. What implies the peculiarity of man’s behaviour is the fact of looking for rational answers and
justifications concerning personality and existence. This behaviour is even more peculiar among people who decide to adop a child.
Motivation, recognised values and interpersonal relations are the subject of special research and analysis which is based on the method of Case Study. The aim of this research and analysis is also to find answers about the meaning of subject-personal ‘I’ in
the process of man’s being and becoming. I hope that the collected data and the conducted research and analysis would be the
source of information that might deepen the knowledge about man and the basis for some conclusions that might be applied by Adoption Centres in the process of adoption and in the process of proper family matching.

Psychological reports for law are usually based on psychological theories or some (very often unconscious) assumptions influenced by them. Unfortunately, this process can yield untruthful answers. It is especially vivid for theories of personality traits or theories that model social relations. It is interesting to realize what conclusions can be drawn if we take the time as a variable. This paper tries to show that some theories formulate their expectations about “past”, some about “presence” and few about “future”. However, questions asked in the court usually concern offender’s behavior (eye witness, the future of a child, psychic state of an author of the last will, etc.) in the past or in the future (e.g. child welfare, results of psychotherapy or readjustment, and so on.). Psychologists can study a person subjected to such questioning at some point in the time. In this way the psychologist can only make assumptions using models (e.g. theories) delivered by his special knowledge. Such process of reasoning is greatly influenced by the initial point
of departure. In this paper the author tries to show some phenomena make the process of inference especially difficult.

The paper analyzes the benefits of using family mediation as an alternative method of family conflict resolution and problems encountered when introducing it into the social life in modern societies. The analysis shows that the development of family mediation in Poland resembles that of other European states. In Poland, as in other European countries, family mediation was first “discovered” by the professionals dealing with family conflicts, then it was given a proper legal status and became included in the civil codes. The next phase was a protracted process of accepting the method of mediation by lawyers, conflicted parties, and other professionals who would be in the position to support the growth of family mediation. While analyzing the benefits of family mediation, a state of art type of study was done on the effectiveness of the mediation process and the clients’ satisfaction indicating
the short and long term advantages of family mediation. The paper proves no linear relationship between the effectiveness of the mediation procedures and the acceptance of this method in the court practice and in the society. Why people do not choose mediation despite its logical advantages over the adversarial court process? Trying to answer this question an analysis of potential sources of resistance to mediation is presented together with the relevant concepts of the moral resistance and the public resistance. These two concepts help us understand why do parties in conflict prefer adversarial court proceedings with the “winner” and “looser” over peaceful resolutions offered by mediation, enabling agreement and “keeping the face”.

The aim of the present study was to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the modern forensic handwriting analysis. The authors explained it with the use of examples of cases that a handwriting expert had the need to have a fundamental knowledge of another discipline. They cited examples of the impact somatic or mental disorders on handwriting movements. It was very difficult (or impossible) for experts to give a proper conclusion if he or she hadn’t known how such disorders influence in psychomotor functions
(automated handwriting movements). The authors emphasized the importance of meetings between experts of different forensic disciplines.

The aim of the research was evaluation of temperamental and family factors in forming strategies of coping with difficult situations of social contact in emotional youth (focused on and revealing avoidive behaviour). For surveying variables one used authorial questionaire designed for conducting research on coping of youth with difficult situations of social contact (RTSS), the Strelau Temperament Inventory, authorial questionaire for conducting research on strategies of coping of parents with difficult social situations in perceptions of their adolescent children (RRTSS) and PCR Form III questionaire compiled by A. Roe, M. Siegelman. Empirical research involved 460 adolescents (246 girls and 214 boys), aged 13—15. Conducted research revealed that the type of nervous system makes for forming avoidive attitude towards difficult situations. Furthermore the pattern of emotional attitudes between parents and their child has significant influence on his or her social development, makes up the demonstration model of community life and serves as a model of working out difficult situations. It was also confirmed that from among family determinants of avoiding‑focused strategy it is important to provide adolescents with particular strategy standards on coping of parents with difficult social situations.