The second issue of the online journal Psychology and Law for 2026 has been released. This new volume brings together the work of leading Russian and international specialists in forensic psychology, forensic psychiatry, penitentiary psychology, and interdisciplinary research. The issue focuses on the psychological mechanisms of unlawful behavior, problems of information security for children and adolescents, diagnostic criteria in forensic examination, as well as issues of professional training for law enforcement officers and judges working under conditions of digital transformation.
In the section "Forensic and Clinical Psychology in the Legal Context," the key piece is a study by M.V. Gilenko and co-authors on executive function impairments in organic personality disorder. Based on forensic psychiatric examination data from 133 defendants, the authors identified a specific profile of cognitive deficit that has diagnostic value for differentiation from schizophrenia and various forms of addiction. An article by E.V. Mikhailova raises an important procedural issue—the legal status of the psychologist in civil proceedings. The author argues for the need to mandate the participation of a psychologist during the interrogation of minors and to expand their procedural rights as a party involved in the case.
The section "Methodological Problems of Legal Psychology" opens with a contribution by K.V. Zlokazov, who presents a theoretical model and a scale for the subjective acceptability of vandalism as an offense against public order. The study, conducted on a sample of police officers and young people, shows that antisocial creativity and legal nihilism act as significant predictors of vandalistic behavior. V.A. Shunyaeva introduces the concept of "mental belonging of the digital generation," which reveals the mechanisms by which adolescents adopt the collective consciousness of online communities and links this phenomenon to new forms of digital deviance and juvenile delinquency. Concluding the section is a work by E.V. Akhmadeeva and N.V. Asafieva, which demonstrates, using first-year cadets as an example, that certain self-presentation tactics and components of self-organization ensure a high level of psychological security for future internal affairs officers.
The section "Penitentiary Psychology and the Practice of Executing Criminal Sentences" presents studies of high correctional significance. A.D. Taradaev and T.Yu. Artyukhova found that sexism and time perspective serve as predictors of moral responsibility disengagement among convicts under Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, opening new targets for psychological work in places of detention. E.S. Ignatova and colleagues, on a large sample (291 convicts), found no differences in aggressiveness between first-time and repeat offenders, but showed that convicts in general are sensitive to the experiences of others yet have difficulty understanding their emotions—an important result for designing resocialization programs.
The section "Legal Psychology of Childhood" presents comprehensive research in the field of information security and prevention of deviant behavior. P.A. Sorokin and A.A. Bochaver propose a systematization of three approaches (technological, socio-psychological, and normative) to the problem of online risks and argue for the need to integrate them. Kh.M. Djalilova, using the Republic of Dagestan as a case study, analyzes regional strategies for protecting children's rights, including interagency cooperation and legal education for families. The central piece in this section is the fourth part of a longitudinal study led by E.A. Kupriyanova and R.V. Chirkina, in which, on a sample of pupils from special closed-type educational institutions (more than 400 people across four waves), the effectiveness of the comprehensive program "Ecosystem of Childhood" was demonstrated, reducing antisocial attitudes by 12.6% and requiring at least 12 months for sustainable changes.
The section "Interdisciplinary Research" is notable for its particularly broad range of topics. S.S. Gulyamov, in the context of the Uzbek "Digital Court" concept, develops a model of preventive psychological training for judges to work with artificial intelligence, aimed at preventing automation bias by fostering critical thinking. N.S. Grudnikov and E.G. Pastukhova conduct a comparative analysis of the value foundations of classical and restorative mediation, showing that the restorative model is oriented toward repairing harm and healing the victim, whereas mixing paradigms leads to value imbalance. M.D. Gorbunov analyzes the evolution of models of obedience to law in Anglo-American legal positivism—from the paradigm of fear of punishment to recognition of authority and institutional trust. M.I. Marin and co-authors establish a relationship between coping strategies and the type of personal choice among participants in extreme volunteering: ideologically motivated volunteers demonstrate acceptance of responsibility and positive reappraisal, while pragmatists show distancing and confrontational coping. Concluding the issue is an international study by S. Maulia and colleagues (Indonesia), in which, using quantitative EEG, it was shown that 95.8% of children who had been bullied exhibit objective cortical anomalies, opening prospects for using q-EEG as a neuro-forensic marker of psychological trauma.
Listen to episodes of the PsyJournals LIVE podcast, where authors discuss their research:
Ksenia Nikolaevna Dvoryanchikova on the journal issue.
Vera Anatolyevna Shunyaeva on the concept of "mental belonging" among the digital generation.
Natalia Valeryevna Asafyeva on self-presentation tactics and the specifics of self-organization among cadets, viewed through the lens of personal psychological safety.
Mikhail Ivanovich Maryin on the relationship between behavioral coping strategies and the personal choice to engage in extreme volunteering.
Said Gulyamov about Proactive psychological preparation of judges for the implementation of artificial Intelligence systems