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The frustrating thing about finding good books on forensic psychology is that they're do damned expensive. Most tend to be college textbooks, with the prices jacked sky-high for captive students. There are a few, however, that will give you a really good idea of the field, the type of work you can get into, and ways to pursue this as a career.
One book I recommend is Ray Bull's Criminal Psychology: A Beginner's Guide
. This one will tell you everything you wanted to know about the field, from how deception is detected in the speech and mannerisms of an interviewee, to the (dys)function of the criminal mind. One nice thing is that this book is pretty cheap, too, at around 10 bucks. But don't let the price throw you. This text is part of the Beginner's Guide series, kind of like the For Dummies series that have proven, over time, to be excellent primers in various subjects.
Another one I really like is Dr. Stanton Samenow's Inside the Criminal Mind: Revised and Updated Edition
, a highly-regarded (and revised) description of what criminals think and why they think that way. The author offers an interesting look at how analytical the criminal mind really is: instead of instinctive, animal-like behavior, many criminals will weigh the costs and benefits of a crime. If the benefits win out, they will commit the crime. Understanding this phenomenon is the key to rehabilitating criminals, who often come to view drug-treatment programs, work-release and lighter penalties as simply a reduction of the "costs" associated with breaking the law. A definite read.
