Keyword: «legal psychology»

In the context of the complexity of law enforcement practice and the growing requirements for the professional competency of lawyers, the development of a comprehensive, psychologically grounded approach to solving professional tasks becomes particularly relevant for future specialists. The study of the process of formation and development of the discipline "Legal Psychology" in Russia allows not only to reconstruct the historical and pedagogical experience, but also to identify the key trends that determine the current requirements for the psychological training of legal professionals. The aim of this article is to provide a historical and pedagogical reconstruction of the transformation of the goals, content, and methodology of teaching legal psychology in order to identify the patterns of its evolution and promising areas of development. The methodology is based on a systematic and historical-genetic approach, which allowed for the periodization of this process, highlighting five qualitatively distinct stages. An analysis of pedagogical practices, curricula, and scholarly discourse in the context of each era has revealed a shift in educational paradigms from academic enlightenment to a modern, competency-based model focused on practical skills. The results of the study allowed us to systematize the historical path of the discipline, characterizing each stage with a specific combination of pedagogical tasks, the content of the course, and its place in the system of professional training. The work pays special attention to the critical analysis of persistent methodological and didactic problems: the search for the discipline's identity at the intersection of sciences, and the overcoming of the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. A steady trend towards the transition from the reproductive assimilation of information to the active development of practical skills, professional thinking, and psychological culture among students has been identified. The theoretical significance of this work lies in deepening the understanding of the patterns of pedagogical development in the field of legal education. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that its findings and identified trends can be used to modernize educational programs, develop new methodological complexes, and justify the further expansion of the practice-oriented component in education. The prospects for the development of the discipline lie in the deepening of interdisciplinary integration and the large-scale introduction of experimental, simulation, and training technologies into the educational process, which ultimately aims to improve the quality of law enforcement and the professionalization of the entire legal community.