A key technique associated with effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the behavioral experiment (BE).
Within mainstream clinical psychology, the overall aim of the BE is to treat clients' problematic beliefs as a set of
hypotheses to be tested. In this review, I examine the BE as a treatment technique and argue that widespread implementation
of the BE could significantly improve CBT-based forensic psychological practice. I examine contemporary
conceptualizations of cognition within forensic psychology as well as commonly used treatment
techniques for instilling cognitive change. This analysis highlights that although some experiential techniques
are used in forensic psychology to facilitate cognitive change (e.g., schema therapy), there is still a key focus
on rational reasoning techniques such as Socratic questioning, psychoeducation, and thought monitoring. In
this paper, I argue that current methods of instigating cognitive change within offending populations neglect
key strategies necessary to generate convincing cognitive change. I offer the BE as a convincing and effective
technique for facilitating change in problematic offender cognition at both the rational and experiential levels.
I offer several recommendations for how to design and incorporate BEs into forensic practice and provide examples
of BE use in forensic settings.