242 Test 3 Key Terms

Question 1

Criminal profiling:

Answer 1

An investigative technique for

identifying the major personality

and behavioural characteristics of

an individual based upon an

analysis of the crimes he or she has

committed

Question 2

criminal profiling is now used for a number of purposes,

including the following

Answer 2

• To help set traps to flush out an offender
• To determine whether a threatening note should be taken seriously
• To give advice on how best to interrogate a suspect
• To tell prosecutors how to break down defendants in cross-examination

Question 3

the RCMP prefers to use the term — , which suggests a broader focus than profiling

Answer 3

criminal investigative analysis

Question 4

ViCLAS:

Answer 4

The Violent Crime Linkage

Analysis System, which was

developed by the RCMP to collect

and analyze information on serious

crimes from across Canada

Question 5

Linkage blindness:

Answer 5

An inability

on the part of the police to link

geographically dispersed serial

crimes committed by the same

offender because of a lack of

information sharing among police

agencies

Question 6

Two profiling methods are often talked about:

Answer 6

the deductive profiling method and the inductive profiling method

Question 7

Deductive criminal profiling:

Answer 7

Profiling the background

characteristics of an unknown

offender based on evidence left at

the crime scenes by that particular

offender

Question 8

Inductive criminal profiling:

Answer 8

Profiling the background

characteristics of an unknown

offender based on what we know

about other solved cases

Question 9

Organized-disorganized model:

Answer 9

A profiling model used by

the FBI that assumes the crime

scenes and backgrounds of serial

offenders can be categorized as

organized or disorganized

organized characteristics reflect a methodical individual, while disorganized characteristics reflect a disturbed individual, who is usually suffering from some form of psychopathology

Question 10

criticisms of profiling

Answer 10

1. Many forms of profiling appear to be based on a theoretical model of personality

that lacks strong empirical support.

2. The core psychological assumptions underlying profiling currently lack strong

empirical support.

3. Many profiles contain information that is so vague and ambiguous they can

potentially fit many suspects.

4. Professional profilers may be no better than untrained individuals at constructing

accurate profiles.

Question 11

Classic trait model:

Answer 11

A model of

personality that assumes the

primary determinants of behaviour

are stable, internal traits

FBI’s organized-disorganized approach, rely on a classic trait model of personality that was popular in psychology before the 1970s. In this model, the primary determinants of behaviour are stable, internal traits

Question 12

Two assumptions in particular have been tested by researchers:

Answer 12

(1) that offenders behave in a stable fashion across the crimes they commit and (2) that reliable relationships exist between the way in which offenders commit their crimes and their background characteristics

Question 13

Geographic profiling:

Answer 13

An investigative technique that uses

crime scene locations to predict the

most likely area where an offender

resides

most often in cases involving very violent crimes, though it has also been used in cases of serial robbery,

arson, and burglary

Question 14

Geographic profiling systems:

Answer 14

Computer systems that use

mathematical models of offender

spatial behaviour to make

predictions about where unknown

serial offenders are likely to reside

Question 15

Internalizing problems:

Answer 15

Emotional difficulties such as

anxiety, depression, and obsessions

experienced by a youth

Question 16

Externalizing problems:

Answer 16

Behavioural difficulties such as

delinquency, fighting, bullying,

lying, or destructive behaviour

experienced by a youth

Question 17

Attention deficit/hyperactivitydisorder:

Answer 17

A disorder in a youth

characterized by a persistent pattern

of inattention and hyperactivity or

impulsivity

Question 18

Oppositional defiant disorder:

Answer 18

A disorder in a youth characterized

by a persistent pattern of negativistic,

hostile, and defiant behaviours

Question 19

Conduct disorder:

Answer 19

A disorder

characterized by a persistent pattern

of behaviour in which a youth

violates the rights of others or ageappropriate

societal norms or rules

Question 20

Mental health professionals are expected to consider the likelihood that their patients will act in a violent manner and to intervene to prevent such behaviour.

This responsibility is called

Answer 20

duty to warn .

Question 21

To be declared a — , a person must pose a substantial risk for violently reoffending

Answer 21

long-term offender

Question 22

True positive:

Answer 22

A correct

prediction that occurs when a

person who is predicted to engage

in some type of behaviour

(e.g., a violent act) does so

Question 23

True negative:

Answer 23

A correct

prediction that occurs when a

person who is predicted not to

engage in some type of behaviour

(e.g., a violent act) does not

Question 24

False positive:

Answer 24

An incorrect

prediction that occurs when a

person is predicted to engage in

some type of behaviour

(e.g., a violent act) but does not

Question 25

False negative:

Answer 25

An incorrect prediction that occurs when a person is predicted not to engage in some type of behaviour (e.g., a violent act) but does

Question 26

Base rate:

Answer 26

Represents the percentage of people within a given population who commit a criminal or violent act

Question 27

The shortcuts people use to help to make decisions are called

Answer 27

heuristics

Question 28

Illusory correlation:

Answer 28

Belief that a correlation exists between two events that in reality are either not correlated or correlated to a much lesser degree

Question 29

Unstructured clinical judgment:

Answer 29

Decisions characterized by a substantial amount of professional discretion and lack of guidelines

Question 30

mechanical prediction involves

Answer 30

predefined rules about what risk factors to consider, how information should be collected, and how information should be combined to make a risk decision

Question 31

Actuarial prediction:

Answer 31

Decisions are based on risk factors that are selected and combined based on their empirical or statistical association with a specific outcome

Question 32

Structured professionaljudgment:

Answer 32

Decisions are guided by a predetermined list of risk factors that have been selected from the research and professional literature. Judgment of risk level is based on the evaluator’s professional judgment

Question 33

Skeem and Monahan (2011) described violence-risk-assessment approaches as having four components

Answer 33

include “(a) identifying empirically valid risk factors, (b) determining a method for measuring (or ‘scoring’) these risk factors, (c) establishing a procedure for combining scores on the risk factors, and (d) producing an estimate of violence risk”

Question 34

Static risk factors

Answer 34

are factors that do not fluctuate over time and are not changed by treatment. Age at first arrest is an example of a static risk factor, since no amount of time or treatment will change this risk factor. Static risk factors have also been called historical risk factors

Question 35

Historical risk factors:

Answer 35

Risk factors that refer to events that have been experienced in the past (e.g., age at first arrest). Also known as static risk factors

Question 36

Dispositional risk factors:

Answer 36

Risk factors that reflect the individual’s traits, tendencies, or styles (e.g., negative attitudes)

Question 37

Clinical risk factors:

Answer 37

Types and symptoms of mental disorders (e.g., substance abuse)

Question 38

Contextual risk factors:

Answer 38

Risk factors that refer to aspects of the current environment (e.g., access to victims or weapons). Sometimes called situational risk factors

Question 39

Situational risk factors:

Answer 39

Risk factors that refer to aspects of the current environment (e.g., access to victims or weapons). Sometimes called contextual risk factors

Question 40

Protective factors:

Answer 40

Factors that mitigate or reduce the likelihood of a negative outcome (e.g., delinquency, aggression)

Question 41

Desistance:

Answer 41

The process of ceasing to engage in criminal behaviour

Question 42

Family-only batterer:

Answer 42

A male spousal batterer who is typically not violent outside the home, does not show much psychopathology, and does not possess negative attitudes supportive of violence

Question 43

Dysphoric/borderline batterer:

Answer 43

A male spousal batterer who exhibits some violence outside the family, is depressed, has borderline personality traits, and has problems with jealousy

Question 44

Generally violent/antisocial batterer:

Answer 44

A male spousal batterer who is violent outside the home, engages in other criminal acts, has drug and alcohol problems, has impulse-control problems, and possesses violence-supportive beliefs

Question 45

Rape trauma syndrome:

Answer 45

A group of symptoms or behaviours that are frequent after-effects of having been raped

Question 46

Voyeur:

Answer 46

Someone who obtains sexual gratification by observing unsuspecting people, usually strangers, who are naked, in the process of undressing, or engaging in sexual activity

Question 47

Anger rapist:

Answer 47

A rapist, as defined by Groth, who uses more force than necessary to obtain compliance from the victim and who engages in a variety of sexual acts to degrade the victim

Question 48

Power rapist:

Answer 48

A rapist, as defined by Groth, who seeks to establish dominance and control over the victim

Question 49

Sadistic rapist:

Answer 49

A rapist, as defined by Groth, who obtains sexual gratification by hurting the victim

Question 50

Fixated child molester:

Answer 50

A child molester, as defined by Groth, who has a long-standing, exclusive sexual preference for children

Question 51

Regressed child molester:

Answer 51

A child molester, as defined by Groth, whose primary sexual orientation is toward adults, but whose sexual interests revert to children after a stressful event or because of feelings of inadequacy

Question 52

Modus Operandi (standard procedure)

Answer 52

Behaviors committed by the offender during the commission of the crime which are necessary to complete the crime. what did the criminal do that was necessary to commit the crime did they use a knife/gun/break a window - more detective work, not psychologist

Question 53

Signature:

Answer 53

what did the criminal do that was not required to commit the crime - kind of like a TAT test or projective test - tells you something about their personality maybe he trashed the house on his way out of anger

Question 55

Cognitive distortions:

Answer 55

Deviant cognitions, values, or beliefs that are used to justify or minimize deviant behaviours

Question 56

Penile phallometry:

Answer 56

A measurement device placed around the penis to measure changes in sexual arousal

Question 57

Aversion therapy:

Answer 57

The pairing of an aversive stimuli with a deviant fantasy for the purpose of reducing the attractiveness of these deviant fantasies

Question 58

Relapse prevention:

Answer 58

A method of treatment designed to prevent the occurrence of an undesired behaviour (e.g., sexual assault