forensic Flashcards
(38 cards)
what is offender profiling ?
tool used to solve crimes by building a picture of characteristics the criminal may have.
what does an organised crime normally look like?
planned crime on a specific victim
usually dispose of body/ evidence
higher intelligence behind crime
what does a disorganised crime normally look like?
unplanned crime on random victim
-weapons/ DNA usually left behind
data assimilation
gathering evidence from crime scene
crime scene classification
is it organised or disorganised
crime reconstruction
hypothesis of how events occurred and victim behaviour
profile generation
hypothesis about criminal as result of all other predictions eg. physical features/ behaviours
what are the 4 stages to created a top-down FBI profile
- data assimilation
- crime scene classification
- crime reconstruction
- profile generation
(DCCP)
what is the top-down approach?
created by the FBI
based on interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers
-categorises crime into organised/disorganised
what is the bottom up approach?
- looks at consistencies in offender behaviour
- use of statistical analysis (computer)
what does the bottom up approach include?
- investigative psychology
- geographic profiling
what is investigative psychology?
- aims to match evidence collected from crimes using statistical analysis (computers)
- identifies patterns of behaviours
SMALLEST SPACE ANALYSIS:
- uses police data to create profiles
- input new info and search for patterns in new and previous crimes already in database
INTERPERSONAL COHERENCE
-believe that behaviour is consistent and that there will be similarities between criminal behaviour and daily behaviour
FORENSIC AWARENESS
individuals may have an idea on how to reduce forensic findings through past experience (eg. wiping fingerprints)
what is Geographic profiling?
‘crime mapping’
-use location facts to build hypothesis about crime
-CENTRE OF GRAVITY + JEOPARDY SURFACE
idea that plotting previous crimes can help locate the offenders base and location of future crimes
-CIRCLE THEORY: plot the points where crimes have occurred will usually fit within a circle and give indication of whereabouts
- MARAUDERS VS COMMUTERS: help predict their style of movement
- marauder- commit crimes near where live/work
- commuter- travel to commit crime
what was Canters study? what were the findings?
- tested. reliability of top-down approach by applying it to 100 cases (using a content analysis)
- twice as many disorganised crimes were identified than organised crimes. - this suggests that disorganised offenders are more easily found.
concluded that better to look at personality differences between offenders rather than type of crimes. (bottom up )
what is Eysenck’s personality theory?
said that the criminal personality can be determined along 3 different dimensions
- neuroticism- stability
- extrovert-introvert
- psychotics- socialism
what personality traits did Eysenck find to be most linked to criminality? and why?
- extroverts ( extroverts are under aroused and therefore seek adrenaline and arousal through engaging with dangerous activity/crime)
- neurotic (instability in sympathetic nervous system (flight or fight) causes overreacting )
- psychotic (high levels of testosterone which causes aggression)
what does the cognitive theory suggest about offending?
- suggestion that offending behaviour is caused by cognitive processes (cognitive distortions and moral reasoning)
what are the 2 types of cognitive distortions?
- minimalisation
- hostile attribution bias
what is minimalisation?
-when an individual down-plays the severity/ consequence of their actions.
what is hostile attribution bias?
- when someone misreads non-aggressive actions as being aggressive or threatening
eg. being stared at by someone
what is Kohlberg’s moral reasoning theory?
- applied the concept of moral reasoning to offending behaviour by asking offenders moral dilemmas (eg. Heinz)
- suggested that peoples behaviour decisions could be explained/ summarised through a stage theory of moral reasoning (stages 1-6)
how do Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning explain offending?
criminals are most likely to be in the pre- conventional stage of moral reasoning (stages 1 and 2) - they are less mature and have a need to avoid punishment and gain reward eg. money and respect through committing a crime
non criminals are most likely to be in conventional stages and beyond
who proposed the differential association theory?
Sutherland
what are the key concepts of the differential association theory?
- criminal behaviour is learnt through association with intimate personal groups
- relation to learnt attitudes about offending as well as techniques
