Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

Psychology > Forensic > Flashcards

Forensic Flashcards

(89 cards)

Start Studying
1
Q

defining crime

A

dynamic construct dependent on historical, social, cultural and political context
any behaviour that is unlawful and punished by the state
harmful to an individual/group/society

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

cultural issues in defining crime

A

definition varies cross-culturally
social construct
socially acceptable
minority influence

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

age and issue with crime

A

age of criminal responsibility varies from country to country
uk=10
Bulger case-2 10 year olds abducted, abused and killed a 2 year old

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

historical issues in defining crime

A

laws change over tine
what is socially acceptable changes
homosexuality
child abuse

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

circumstance and issues with defining crime

A

Actus reus
Mens rea
M’Naghten rule

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Actus reus

A

a voluntary act that constitutes a crime

the person is in control

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Mens rea

A

the intention to do the crime

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

M’Naghten rule

A

not knowing right from wrong

M’Naghten shot and killed prime ministers secretary believing that the prime minister was conspiring against him

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

measuring crime

official stats

A

government records of the total number of crimes reported to the police
produced annually
only some crimes get through the crime funnel and reported to the police

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

measuring crime

strengths of official stats

A

allows crime prevention strategies/policing initiatives
make historical comparisons to look at trends in crime
general trends reported from stats tend to be in agreement with trend increase/decrease

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

measuring crime

weaknesses of official stats

A

unreliable-underestimate true extent of crime
not all crimes get reported
policing priorities may distort official figures

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

measuring crime

victim surveys

A

British crime survey, England and Wales

sample of 50,000 households randomly selected

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

measuring crime

strengths of victim surveys

A

provides more information on the dark figure of crime
more consistent then official stats- 2006/07 official suggested 2% decrease where survey showed 3% increase
good sample size

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

measuring crime

weaknesses of victim surveys

A

uses retrospective data of the last year
doesn’t record victimless crime
sample drawn only from those with postal address-bias sample

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

measuring crime

offender surveys

A

conducted every year 2003-2006 in England and Wales
aimed to increase knowledge about young people and criminal behaviour
as well as measuring self-reported offending it looked at indications of re-offending, drug and alcohol use, role of co-offending and relationship between offender and victim

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

measuring crime

strengths of offender surveys

A

provide insight into hoe many people are responsible for certain offences
asking offenders about the offences can give a picture of reasons for their behaviour
best chance on raising the dark figure as they know what crime might occur and when

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

measuring crime

weaknesses of offender surveys

A

self-report impacts reliability
lack of accuracy in answers
unreliable responses: offenders may want to conceal some of the more serious crimes committed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

historical explanation

A

lombroso

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

hisoritcal explanation

lombroso

A 
criminals are separate species 
shape of face and head determine criminals 
based on homeless criminals 
used postmortoms 
atavistic 
atavistic form
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

lombroso

atavistic

A

the reappearance of a characteristic after several generations of absence

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

lombroso

atavistic form

A

certain individuals are born with a criminal personality which is a throwback to primitive forms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

historic explanation

turvey

A

18 different characteristics

innate make up causes criminals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

lombroso assumption

historical explanation

A

different features are related to different crimes
thin lips-muder
big nose-robber
hairy-sex offender

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

lomboro research

A

50000 bodies

383 italian criminals 21% has 1 atavistic trait and 43% had 5

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
strengths of lombroso historical explanation
can be studied scientifically | started research into criminals
26
weaknesses of lombroso historical explanation
androcentric-women are less evolved not a representative sample-italian males not reliable-subject
27
somatotypes | sheldon
endomorphic mesomorphic ectmorphic
28
somatotypes | endomorphic
short and fat | deceptive/violent
29
somatotypes | mesomorphic
tall and muscular | violent crimes
30
somatotypes
tall and skinny | petty thieves
31
strengths of somatotypes
supportive research Glueck and Glueck | Cortes and Gatti
32
supportive research on somatotypes | Glueck and Glueck
60% of delinquent sample were mesomorph and 31% of non-delinquent sample were mesomorph
33
supportive research on somatotypes | cortes and Gatti
57% of 100 delinquents were mesomorph compared with 19% of controls
34
weaknesses of somatotypes
assumes correlation was linked to causality (become mesomorph in prison/ select crime because of body type) subjective feldman
35
weaknesses of somatotypes | feldman
relationship can be explained by expectations | mesomorphs may catch police attention more/ influence sentencing
36
neural explanation of crime
the neurochemistry of criminals is different to those of non-criminals effects levels of serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine
37
neural explanation | noradrenaline
fight or flight | higher levels linked to violence and aggression
38
neural explanation | serotonin
regulates mood and impulse control | low levels=high impulsivity
39
neural explanation | dopamine
linked to addiction/substance use, makes crime more like;y more dopamine in the limbic system means more pleasure is experiences substance abuse-when stop taking drugs dopamine goes away more likely to find different levels in offenders due to drug use higher levels=thrill seek-more crime
40
neural explanation research | higley et al
positive correlation between testosterone and aggression | negative relationship between serotonin and impulsivity and extreme aggression
41
neural explanation research | Brunner
examined the effects of MAOA gene of 5 men in the same family this gene is linked to aggression and applied to violent crime urine sample aggression and low IQ gene doesn't occur in women
42
mirror neurons
people with anti-social personality disorder can experience empathy but not as often as the normal population
43
mirror neurons research | Keysers et al
only when criminals were asked to empathises with a character in a film did their empathy reaction activate
44
strength of neural explanation
practical applications scientific-reliable quantitative data
45
weaknesses of neural explanation
can't establish direct cause and effect animal research reductionist
46
level of moral reasoning | cognitive
the process by which an individual draws upon their own value system to determine whether an action is right or wrong
47
research of level of moral reasoning | Kohlberg et al
using his moral dilemma technique found a group of violent youths were significantly lower in their moral development then non-violent youths controlled for social background
48
cognitive distortions
irrational/bias ways of thinking the mean we view ourselves, others and the world inaccurately and usually negatively hostile attribution bias minimisation
49
cognitive distortions | hostile attribution
tendency to judge ambiguous situations/actions of others as aggressive/ threatening when in reality they aren't
50
cognitive distortions | minimisation
a type of deception that involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotion
51
kohlbergs model and criminality
pre-conventional (up to 9) conventional (most adults/adulescents) post-conventional (10-15% of over 20s)
52
kohlberg's research into model and criminality
58 boys from Chicago working/ middle class 2 hour interviews with 10 dilemmas some followed every 3 years until 30 later studied children in UK, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and Yucatan younger boys stages 1&2 older stages 3&4 no support fro stage 6
53
kohlbergs model and criminality | pre-conventional
punishment and obedience- right and wrong defined by punishment instrumental- relativist- right and wrong defined by reward (concern for other motivated by selfishness)
54
kohlbergs model and criminality | conventional
interpersonal concordance- being god is what pleases others, adopts conformist attitude to morality. right and wrong determined by majority law and order- being good means doing duty to society, obey laws without question and respect authority (most adults don't pass this stage)
55
kohlbergs model and criminality | post-conventional
social contract- right and wrong determined by personal values, these can be over-ridden by democratically agreed laws. when laws infringe own sense of justice we choose to ignore them universal ethical principle- live in accordance with deeply held moral principles which are seen as more important then laws of land
56
twin studies genetic explanation lange
13 identical twins 17 non-identical twins 1 twin in each pair had time in prison 10/13 identical twins and 2/17 twins when one went to prison so did the other
57
twin studies genetic explanation support of lange
christiansen | raine
58
research on candidate genes | Brunner
5 male family members | more violent outbursts among MAOA issues
59
research on candidate genes | tihonen et al
900 offenders abnormalities on 2 genes that may be associated with violence and crime MAOA and CDH13 13x more likely to be violent
60
diathesis stress model | genetic explanation
hereditary vs environment | epigenetic
61
epigenetic | diathesis stress model
genes can be turned on/off as a result of environment
62
family studies genetic explanation farrington
400 families males london aged 8-33 interviewed and aged 10-40 crime records 6% of families accounted for 50% of crimes 75% of convicted fathers and mothers had a convicted child longitudinal androcentric
63
strengths of genetic explanation
mednick study Italy 2007-sentence reduced due to aggression genes mobley case
64
strengths of genetic explanations | mednick study
13000 danish adoptees neither biological parents has convictions=13.5% one biological parent had been convicted=20% both biological parents=24.5%
65
strength of genetic explanations | mobley
shot pizza takeaway manager 25 years old 4 generations of violent outbursts
66
weaknesses of genetic explanation
can't exclude nature from nurture adoptive studies-stress of adoption small sample sizes
67
strengths of cognitive explanations
research support- schohenberg and arshe | kohlberg- cross cultural
68
weaknesses of cognitive explanation
individual differences | reductionist
69
strengths of cognitive explanations | schohenberg and arshe
criminals were more likely to interpret pictures as expressing aggression
70
brain physiology | Limbic system
primitive brain | emotion control
71
brain physiology | Raine's brain
11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the pro-frontal cortex of people with APD compared with controls
72
brain physiology | Kent et al
fMRI scanning to ascertain any abnormalities emotion-based tasks criminal non-psychopaths and non-criminal control criminal psychopaths showed much less activity in the limbic system psychopaths seem to use their frontal lobe to a greater degree in those situations suggesting an element of planning and control
73
evaluation of kent et al (brain physiology)
socially sensitive research scientific-reliable-objective increased validity(control group)-change due to IV
74
psychological explanation | Eysenck personality theory
behaviour can be represented along 2 dimensions of introvert/extrovert and neuroticism/stability the psychoticism was later added
75
psychological explanations | extrovert dimension
related to the level of stimulation we see and is based on the ascending reticular activating system ARAS
76
psychological explanation | neuroticism dimension
related to emotionality and is based upon the autonomic nervous system ANS responds to emotional-producing stimuli, including stress
77
psychological explantation | characteristics of extrovert
become board quickly less responsive to pain seeks change and excitement poor at tasks which require concentration
78
psychological explanation | characteristics of introvert
``` doesn't seek excitement prefers calm and quiet dislikes the unexpected prefers order good at tasks requiring concentration ```
79
psychological explanation | characteristics of stable
even tempered emotionally stable easy going
80
psychological explanation | characteristics of neurotic
restless excitable anxious
81
psychological explanation | psychoticism
related to the strength of the superego hormonal system personality traits related to a persons relationships/ attitudes to others related to high level of testosterone
82
psychological explanation | characteristics of psychoticism
``` egocentric aggressive manipulative suspicious coldness impulsivity hostile unsympathetic ```
83
psychological explanation | Eysencks criminal personality
neurotic-extrovert | also score highly on measures of psychoticism
84
psychological explanation | role of socialisation
development of criminal behaviour is due to selfishness and lack of deferred gratification those with high E and N had nervous systems that made them hard to condition and so wouldn't learn to resist anti-social behaviour
85
psychological explanation | measuring the criminal personality
Eysenck's personality inventory
86
strengths of Eysenck's theory
supportive research Eysenck biological reductionist EPI-quantitative
87
weaknesses of Eysenck
contradictory research- Farrington et al EPI-self report cultural bias
88
evaluation of Eysenck | Eysenck's research
2070 male participants compared with 2422 male controls | prisoners scored higher then controls
89
evaluation of Eysenck | farrington el al's research
offenders scored high on P but not E and N | little difference of EEG measures between introverts and extroverts

Psychology (11 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions