forensic psychology Flashcards
(23 cards)
definition of crime
an act committed in violation of the law e.g. murder or robbery. crime is socially constructed to what they think should be against the law
what is offender profiling
a scientific tool of identifying who committed the crime. it aims to narrow the list of suspects down by looking at the characteristics of the offender and/or environment. work alongside police to generate a hypothesis of the probable characteristics of the offender
what are the two approaches of offender profiling
top down approach
bottom up approach
what is the top down approach
-American approach
-created from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated murders
-concluded that data could be characterised into organised and disorganised crimes
-these had certain characteristics which they used in future situations, whereby they matched data from the crime scene with the characteristics of categories
organised types of offenders
-show evidence of having planned the crime in advance
-certain victims are specifically targeted
-offender has a high level of control during the crime, little evidence is left
-tend to have above average evidence, socially and sexually competent
disorganised types of offender
-show little evidence of planning, so offender tends to be spontaneous
-little control of crime, and lots of evidence could be left
-offender tends to have lower IQ and failed relationships
-tend to live alone and close to the crime scene
what are the 4 main stages of constructing an FBI profile
- data assimilation- profiler reviews evidence (crime scene photos, pathology reports)
- crime scene clarification- organised or disorganised
- crime reconstruction- hypothesis in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim
- profile generation- hypothesis related to the likely offender e.g. demographic background, behaviour, physical characteristics
top down approach evaluation
+ evidence to support of the organised offender. canter et al looked at 100 US killings. small space analysis was used in order to assess the co-occurrence of 39 aspects of serial killings (included such things as to whether there was torture/restraint, cause of death etc.). the analysis revealed a subset of behaviours of many serial killings which match the FBI’s typology for organised offenders.
COUNTERPOINT- organised and disorganised offenders are not equally exclusive. godwin argues that in reality most killers have multiple contrasting characteristics and don’t fit into one type. suggests that organised and disorganised typologies are more likely to be a continuum, than separate entities.
what is smallest space analysis
statistical technique that identifies correlations across different samples of behaviour
what is the bottom up approach
-it aims to generate a picture of the offender e.g. characteristics, routine behaviour and social background through systematic analysis of evidence at the crime scene
what are the four subsections in investigative psychology
- statistical analysis
- interpersonal coherence
- significance of time and place
- forensic awareness
what is statistical analysis
applies statistical procedures alongside psychological theory to the analysis of crime evidence
-to establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur/co-exist across crime scenes
-a statistical database is developed which is used as a baseline for comparison. specific details of an offence can be matched against the database to reveal important details about the offender. it can also determine whether a series of offences are linked.
what is interpersonal coherence
the way the offender behaves at the scene of the crime, including how they interact with the victim may reflect their everyday behaviour
what is the significance of time and place
these are key variables and may indicate where the offender is living- this links to geographical profiling
what is forensic awareness
this describes those individuals who have been in subject of police interrogation before.
-their behaviour may represent how mindful they are of covering their tracks.
what is geographical profiling
uses information about location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home or operational base of an offender (criminal mapping).
-based on the principle of spatial consistency (people commit crime within a limited geographical space). offenders tend to restrict themselves to areas that they are familiar with.
-understanding their spatial pattern of behaviour provides the investigator with a ‘centre of gravity’ likely to include the offender base, often in the middle of spatial pattern
canter and larkin on geographical profiling
the marauder- offender who operates in close proximity to their homebase
the commuter- offender who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence
-the pattern of offending is likely to form a circle around their usual residence. such spatial decision making can offer the investigators important insight into the nature of the offence-whether the crime was planned or opportunistic, mode of transport, employment status
evaluation of bottom up approach
+ evidence to support bottom up approach. canter and heritage conducted an analysis of 66 sexual assault cases using smallest space analysis. several behaviours were identified in most cases e.g. lack of reaction to the victim. each individual displayed a pattern of such behaviours, that helps establish whether two or more offences were committed by the same person. this supports one of the basic principles of bottom up approach that people are consistent in their behaviour
COUNTERPOINT: supporting data has only come from historical crimes that have been solved. this could mean that they were relatively straightforward to link in the first place. it does not tell us about unsolved crimes, where this approach hasn’t worked.
X when profiling goes wrong it can be catastrophic: british psychologist Paul Britton’s profile of the killer of Rachel Nickell completely derailed the police investigation and resulted in the murderer going on to claim more victims
biological explanation of offending
argues that offending is innate and out of our control because we are born this way. criminality is biologically determined.
-Lombroso atavistic form
Lombroso’s atavistic form
believed criminals are biologically different to non criminals. suggested that criminals were ‘genetic throwbacks’ and he argued criminals had particular physiological ‘markers’.
-differences in their skull
-narrow, sloping brow
-strong permanent jaw
-high cheekbones
-facial asymmetry
-darker skin, coloured hair
-insensitivity to pain
-unemployment
-men needed 5 or more of these characteristics whereas women needed as few as 3.
RESEARCH- he examined the facial and cranial features of 383 dead convicts and 3839 living ones. he concluded that 40% of the criminal acts could be accounted for by people with atavistic characteristics
evaluation of lombroso atavistic form to explaining crimes
+ changed criminology. lombroso shifted crime research away from moralistic to scientific. also, in describing how particular types of people are likely to commit particular types of crimes, the theory heralded offender profiling. suggests that lombroso made a major contribution to the science of criminology.
COUNTERPOINT: lombroso’s work is open to interpretation. however, the features lombroso identified as atavistic are most likely to be found among an African descent. suggests that his theory might be more subjective than objective, and influenced racist attitudes.
X evidence that contradicts the link between atavism and crime. Goring compared 3000 offenders with 3000 non offenders and found no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial and cranial characteristics. he did suggest though that many people who commit crime have lower than average intelligence (offering limited support for atavistic theory). this challenges the idea that offenders can be physically distinguished from the rest of the population; therefore the are unlikely to be a subspecies.
genetic explanation of offending
thought that offenders inherit a gene or a combination of genes that predispose them to commit crime
-candidate gene
-diathesis stress model
candidate gene involved in offending
genetic analysis of 800 Finnish offenders found that there are 2 candidate genes involved in offending:
-MAOA gene, enzyme that regulates dopamine and serotonin. MAOA is regukated by the MAOA gene. one varient of the gene is associated with low levels of
