Forensic psychology Flashcards
(149 cards)
1
Q
What are the 2 approaches to criminal profiling?
A
Top down - American method
Bottom up - British method
2
Q
How is the top down approach to criminal profiling completed?
A
Police build an overall picture for all criminals. Each criminal is then placed into this pre existing template and a profile is found.
3
Q
How is the bottom up approach to criminal profiling completed?
A
Finding small details then using them to build up a bigger picture.
4
Q
What information is used in the top down to criminal profiling?
A
Information regarding the crime
The crime scene
Anything about the offender
5
Q
What is a offender firstly separated into?
A
Being organised or disorganised
6
Q
What are the characteristics of a organised offender?
A
Lead an orderly life and kill after experiencing a critical event.
Actions at a crime scene reflect control and planning.
Few clues on the crime will be left at the scene.
More likely to lead a verbal approach with victims
Above average intelligence therefore more likely to be employed and may have a family.
7
Q
What are the characteristics of a disorganised offender?
A
Commits crimes in the heat of the moment.
Crimes display no preplanning which is shown by the use of items already being at the scene.
Could leave multiple clues at the scene such as blood, fingerprints, semen, or even a murder weapon.
Likely to have lower IQ, being impulsive and socially incompetent possible history of failed relationships.
Tend to be unskilled workers or unemployed.
8
Q
What are the 4 stages to the construction of an FBI profile?
A
Data assimilation
Crime scene classification
Crime reconstruction
Profile generation
9
Q
What happens in the data assimilation stage of constructing an FBI profile?
A
Profilers reviews the evidence eg crime scene photos, pathology reports etc.
10
Q
What happens in the crime scene classification stage of constructing an FBI profile?
A
Decide if the criminal is organised or disorganised.
11
Q
What happens in the crime reconstruction stage of constructing an FBI profile?
A
Hypotheses in term of how the murder was committed in term of the sequence of events, victim/offender actions.
12
Q
What happens in the profile generation stage of constructing an FBI profile?
A
Create a hypothesis related to all aspects of the likely offender and their life eg demographic background, physical characteristics, behaviours, personality type.
13
Q
What is the point in constructing a FBI profile?
A
To apply it to a list of suspects which helps to narrow down the search to make it more time effective.
14
Q
What is the definition of a serial killer?
A
Someone who has killed more than 3 people over a long period of time (not in a bombing mass shooting etc)
15
Q
What did Douglas say are the reasons for there being more than one type of crime scene?
A
More than one offender
Escalation of situation
Victim forcing a change in approach from the offender
16
Q
What is a support for the top down approach?
A
It’s widely used and has been found to be effective.
17
Q
What did Alison et al (2002) say about the top down approach?
A
Suggest that the personality theory element of the theories are outdated and not inline with modern theories of personality, being seen to be driven by stable internal personality traits
that are hard wired, where modern theories recognise the role of environmental factors and personal
development.
18
Q
What is a criticism about the top down approach?
A
That we need to focus upon the motivation of the killers to understand who they are and to apprehend them.
19
Q
What happens in the British model or Bottom up profiling?
A
The data derives the formation of the profile, rather than having set profiles which are assigned. Which forces a more deeper and rigours investigation by the police in order to collect every piece of data available to the which can then be used to build the picture.
20
Q
What is meant by investigative psychology?
A
The attempt to use psychological theory and statistics to create a suitable profile for the offender based upon there actions.
21
Q
What did Dwyer (2001) come up with
A
Interpersonal coherence.
22
Q
What is meant by interpersonal coherence?
A
That an offenders behaviour when interacting with victims and how the crime scene is left could be reflected in everyday life.
23
Q
What can be interpreted by the dump sites and the level of forensic awareness an offender has?
A
The level of thought and specialist knowledge an offender has, which may show they have been operating for a longer/shorter time.
24
Q
What are the 2 sorts of serial killer/rapist suggested in Canters circle theory?
A
Marauders
Commuter
25
What is meant by a marauder in Canters Circle theory?
Who operates in closer proximity to their own home. Ie Steve Wright “the Ipswich ripper” - killed 5 women working as sex workers.
26
What is meant by a commuter in Canters Circle theory?
Who travels to the area to engage in there crime, often traveling some distance. Ie. Colin Ireland the “gay slayer” travelled from Southend on sea to west London to meet his victims.
27
What did Rossmo's (1997) crime mapping show?
That by collecting the information about abduction sites, murder site and dump sites, you could map an area of activity. This enables you to work out the operating area.
28
What does geographical profiling help the police to do?
To work out the possible residence but also where the acts are planned or opportunistic, whether offender has detailed mental maps of the area or sticking to certain routes, their mode of transport and even the job type.
29
What strengths are there for the use of the bottom up process?
+ Used in real crimes such as the john Duffy case where a profile was built and he fit it.
+ It uses a logical scientific process by developing theories based on evidence, increasing reliability.
30
What is a criticism of the bottom up process?
- Results can be wrong for example case of 'Robert Napper' where police ruled him out for being to tall. But in the John Duffy case it was particularly useful.
31
What is meant by criminology?
Scientific study of the nature, extent, management, causes, control,
consequences, and prevention of criminal behavior, both on the individual
and social levels.
32
What did Cesare Lombroso suggest?
That crime was committed by a criminal underclass whom were effectively a genetic throw back to an earlier less civilised form of humanity, calling them a “sub-species of humans”.
33
What did Cesare Lombroso say is the reason for a person failing in society?
A person lower level of intellectual development made them poorly adapted to survive in modern world. Which inevitably led them to fail within society and forcing them to turn to a life of crime and violent based solutions.
34
Where did Cesare Lombroso draw his theory from?
By observing and measuring prisoners within jails in Italy.
35
What did Cesare Lombroso do?
Came up with a useful list of distinguishing characteristics, including many facial features which were said to be typical in the sub species of humans.
36
What atavistic characteristics did Cesare Lombroso say are related to murderers?
Blood shot eyes, curly hair, and long ears.
37
What atavistic characteristics did Cesare Lombroso say are related to sexual deviants?
Glinting eyes, swollen, fleshy lips and projecting ears.
38
What atavistic characteristics did Cesare Lombroso say are related to fraudsters?
Thin and “Reedy” meaning they were highly flexible.
39
What is a criticism for Cesare Lombroso's atavistic characteristics theory?
The creation of so many other theories since shows that it must not be good enough to predict and prevent crime.
40
What criticises the reliability of Cesare Lombroso's study?
That his own research had no control group. Meaning it cannot be reliably replicated.
41
What ethical problems does the atavistic characteristics theory carry?
Breaches modern standards of thinking about the implications of your research. This is because it is seen to have a direct link to the theories of eugenics which is soon after carried out by the Nazis in WW2.
42
What does the genetic theory into offender behaviour say?
That peoples genetics are a casual factor in developing their criminality.
43
What is said that the genes do in the genetic theory into offender profiling?
Genes cause underlying predispositions which are triggered by environmental pressures and stimulus, such as needs for resources.
44
Which genes did Tiihonen et al (2014) say are related to offenders?
MAOA which controls dopamine and adrenaline in the brain and can be associated with aggression.
CDH13 which links to substance abuse issues and attention deficit disorders.
45
What supports can be used for the genetic theory of offender behaviour?
Mednick et al (1984)
Moffitt (2002)
46
Who were Mednick et al's (1984) participants?
13,000 Danish adopted children.
47
What did Mednick et al (1984) find?
20% concordance rate for biological parents and child criminality rate, 6.5% more than with adoptive parents alone.
48
What did Mednick et al (1984) show?
A high concordance rate for biological and child criminality compared to that of just adopted parents.
49
What did Moffitt (2002) find?
Found low levels of MAOA genes to be associated with aggressiveness and criminal conduct
50
What is a criticism of Mednick et al (1984) when looking into genetic theory of offender behaviour?
While it used a huge sample size it did not take into account the violent crimes only non violent ones which were associated with burglary.
51
Which condition does the neural explanation of offender behaviour say causes offences and why?
Antisocial personality disorder or APD
52
What did Raine (2000) find about the neural explanation of offender behaviour?
When looking at brain images of APD suffers, there was reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex and showed an 11% reduction in grey matter compared to a control sample.
53
Which area of the brain is said to be directly linked with criminal conditions?
The prefrontal cortex which controls the emotional responses for people.
54
Give 2 criticisms of the neural explanation of offender behaviour?
It suffers from biological reductionism as neither explanations recognise that emotional instability, mental illness social deprivation and poverty affect criminality rates.
It also shows biological determinism as it says how neural differences in criminals brains cause offender behaviour.
55
What was Eysencks theory of offender profiling?
General personality theory.
56
Which approach does general personality and Eysencks theory take?
Cognitive
57
What does general personality theory suggest?
That personality could be split along 2 dimensions. Which Eysenck said are stable throughout our lives, dictate all our actions and are hard wired into our nervous system so cannot change.
He the later suggested a third dimension psychoticism.
58
What 2 dimensions did Eysenck propose personality could be represented along?
Introversion/extroversion
Neuroticism/stability
Then later on psychoticism
59
What does introversion/extraversion mean?
How out going or shy a person is.
60
What does neuroticism/stability mean?
How mentally stable the person is and how much their emotions effect them.
61
How is Eysenck's general personality theory type measured?
By using Eysenck's personality inventory which is a set of designed questions to tell what personality type a person is.
62
What did Eysenck say was key in a criminal personality?
Extroverts
Neurotics
Psychoticism
63
What does it mean if a person is an extrovert according to Eysenck's theory?
That they are constantly seeking excitement and stimulation as they have an underachieve nervous system which fails to allow them to learn from their mistakes and therefore not learning through conditioning as most people can.
64
What does it mean if a person is a neurotic according to Eysenck's theory?
They tend to be more nervous and jumpy, over anxious with a general instability which makes there actions frequently unpredictable and with irrational conclusions occurring frequently.
65
What does it mean if a person has psychoticism according to Eysenck's theory?
A personality pattern associated with aggression and interpersonal hostility. High levels of this trait were believed by Eysenck to be linked to increase in vulnerability to psychosis.
66
What is a supporting study of Eysenck's general personality theory?
Eysenck (1977)
67
What did Eysenck do in his study?
Compared 2070 male prisoners against 2422 male control participants and subdivided them into ages. In all ages groups they found higher scores for psychoticism than for non criminals.
68
Why is it difficult to support Eysenck's general personality theory with his study?
His supporting study suffers from androcentric bias as he only used males.
69
What is a criticism of general personality theory?
Criminals can vary in severity ie a burglar is not necessarily willing to commit murder when robbing a house therefore to suggest there is one criminal personality can be very limiting in an approach.
70
What does Sutherlands (1924) differential association theory say about offender behaviour?
We learn from attitudes, behaviours and thought processes from the people we engage with and who we associate with.
71
What are the 4 cognitive explanations to offender behaviour?
Kohlberg's level of moral reasoning
Cognitive dysfunction - hostility bias
Cognitive dysfunction - Minimalisation
Differential association theory by Sutherland
72
What did Sutherland say about offender behaviour?
Regardless of race class or ethnic background, when there is such influencing factors there will also be criminality.
73
What key factors did Sutherland say cause offender behaviours?
Learned attitudes towards crime - The views that young people pick up towards crime.
Learning from specific criminal acts - The idea that people learn specific sets of criminal skills which aren't learnt normally.
74
What is meant by pro crime attitudes?
Attitudes outlined in differential association theory which when a person take on it can outweigh anticrime messages therefore leading for it to seem acceptable.
75
What is a support for differential association theory?
It moves the focus onto the environment which removes the blame from biological aspects therefore furtherly meaning behaviour can be reshaped under the right circumstances.
76
Why is it said that differential association theory covers all areas of society?
Because it's seen that middle class children go on to commit middle class crimes ie fraud and working class children go on to commit thefts.
77
What is a weakness of differential association theory?
There is often confusion over generational criminality as both genetic and environmental causes seem valid when looking at offender behaviour.
78
What did Kohlberg say is the reason for offender behaviour?
As people get older they develop moral reasoning similar to Piagets model of cognitive development. He believed that with age people could better understand the position of other people and society in general.
79
What did Kohlberg say happens at the pre conventional level?
The need to avoid punishment and the seeking of reward is the key driver in decision making. Often being thought of as less mature or child like in its reasoning. The logic of committing a crime with the chance of getting away with it and the rewards that brings drives their actions.
80
What is a support for moral reasoning theory as a reason for offender behaviour?
Kohlbergs study
81
What did Kohlberg do in his study concerning moral development theory?
Studied a group of violent boys and was proved correct when he said that they would have significantly lower levels of moral reasoning than there peers in the control group.
82
What is a criticism of Kohlberg's moral development theory?
It suffers from beta bias as the theory is based off of male perspectives from Kohlberg's study.
83
How do cognitive distortions play a role in understanding criminals?
Because criminals will often seek justification as reasons of their actions however it may seem strange to non criminals it may in fact be a logical product of faulty thoughts to the criminal.
84
Who conducted research into hostility bias?
Spielberg (1988)
85
What is meant by cognitive distortions?
Biased or irrational thought patterns that lead to inaccurate perceptions of oneself, others and the world.
86
What did Spielberg find concerning cognitive distortions?
Conducted research into hostility bias and found that criminals interpret the actions of others to be hostile leading to greater levels of conflict.
87
What did Spielberg say is the reason for hostility bias occurring?
Due to misinterpretation of real world events to be adverse when in reality they are not. This provokes a more aggressive response than is usually required resulting in hostile verbal or even physical response, resulting in laws being broken.
88
What is a support for Spielbergs hostility bias explanation of criminality?
It is shown as links in domestic violence as men who have been aggressive towards wives have shown greater levels of negative attributions towards their wives.
89
What is a criticism of the supporting studies into hostility bias?
Most of the supportive research in this area has been conducted using artificial scenarios this means the theory has low external validity.
90
What is a criticism of hostility bias?
It fails to produce a holistic explanation of criminality as it does not explain planned violent crime.
91
What is meant bi minimisation as an explanation of criminality?
The offender engages in self deception, the downplaying of the seriousness of offences or actions. Often legitimising it to an extent or making it out to be less of an issue than it is.
92
By using minimisation theory how do offenders rationalise the things they have done?
Reducing the perceived level of harm ie the person can afford to be stolen from.
Allocating the blame to the victim ie leaving a phone on the table unlocked where anyone could take it.
93
Which offenders are often seen to use minimisation?
Sex offenders.
94
What is a support for minimisation?
Its seen in sex offenders when discussing there crimes later in, therefore showing use of the theory.
95
Why is minimisation theory of criminality said to be overly reductionist?
Because it seems to only occur in certain areas of criminality ie it's not seen in most white collar crime where the harm caused is greater. Therefore indicating that minimisation is only an explanation for criminality of those with lower levels of intelligence as others are more likely to understand the impact of their actions.
96
What is a criticism of minimisation as an explanation of criminality?
Maruna and Mann suggested it may be a way of dealing with the guilt of past crimes rather than a reason for committing new crimes. Therefore suggesting it may not be a causal factor but rather a strategy for them to cope with the crime.
97
What psychological explanations are there of offender behaviour?
Psychodynamic explanation
Maternal deprivation theor
98
What does the psychodynamic approach say is the reason for offender behaviour?
The failure to resolve your complexes effectively.
99
What did Ronald Blackburn (psychodynamic) suggest was the reason for offender behaviour?
He said that the super egos development is normally somehow deficient in some way in offenders, the result of which is the egos giving way to the id.
100
What categories of underdeveloped super egos does the psychodynamic (Ronald Blackburn) suggest?
Weak super ego
Deviant super ego
Over harsh super ego
101
How does the weak super ego develop and what is it?
If the same sex parent is absent during the phallic stage the child will have no one to take on morality from therefore never internalising the morals of there gender relevant parent. This leads to immoral and criminal. behaviour.
102
How does the deviant super ego develop and what is it?
If there parent is a criminal then that morality will be of which the child takes on. This then means they will lack all sense of guilt when they carry out criminal action as it is ok by their own sense of right and wrong.
103
How does the over harsh super ego develop and what is it?
A normal super ego will be kind and supportive while an overly harsh one would be highly critical and yet due to its extreme criticism will results in the person actually being driven to commit criminal acts. This is to bring about the much needed punishment that their super ego requires due to its distorted sense of justice.
104
What is a weakness to the psychodynamic explanation of offender behaviour?
There is no evidence to show that a child with absent same sex parents are any more likely to be criminal than any other type of person. Therefore it lacks falsifiability as it can't be proved/disproved therefore its not scientific as a theory.
105
Why is the psychodynamic explanation of offender behaviour said to be overly determinist?
It shows hard psych determinism as it says how the underdeveloped super egos would inevitably lead to criminal behaviour.
106
What does Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation suggest about criminal behaviour?
Its due to the separation from the primary caregiver or failure to form and effect attachment will lead to them in later life leading to a lack of empathy and prevent them from experiencing proper emotionally deep relationships.
107
What is meant by an affection less psychopath?
A person or feels no guilt nor remorse when hurting other people. This means that criminal acts which harm or upset others are not recognised making the rewarding aspect of a crime highly attractive.
108
What is a supporting study of the maternal deprivation theory of offender behaviour?
Bowlbys 44 thieves study.
109
What were the participants in Bowlbys 44 thieves study?
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing ie thieves with signs of affection less psychopathy.
110
What did Bowlby do in his 44 thieves study?
Interviewed participants for signs of psychopathy. Families were also interviewed to check for prolonged separations from their mothers. A control group were also set with non criminal but emotionally disturbed young people.
111
What were Bowlbys findings in his 44 thieves study?
Found 14 of the thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Of the 14 12 had experienced prolonged separation from mothers in the first 2 years of life. Of the control group only 2 of 44 had prolonged separation.
112
What is a support for Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
Animals studies show that there is problems in relationships in later life when young are separated from parents.
113
What is the average yearly costs for a prisoner and the cost to build a new prison?
£40,000 per prisoner
£119,000 to build a prison
114
What are the 4 aims of custodial sentencing?
Deterrence
Incapacity
Retribution
Rehabilitation
Denunciation
115
What is meant by deterrence in custodial sentencing?
Using prison sentences as a threat to stop people from offending is general deterrence.
Whereas individual deterrence is a place that a repeat offender is threatened with to stop behaviours.
116
What is meant by incapacity in custodial sentencing?
Using the prison to remove someone from society as they have become a threat to the public ie serial murderers or rapists.
117
What is meant by retribution in custodial sentencing?
Using the prison as a place of punishment and suffering where they can be made to atone for their crimes ie eye for an eye approach.
118
What is meant by rehabilitation in custodial sentencing?
Using the prison as a place where the person can be taught to become a useful and positive member of society on release by removing criminal habits and tendencies.
119
What is meant by denunciation in custodial sentencing?
When a person commits a crime then the government/justice system want to show the general public that those actions were wrong.
120
What is the primary aim of custodial sentencing?
Retribution
121
What are some of the damaging psychological effects of being in a prison environment?
Mental health problems
Institutionalisation
Prisonisation
Labelling
122
What is mental health problems can com from prisons?
Stress and depression as prison depression rates are far higher in the prison population, with self mutilation and self harm not uncommon. This is also shown in Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment as the prisons reported high levels of emotional distress.
123
What is meant by institutionalisation as a psychological effect of custodial sentencing?
The prisoners adapt to and then become unable to cope without the prison routine, failing to cope upon release after extended time in prison.
124
What is meant by prisonisation as a psychological effect of custodial sentencing?
Refers to the way in which a person adapts to the subculture present within prisons, taking on the inmate code, in which behaviour that would be unacceptable outside becomes normalised.
125
What is meant by labelling as a psychological effect of custodial sentencing?
The person is labelled as a 'convict' for the rest of their live often making it difficult to resume a normal life once outside the prison.
126
What did Bartol (1995) find concerning the retribution and punishment as a function of prison service?
That prisons were brutal, demeaning and generally devastating places.
127
What did the ministry of justice show about prison suicide rates in England and Wales in 2016?
119 people killed themselves prisons in England and Wales an increase of 32% from the previous year.
128
What percentage of men and women experience psychosis in prisons according to the prison reform trust in 2014?
25% of women and 15% of males reported symptoms of psychosis.
129
What is a problem with retribution in custodial sentencing?
Every circumstance of prisoner is different therefore it is difficult to form one way to deal with all prisoners. This is because each person commits different crimes with different reasons and with different mental health.
130
What is meant by recidivism?
The percentage of people who once attend prison, recommit crimes and return back into prisons.
131
What percentage of prisoners in uk prisons are said to reoffend within a year in 2013 (recidivism)?
57%
132
What community services seek to repay the community for the harm the person has done while the person remains free from prisons?
Restorative justice where the criminal is made to face the consequences of there criminals.
Electronic tags are used to enable the criminal to be punished while also letting them sort out there lives.
133
How do prisons deal with offending behaviour?
Behaviour modification
Anger management
Restorative justice programs
134
What is an example of behaviour modification?
Token economy
135
What is meant by token economy?
When certain behaviours are selectively reinforced with tokens in order to improve the offenders behaviour.
136
Is the effectiveness of custodial sentencing a support or a criticism and why?
No because it does not show to be effective as there is still crime in society.
137
What is a weakness of custodial sentencing?
Cost to run and build prisons can be very high however without effective management the efficiency of them can also reduce.
138
Why are criminals treated with anger management in order to prevent further crime rates?
Because those who have trouble in controlling anger will at some point if it's not addressed. In addition prisons often have large amounts of aggression between inmates and towards guards.
139
Which approach has developed ways in which to deal with anger management?
Cognitive approach in the form of CBT suggests that by altering the cognitive factors which trigger emotional arousal processes, particularly anger they can change the behaviours.
140
What does the cognitive approach recognise with inmates suffering from anger issues?
They find that by becoming angry it can be rewarding for the person as it gives them an idea of self control.
141
How does CBT work with anger management?
The patient is shown that by becoming angry it doesn't give them control but rather is shown a loss of it. The patient is firstly taught to recognise this loss of control and then helped to develop techniques in order to deal with it.
142
What are the 3 stages of anger management?
Cognitive preparation
Skill acquisition
Application practice
143
Outline the 'cognitive preparation' stage in anger management?
Offender reflects on past experiences and consider the typical pattern there anger takes, helping them to understand the problematic situations and thought processes occurring.
144
Outline the 'skill acquisition' stage in anger management?
Offenders retaught a range of methods of dealing with conflict based situations, enabling them to deal with them in a non hostile way.
145
What are the 3 methods in the 'skill acquisition' stage of anger management?
Self talk - encourage calmness.
Behavioural assertiveness - Teaching better ways to communicate.
Physical methods - Calming themselves ie meditation.
146
Outline the 'application practice' stage in anger management?
The patient tests out the methods they have been working on, often initially in role play situations with the therapist
147
What does restorative justice programs seek to do?
Seeks to help the offender to take responsibility for their actions and to face the harm they have caused.
148
How does restorative justice programs work?
The offender and victim engage in a supervised meeting with a mediator where the victim is given the opportunity to confront the offender with the impact of the offender action upon them and for the offender to consider the effect their actions have had, including the emotional distress.
149
