Forensic Psychology

Question 1

State the 4 problems with defining crime

Answer 1

Age
Historical Context
Circumstance
Culture

Question 2

Explain how cultural, historical, age, and circumstantial issues can cause problems when defining crime.

Answer 2

Cultural - definitions of crime and what is socially acceptable vary across cultures.
Historical Contex - what is considered a crime changes over time.
Age - the age at which children understand what is right or wrong is difficult to ascertain.
Circumstance - to be a crime the person should be in control of what they are doing and have the intention to commit the acts that create a crime.

Question 3

Outline how victim surveys are used to measure crime

Answer 3

They are a record of questionnaire results of people’s experiences of crime over a fixed period of time (year)

Question 4

How are offender surveys used to measure crime?

Answer 4

They are voluntary questionnaire results from individuals who have commited crimes.

Question 5

Outline how official stats are used to measure crime

Answer 5

It is the total number of crimes that are reported to and recorded by the police

Question 6

Give a strength and weakness of Victim surveys

Answer 6

+ Generally have a large sample size (50,000)
+ Can find unreported crimes, so comes closer to the dark figure of crime
- It uses a self report method, people may not remember properly or be dishonest

Question 7

Give a strength and weakness of Offender Surveys

Answer 7

+ Able to see the link between alcohol/drugs and crime
+ Find patterns in numbers of co-offenders or victimology
- It uses a self report method so may be inaccurate. People may exaggerate their crimes or not reveal some to avoid more trouble.

Question 8

Give a strength and weakness of official statistics.

Answer 8

+ Based on official, countrywide and yearly data so is easy to compare

• Not all crimes are reported to the police
• Not all crimes are recorded by the police
• Different places record crime differently

Question 9

Define the term top down

Answer 9

A profiling approach which developed templates for types of offenders to be matched to.

Question 10

What is an organised offender?

Answer 10

• tend to plan their crimes
• specifically target the victim
• The weapon is usually hidden and the body removed from the scene.
• Violent fantasies may have been acted out on the victim.
• Typically of high intelligence, has a skilled job and is socially and sexually competent.

Question 11

What is an unorganised offender?

Answer 11

• unplanned crimes, where the victim is not targeted.
• unlikely to engage in conversation with the victim
• sexual acts may be performed on the body after death.
• The weapon is often still at the scene of the crime and the body is not removed. Can be other clues left at the crime scene; blood, semen fingerprints.
• typically low intelligence, socially awkward and unlikely to have a partner.
• likely to have a poor employment history and little interest in their crimes.

Question 12

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the top down approach?

Answer 12

• It’s too simple. Mostly they’re a mix of disorganised and organised.
• based on out-dated theory; personality being stable. Changing external, situational factors can be a major influence on offending.
• It is only based on 36 serial killers so can’t be generalised to other crimes, e.g. theft or fraud
  + Once offenders are caught they often match the profile.