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Forensic Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Why measure crime?

A

Lock into certain pattern and trends and see where resources need to go

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2
Q

What are the 3 ways of measuring crime?

A

Official

Victim

Offender

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3
Q

Name 2 limitations of official statistics?

A

Public might not report it

Police may not report it, only issue warnings

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4
Q

What did Walker find about police recorded crimes?

A

Only 42% of crimes were reported to the police

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5
Q

What is one type of victim survey?

A

CSEW

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6
Q

Name one strength of victim surveys?

A

Wide range, (35,000 respondents)

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7
Q

Name one weakness of victim surveys?

A

Doesn’t include foreigners

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8
Q

Name one type of offender survey?

A

Offending crime and justice survey

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9
Q

What is the top down approach (US)?

A

Crime classification list and provide a description

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10
Q

What was Resslers study?

A

Interviewed 36 sexually motivated serial killers and rapists and examines their characteristics

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11
Q

Name 2 characteristics that classify and offender as organised?

A

High IQ

Controlled mood

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12
Q

Name 2 characteristics that classify and offender as disorganised?

A

Under average IQ

uncontrolled mood

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13
Q

What is the order in which the FBI follow when profiling someone?

A

Data assimilation

Crime classification (organised/dis)

Crime reconstruction (hypothesis)

Profile generation

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14
Q

Name one strength of the top down approach?

A

Supporting evidence

Arthur Shawcross

Murdered 11 woman, came back to crime scenes ( as profiled/suggested) so police set up surveillance and caught him

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15
Q

Name one weakness of the top down approach?

A

Source of the approach is flawed, 36 serial killers and sexually motivated individuals is highly manipulative

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16
Q

What is the bottom up approach (UK)?

A

Generate a picture of the offender and their likely characteristics.

Very individual

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17
Q

What did David Canter research?

A

Establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to co exist throughout crime scenes

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18
Q

What are the bottom up approaches 3 main themes?

A

type of victim and treatment of victim

Time and place

Forensic awareness

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19
Q

Who was the railway rapist and what did he do/how was he caught?

A

24 sexual assaults near railways

3 murders

Knowledge of railways and bottom up approach helped find him

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20
Q

What is geographical profiling?

A

Analyses crime areas and spatial relationships between them, also predict where they strike next

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21
Q

What is the circle theory and 2 types associated with it?

A

Commit crime with an imagined circle

Marauder - home within geographical circle

Commuter- offender commits crime in another location

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22
Q

Name one strength of the bottom up approach?

A

More scientific research because of the use of statistics

78% of police said its useful

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23
Q

What is one weakness of the bottom up approach?

A

Rachel Nikell

21 year old mother was stabbed to death, convicted someone but it was not him because of profile suggested it was him when it weren’t

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24
Q

What is the main argument for the biological reasons for offending?

A

Innate tendency which may be genetically determined

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25
What did Lombroso suggest?
Criminals were a genetic throwback and biologically different (less evolved)
26
What is the atavistic form?
High cheekbones Large jaws Extra nipples or fingers
27
What was Lonbrosos research?
Examined the skulls of 383 dead criminals and 3839 alive ones and found 80% had these features
28
Name one weakness of the atavistic explanation?
It can be deemed as scientifically racist, most of the criminals he suggested had curly hair and a dark skin tone
29
Name one strength of the atavistic form?
Contribution to criminology, founding father of criminology and started the modern profiling method
30
What is the genetic explanation to offending?
Individuals inherit a gene or combination of genes that predispose them to crime
31
What did Adrian Raine find?
52% concordance rate in MZ twins for delinquency
32
What gene did a Brunner suggest associated behaviour with offending?
Warrior gene | MAOA gene
33
What did Brunner research?
Dutch family of males who suffered from retardation and aggressiveness and found they shared the gene
34
Name one strength of the genetic explanation?
Supporting evidence Raine Brunner
35
Name one weakness for the genetic explanation?
Reductionist Can not determine 100% that genes are the only factors that determine if we are criminal or not
36
What is the neural (biological) explanation for offending?
Neurochemical and neurophysiological.
37
What neurochemical problem can there be with the brain?
Serotonin imbalance
38
What neurophysiological problems can there be?
Abnormalities in the amygdala and thalamus
39
What did Raine find with neural problems with offending?
Less activity in pre frontal cortex, damage to this increases risk taking and aggression
40
Damage to the parietal areas can cause what?
Reduced verbal ability and problems processing social and cognitive info
41
What can damage to the corpus collision cause as Raine suggested in offending?
Stop the left Brain regulating the right Brains generation of negative emotions
42
What is a strength of the neural explanation?
Supporting evidence Raine found that NGRIs had less activity in their parietal areas
43
What is a weakness of the neural explanation for offending?
Reductionist Neglects the interactionist perspective and how the environment impacts it
44
What is Eyesincks theory of criminal personality?
Combined biological, individual and social factors
45
What are the 3 dimensions that suggest someone’s personality?
Introversion/extroversion Neuroticisms/stability psychoticism/normality
46
What is neuroticisms?
Experience negative emotions
47
What are psychotics?
Egocentric, aggressive and lack in empathy
48
What are the biological factors for extroversion?
Inherit an under active nervous system
49
What is the biological reasons for neuroticism?
Over active nervous system
50
What is the biological reason for psychotics?
High levels of testosterone
51
What did Eyesnick suggest about operant conditioning and criminals?
Due to their personality they do not reposed to punishment and reinforcement
52
Give one ✅ and one ❌ of Eyesnicjs theory?
✅ Research form himself and compared 2070 Male prisoners with 2422 controls and found prisoners scored higher on EPN ❌ Lack of cause and effect
53
What is the cognitive explanation in accordance with offending?
Criminals think differently to a law abiding citizen
54
What is the level of moral reasoning?
Criminals have underdeveloped moral values , these are things such as not stealing or being honest
55
What did Kholberg suggest about moral reasoning?
Peoples decisions on issues of right and wrong can be summarised in a stage of moral development
56
What is moral development?
Pre conventional stage conventional Post conventional
57
What is the pre-conventional stages?
Obedience and punishment - based on avoiding punishment Individualism and exchange : Right behaviours are for ones self
58
What is the conventional stage?
Interpersonal relationships - good boy / girls attitudes Authority - law and order is at the highest ideals
59
What is the post conventional stage?
Social contract - learn others have different values Universal principles - develop internal moral principles
60
What was the Heinz dilemma?
Considering committing a crime to save wife
61
What are criminal offenders classified as in this stages of mayoral development?
Pre conventional
62
Give one ✅ and one ❌ of the levels of moral reasoning?
✅ Studies suggest this, Kholberg using the moral dilemma found that a group of violent youths were lower in moral development then non violent ❌ Research was Androcentric and can not base the findings on women
63
What are cognitive distortions?
Error or biases in people’s information processing system that characterises faulty thinking
64
What are the two cognitive distortions?
Hostile attribution bias and minimisation
65
What is minimisation?
Offender reduces the interpretation negatively after or before a crime has been committed
66
What is hostile attribution?
Someone has a leaning to always thinking of the worst
67
What is one ✅ and one ❌ of cognitive distortions?
✅ practical applications Heller et al worked with a group of youths in Chicago and found that behaviour techniques helped ❌ Redictionist, doesn’t take into account biological or environmental factors
68
What is the differential association theory?
Proposed by Edwin Sutherland
69
What was Edwin Sutherland’s plan?
Behaviour can be explained in terms of social learning and socialised rather than inherited
70
What type of conditioning is Sutherland’s explanation?
Operant
71
What is Edwin Sutherland’s principles?
Association with intimate groups that allow you to conform or rebel against social attitudes
72
Name one ✅ and one ❌ of Sutherland’s differential association
✅ Supporting evidence Osborne and West found that those who are in prison and have kids, 40% follow in foot steps ❌ Clear cause and effect, if offender seek out other offenders or if it is learnt
73
What is the psychodynamic explanation into offending?
All behaviour was influenced by internal conflicts which were often unconscious and rooted in childhood
74
When is the super ego formed?
Phallic stage
75
What are the 3 types of inadequate superego?
Harsh or overdeveloped - Harsh parent leads to guilt and anxiety and vomit crime to feel punished Weak or underdeveloped - Does What The id wants Deviant - child adopt criminal parents attitudes
76
What is the maternal deprivation theory?
Proposed by Bowlby, proposed that separation from mother and child causes problems and can lead to affection less psychopathy
77
Name one✅ and one ❌ of the psychodynamic approach?
✅ real world application, Bowlbys readerships could prevent delinquency ❌Gender bias in freuds theory, he proposed that women have weaker superego than men and they have a lower status
78
What is a custodial sentencing?
Sentence given to you by a court
79
What are the 4 aims of custodial sentencing?
Deterrence - not doing it again Incapacitation - Won’t be able to offend again Retribution - Offender suffers just as much as victim Rehabilitation - Therapy to offender and give them a chance
80
What are the 3 psychological effects of prison?
De individualisation - loss of identity Depression - self harm Overcrowding - lack of privacy
81
What does Newton suggest about self harm?
Self harm was a way of becoming part of the inmate culture, and suicide is most common in young men in the first 24 hrs of sentencing
82
What does Calhoan show about overcrowding?
Tested with rats and overcrowding, rats showed increased aggression, hyper sexuality and illness
83
What is meant by recidivism?
Refers to the re offending rates
84
What does the MOJ show about recidivism?
Improvement increased reoffending, after 10 previous sentences, reoffending was more than 75%
85
Name two reasons why prisoners reoffend?
- 47% of prisoners have no qualifications | - 24% were placed in care at young age
86
What country has the best reoffending rate?
Norway only 20%
87
✅ and ❌ of custodial sentencing
✅ Incapacitation is a strength as it keeps away dangerous prisoners from the rest of the public ❌ Prison is a training ground for crime
88
What is behaviour modification?
Based on operant conditioning
89
What is an example of behaviour modification?
Token economy programs Prisoners given tokens for good deed which they can trade for food or goods that hold value to them
90
Name one ✅ and one ❌ of behaviour modification?
✅ Success can be seen with token economies Hobbs and Holt found difference in behaviour ❌ Individual differences Some people respond better than others Rice 1990 studies 92 prisoners and found it didn’t work on everyone
91
What is anger management?
Cognitive intervention that aims to help offenders control their feelings of anger
92
What are the 3 stages of anger management?
Cognitive preparation - learn about anger and triggers Skills acquisition - taught skills to help manage their anger such as self regulation and cognitive flexibility Application Practice - apply skills in situations like in role play
93
What was The Ireland 2000 study?
87 male prisoners with anger management Overall 92% of prisoners who has anger management treatment showed improvement
94
What is one ✅ and one ❌ of anger management?
✅ Success, Taylor and Novaco reported a 75% improvement based on 6 meta analysis ❌ Isn’t for everyone, people don’t like to reflect on their thinking
95
What is retroactive justice?
Victims tell offender the pact it has had in their life
96
Name 3 of the ways restorative justice can be delivered?
Victim offender conferencing - Bringing family of victim and them face to face with offender Community conference - members of a community together to explain how they are affected Shuttle RJ - messages being given back and fourth through a facilitator
97
Where else is restorative justice being used?
Schools and care homes
98
What are the 2 aims of the restorative justice?
Rehabilitation Atonement of wrong-doing - unpair work and admission of guilt
99
Give one ✅ and one ❌ of restorative justice?
✅ success from the victims perspective Restorative justice UK 2015 showed 85% victims happy ❌ Ethical issues Offenders may mock victims

Psychology (4 decks)

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