Forensics Flashcards
(61 cards)
1
Q
eysenck dimensions of behaviour
A
Personality is biological + due to inheritance of nervous system
- introversion-extraversion (E)
- neuroticism-stability (N)
- psychoticism-sociability (P)
2
Q
define restorative justice
A
- a system for dealing with offending behaviour through reconciliation with victims
3
Q
Tiihonen et al
A
- analysis of 800 Finnish offenders found an association between MAOA gene and violent crime (5-10% of all violent crime )
(advantage of genetic explanations)
4
Q
Heaven
A
- monitored 300 14 year olds for 2 years
- found that psychoticism was best predictor of later delinquency
(strength of Eysenck’s theory)
5
Q
copson
A
- surveyed 48 police departments
- profiler advice was useful in 83% of cases, but only lead to accurate classification in 3% of cases.
(drawback of profiling)
6
Q
Ainsworth (crime)
A
- bottom up approach relies heavily on the accuracy and quality of data provided
- 75% of all crimes aren’t reported to police
(drawback of bottom up approach)
7
Q
Kohlberg research
A
found a group of violent youths were at a significantly lower level of moral development than non violent youths, even when social background was controlled.
8
Q
Onepoll survey findings
A
- 47% of people saw the main aim of prison to be to punish people
- 40% thought the main aim should be to reform and rehab
9
Q
Howells et al
A
- anger management was only effective in offenders with intense anger, or those who were highly motivated
- this shows individual differences in the effectiveness of anger management
10
Q
Shirley
A
- offenders who take part in college education programmes are 43% less likely to reoffend following release
11
Q
Shapland et al
A
research conducted by the Restorative Justice Council found that:
- 78% of survivors would recommend to others
- 60% said they felt better after
- 2% said it made them feel worse
12
Q
Raine (PFC)
A
- individuals with antisocial personalities have reduced activity in prefrontal cortex
- 11% reduction in volume of grey matter in prefrontal cortex of people with antisocial personality disorder than normal adults
(strength of neural explanations)
13
Q
4 stages to construct FBI profile
A
- data assimilation (profiler reviews all evidence of crime)
- crime scene classification (either organized or disorganized)
- crime scene reconstruction (sequence of events, behavior of victim etc.)
- profile generation (demographics, physical features, behavioral characteristics etc.)
14
Q
aims of custodial sentencing
A
- deterrence - designed to put people off. You can have general (sending message to society) or individual (particular to one person)
- incapacitation - removed from society to protect public
- retribution - society’s revenge, essentially serving punishment
- rehabilitation - offenders have a chance to reform and learn new skills
15
Q
Holt et al
A
- introduced a token economy programme into young offenders.
- observed a significant difference in positive behaviour
16
Q
neural explanations
A
behaviour is caused by dysfunctions of the brain and nervous system, including the structural features, ad neurotransmitters
17
Q
eysenck criminal personality
A
neurotic - extravert - psychotic
- extraverts - underactive nervous system, take risks, don’t learn from mistakes
- neurotic - high level of reactivity in sympathetic nervous system, so are nervous and behaviour is hard to predict
- psychotic - high levels of testosterone leading to aggression and being unemotional
18
Q
Eysenck’s method of measuring the criminal personality
A
Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ)
- a form of psychological test which locates respondents along the E, N and P dimensions to determine personality
19
Q
moffitt et al
A
- offending can be adolescence-limited, or life-course-persistent
- personality traits alone were a poor indicator of the duration of offending behaviour, and should include environmental reactions too
(drawback of Eysenck’s personality theory)
20
Q
mednick et al
A
- 13,000 Danish adoptees
- adoptive and biological non criminal = 13.5% of adoptees were
- one of biological parents is criminal = 20% of adoptees
- both bio and adoptive = 24.5%
- shows influence of both genes and environment
(supports genetic explaination)
21
Q
features of the atavistic form
A
- physiological markers
- narrow, sloping brow
- strong jaw
- high cheekbones
- facial asymmetry
- dark skin
- extra fingers / toes
- insensitive to pain
- unemployed
- use of slang
- tattoos
22
Q
moya et al
A
behaviour modification is described as dehumanising and manipulative
23
Q
geographical profiling
A
- uses information to make inferences about home / operational base of an offender
- based on concept of spatial consistency (crimes are committed within a limited geographical space)
- pattern of behavior can generate a center of gravity - in the middle is often the home of the offender
- marauder - close proximity
- commuter - travels a distance
24
Q
lewis et al
A
analysed data from 500 interviews and found that maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending
25
Keysers
- only when asked to empathise with someone did offenders show signs of empathy
- this shows they have a neural switch, allowing them to turn off empathy
(strength of neural explanation)
26
Meketa et al
top down profiling has been used for burglary leading to an 85% rise in solved cases in 3 US states
(strength of top down approach)
27
organized offender characteristics
- crime is planned, therefore victim is identified
- killer maintains high level of control + precision
- little evidence at scene
- offender is above average intelligence, often in a skilled, professional occupation
- socially and sexually competent
- usually married with children
28
canter et al (FBI)
analyzed 100 US murders using smallest space analysis to analyze the co-occurrence of 39 features of serial killings
found a subset of features present which matched the FBI's organized classification
(advantage of top down approach)
29
Eysenck research
- compared 2000 prisoners' EPQ scores with 2500 controls
- across all age groups, prisoners scored higher than controls on neuroticism, psychoticism and extraversion
| - MUST KNOW SAMPLE SIZE!
-
30
lombroso's research
examined facial and cranial features of around 400 dead convicts, and 4000 living ones
40% of criminal acts are committed by people with atavistic features
(advantage of atavistic form)
31
disorganized offender characteristics
- little planning
- attack is spontaneous
- body at scene
- low levels of control throughout attack
- lower IQ
- unemployed / unskilled work
- history of sexual disfunction and failed relationships
- live close to crime location
32
christiansen
studied over 3500 Danish twin pairs
- 35% concordance of offending behaviour in MZ twins
- 13% in DZ twins
(strength of genetic explanations)
33
DeLisi et al
- racist undertones to atavistic form
- e.g. dark skin, curly hair indicates black heritage
- views were influenced by current racial prejudices
(drawback of Lombroso's atavistic theory)
34
Strang et al
restorative justice group were significantly less likely to reoffend thn custodial sentencing group
35
Kohlberg levels and stages
1) Preconventional morality (contains reward and punishment stage)
2) Conventional morality (contains good boy and law and order stage)
3) postconventional morality (contains social contract and ethical principle stage)
36
Top down approach
- US origins
- used data from 36 sexually-motivated murderers' interviews
- concluded that data could be categorized into organized and disorganized crimes
- this allowed future crimes to be classified, determining an number of potential characteristics held by the offender
- relies on behavioral consistency (modus operandi)
37
farrington
- gave EPQ to members of prison population and found no difference in degrees of extraversion and neuroticism when compared to the general population.
(drawback of Eysenck's theory)
38
Blackburn
- anger management doesn't reduce levels of recidivism as it doesn't reflect real world situations
39
blackburn et al
- behaviour modification has little rehabilitative value, and any changes may be lost when released from prison
40
Bartol et al
(impacts of prison)
- for many offenders, imprisonment can be devastating
- 25% of women and 15% of men showed psychosis
- on average, there is a suicide every 3 days.
41
designing a token economy
operationalise - target behaviour broken down into components which are objective and measurable
scoring system - behaviours are hierarchical, some are worth more than others due to greater demand.
train staff - staff must be fully trained so that all procedures are standardised.
42
goring et al
- compared 3000 offenders, and 3000 non offenders, and found no evidence of different facial or cranial features in offender group
(drawback of atavistic theory)
43
the stages of anger management
1) cognitive preparation - offender reflects on previous experiences + identifies triggers
2) skills acquisition - introduced to a range of techniques to deal more calmly, like positive self talk (cognitive), effective communication (behavioural) and physiological (breathing techniques)
3) application practise - role play to use skills learned in a scenario
44
Bottom up approach
- British approach
- data driven
- aims to establish likely characteristics from evidence
45
revidivism
- reoffending
- roughly around 45% within 1 year of release in the UK
- in Norway, rates are as low as 20% due to a focus on rehabilitation
46
atavistic form
- Lombroso (1876)
- criminals are a primitive subspecies, with biological differences
- lacked evolutionary development (savage and untamed nature means they turn to crime as they don't fit in to society)
47
Bartol et al
(evaluation point)
split Hispanic and African American offenders into groups based on offending history and nature of offences
all groups were less extravert to a non offender control group
shows cultural difference
(drawback of Eysenck's personality theory)
48
Kandel et al
| clue if needed : three i's
- people with damage to frontal lobe showed impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and inability to learn from mistakes
49
crowe
adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record had a 50% risk of having a criminal record by 18, whereas adopted children with a non criminal mother had a 5% risk
(strength of genetic explaination)
50
basset et al
any benefits of behaviour modification were lost if staff applied the techniques inconsistently
51
offender profiling
a behavioral and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown offenders
52
Hollin et al
Gave reasoning task to offenders and non-offenders, and answers were rated with Kohlberg's stages
Offenders showed less sophisticated levels of reasoning than non-offenders
+ kohlberg
53
Investigative psychology
- application of statistical procedures and psychological theories to analysis of crime scene evidence
- establishes patterns of behavior across crime scenes to form a statistical database
- this can be applied to other offences, to determine details of the offender
- relies greatly upon interpersonal coherence- the way an offender behaves at the scene may reflect daily behavior
- also investigates significance of time and place, as well as forensic awareness
54
genetic explanations
offenders inherit a gene or combination of genes that predispose them to commit a crime
55
token economies
- based on operant conditioning
- when rules are followed, prisoners are given a token
- if disobedient, tokens are withheld / removed
- tokens may not necessarily have specific value, but could be exchanged for a reward, like a phone call or extra food
56
psychological effects of custodial sentencing
- stress and depression - suicide rates are higher in prison, as well as self-harm
- institutionalisation - inmates cannot function in the real world as they are so used to the routines of prison life
- prisonization - prisoners adopt an inmate code. some unacceptable behaviour may be normalised
57
behaviour modification
- aims to reinforce obedient behaviour with rewards, and punishing disobedience
58
types of superego (psychodynamic explanation)
- under-developed - no same-sex parent to learn / identify with
- deviant - same-sex parent taught immoral principles
- over-developed - too strict parenting leads to extreme guilt, unconsciously displace and commit crime to outweigh this.
59
Heritage
- used smallest space analysis to find several common behaviors in separate samples of 66 rape cases
- this shows offences can be linked by common behavioral patterns of each individual (case linkage)
(strength of investigative psychology)
60
godwin
- it is too difficult to classify killers in binary categories
- a killer may be highly intelligent, but commit a spontaneous murder
- organized-disorganized typology is more of a continuum
(drawback of top down approach)
61
key features of restorative justice
only have to name 3
- trained mediator as supervisor
- must be an active process for both parties
- positive aim
- survivor is given the chance to confront offender
- non-courtroom setting where offenders voluntarily meet with victims
