P3 - Forensics - Key Studies & Theories

Question 1

State the findings of the studies relating to the top down approach

Answer 1

Copson - 82% of US police found top-down approach useful
Alison - Most police rated a bad profile as accurate
Suggests top-down profiles are vague

Question 2

State the findings of research supporting the bottom up approach

Answer 2

Copson - 75% of UK police found bottom-up approach useful

Question 3

Explain research behind atavistic form theory

Answer 3

Lombroso - Wrote ‘The Criminal Man’ and identified traits
Creation of atavistic form theory

Question 4

State the research relating to the the genetic/neural explanation

Answer 4

Brunner - All males in one family were violent and had MAOA-L variant
Raine (twin study) - MZ twins had 52% conviction concordance, vs. 21% DZ
Raine (neural) - Low prefrontal cortex activity and amygdala asymmetry in offenders
Caspi - Boys needed both MAOA-L variant and mistreatment to become violent

Question 5

Explain research relating to Eysenck’s theory

Answer 5

Dunlop - Extraversion & psychoticism good predictors of delinquency
Van Dam - Very few offenders had all 3 personality traits

Question 6

Explain research relating to the Cognitive Explanation

Answer 6

Dodge - Aggressive children showed hostile attribution bias
Kenedy & Grubin - Only 1/3 of sex offenders believed they had caused harm
Palmer & Hollins - Offenders scored lower on moral reasoning than non-offenders

Question 7

Explain research supporting differential association

Answer 7

Osborne & West - 40% chance of conviction in sons of criminals, compared to 18% of non-criminals

Question 8

Explain research relating to custodial sentencing

Answer 8

Zimbardo - Found that prisoner participants identified by their number
Supports deindividuation effects

Question 9

Explain research relating to Token Economy

Answer 9

Hobbs & Holt - Boys who had token economy had 27% increase in social behaviours
Moyes - Recipients of token economy had similar recidivism rates

Question 10

Explain research supporting anger managment

Answer 10

Taylor & Novaco - Found a 75% success rate in anger reduction
McGuire - Prisoners given anger management less likely to reoffend compared to those on parole

Question 11

Explain research supporting restorative justice

Answer 11

Sherman & Strang - Recidivism rates of 11% in restorative justice recipients compared to 37% in prisoners