Flashcards in Test 1: Chapter 1 Deck (66):
1
Forensic psychology
Field of psychology that deals with all aspects of human behaviour as it relates to the law or legal system
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What is the problem with forensic psychology in the media?
Mis-portayed
Ie. TV show cops: selective cutting and reorganization which biases viewers towards legal system and away from suspects
3
Beginning of forensic psychology
19th century
Did not consider themselves forensic psychologists
Foundational research
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James Cattell
Psychology of eyewitness testimony
Measurements of the Accuracy of Recollection
Found answers to often be inaccurate, and imperfect relationship between confidence and accuracy
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Alfred Binet
Susceptibility of suggestive questioning techniques in children
Experiment: write what they saw, answer mildly suggestive questions, answer very suggestive questions
Children were most accurate when they were told to describe what they saw
6
William Stern
Reality experiment
Participants exposed to stage events when someone pulled a revolver
Memory was inaccurate and worse for exciting parts of event
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Albert von Schrench-Notzing
Europe
Provided testimony in court about affect of pretrial publicity on memory
Retroactive memory falsification
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Retroactive memory falsification
Confuse actual memories with those in the media
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Julian Varendonck
Europe
Expert witness
Showed unreliability of children witnesses and proneness to susceptive questioning in case of Cecile murder
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Hugo Munsterberg
Expert witness
Testified in two cases, both times were ignored
1. Richard Ivens: was mentally incompetent and coerced into confessing, later executed
2. Harry Orchard: found he was telling truth about murdering someone, but was acquited
Press objected to his involvement, said psychology was a fad for cheating justice
Wrote On the Witness Stand
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On the Witness Stand
Written by Hugo Munsterberg
How psychology could help the legal system
Much criticism, based on how it was written
Criticized by John Henry Wigmore
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Bartol & Bartol: contributions of psychologists in early 20th century (3)
1. Clinics for juvenile delinquents
2. Laboratories for pretrial assessments
3. Psychological testing for law enforcement selection purposes
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Biological theories of crime (3)
1. Sheldon's constitutional theory
2. Jacobs, Brunton, Melville, Brittain and McClemont's chromosomal theory
3. Nevin's theory of lead exposure
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Sheldon's constitutional theory
Crime is a produce of body type (somatotype) which was thought to be linked to individuals temperament
Endomorphs (obese) are jolly
Ectomorphs (thin) are introverted
Mesomorphs (muscular) are bold
Mesomorphs are more likely to be involved in crime due to their aggressive nature
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Jacobs, Brunton, Melville, Brittain and McClemont's chromosomal theory
Chromosome irregularity is linked to criminal behaviour
Men with XYY are more more masculine, and therefore more aggressive
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Nevin's theory of lead exposure
Childhood lead exposure (paint, gasoline) and criminal behaviour are related
Lead exposure can impact brain development in regions responsible fo emotional regulation, impulse control, leading to an increased change in antisocial behaviour
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Sociological theories of crime (3)
1. Merton's strain theory
2. Sutherland's differential association theory
3. Becker's labelling theory
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Merton's strain theory
Product of strain felt by certain members of society
Typically lower class who have restricted access to legitimate means of achieving valued goals of success
Some are happy when lesser goals are achieved, others turn to crime in attempt to achieve those goals
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Sutherland's differential association theory
Criminal behaviour is learned through social interaction in which people are exposed to values that are favourable or unfavourable violations of the law
More likely to be involved in crime when they learned more favourable violations of the law
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Becker's labelling theory
Deviance is not inherent to an act, but a label attached to an act by society
Criminal results primary from a process of society labelling them as a criminal - promotes deviant behaviour, self-fulfilling prophecy
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Psychological theories of crime (3)
1. Eysenck's biosocial theory of crime
2. Aker's social learning theory
3. Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime
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Eysenck's biosocial theory of crime
Some individuals are born with nervous systems that influence their ability to learn from consequences of behaviour - especially negative consequences from childhood, socialization and conscience-building processes
Extraverts and neurotics will develop strong antisocial inclinations due to reduced conditionability
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Aker's social learning theory
Crime is a learned behaviour
Likelihood of becoming a criminal increases when one interacts with individuals who favour antisocial attitudes
Role models who exhibit antisocial behaviour, define antisocial behaviour as sometimes justifiable, or rewards for antisocial behaviour
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Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime
Low self-control internalized early in life in the presence of criminal opportunity explains propensity to commit crimes
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State v. Driver, 1921
West Virginia
Attempted rape of young girl
Expert evidence regarding juvenile delinquency
Court rejected psychologist testimony that girl was a moron and could not be believed
Court: do not know if psychological and medical tests are practical and detect lies of witnesses
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People v. Hawthorne, 1940
Psychologists gives opinion of mental state of defendant at time of offense
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Jenkins v. USA, 1962
Reinforced that psychologist could provide admissible opinion regarding defendants mental health
3 psychologists testified that Jenkins was not guilty due to schizophrenia
Court said they could not witness re: mental state, told jury to disregard
Appealed: some psychologists are qualified to render expert testimony on mental disorders
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Why were Canadian courts slower than USA courts to allow expert psychologist testimony?
Canada relied on physicians
Due to differences in educational standards
US: doctorate
CA: masters
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Forensic psychology as legitimate field of study
Growing number of textbooks
Academic journals, growing number of publications
Professional associations promoting research and practice
New training opportunities
Formal recognition of forensic psychology as a discipline in 2001
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Issues with narrow definitions of forensic psychology
May focus on clinical aspects
Ignores experimental research - does not include forensic psychologists who do forensic research
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Other names for forensic psychology (2)
1. Legal psychology
2. Criminological psychology
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Broad definition of forensic psychology
Research endeavour that examines aspects of human behaviour directly related to the legal process and the professional practice of psychology within or in consultation with a legal system that embraces both criminal and civil law and the numerous areas they intersect
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Roles of forensic psychologists (3)
1) Clinician
2) Researcher
3) Legal scholar
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Forensic psychologist as clinician
Mental health issues as they pertain to the legal system, assessment and treatment
Assessment of an offender
Private practices, prisons, hospitals
In Canada, licensed clinical psychologist specialized in forensic area (graduate level)
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Forensic psychiatry
Field of medicine that deals with all aspects of human behaviour as it relates to law or legal system
Medical doctor
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Forensic psychologist as researcher
Experimental
Mental health issues as they pertain to the legal system
PhD level training, sometimes in other areas of psychology
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Forensic psychologist as legal scholar
Less common than other two
Program at Simon Fraser
Scholarly analyses of mental health law and psychological oriented legal movements
Policy analysis and legislative consultation
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Ways psychology and law work together (3)
1. Psychology and the law
2. Psychology in the law
3. Psychology of the law
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Psychology and the law
Use of psychology to examine the operation of the legal system
Psychology is a separate discipline to law
Examines assumptions made by legal system (are eyewitness testimony accurate? Do some interrogation techniques make people wrongly confess?) - try to answer these questions to inform legal bodies
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Psychology in the law
Use of psychology in the legal system as that system operates
Expert testimony of psychologist (eyewitness research, accuracy of police line ups)
41
Psychology of the law
Use of psychology to examine law itself
ie. Does law reduce amount of crime in society?
Needs engagement of multiple disciplines, psychology, criminology, sociology, law, etc
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R v. Hubbert, 1975
Ontario Court of Appeals
Jurors must be impartial - limits on media broadcasting before trial
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R v. Sophonow, 1986
Manitoba Court of Appeals
Overterns conviction of Sophonow due to problems with eyewitness testimony
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R v. Lavellee, 1990
Supreme Court of Canada
Guidelines for testimony in cases of battered woman syndrome
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Wenden v. Trikha, 1991
Alberta Court of Queen's Bench
Mental health professionals have duty to warn third party if client intends to seriously harm them
46
R v. Swaim, 1991
SCC
Changes in insanity defense
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R v. Levogiannis, 1993
SCC
Children can testify behind screens
48
R v. Mohan, 1994
SCC
Criteria for allowing expert testimony
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R v. Williams, 1998
SCC
Acknowledged that jurors can be biases by sources
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R v. Gladue, 1999
SCC
Prison sentences reliant to much on judges
Other sentencing options should be considered
51
R v. Oickle, 2000
SCC
Police interrogation techniques are acceptable and confessions are admissible
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R v. LTH, 2008
SCC
Prosecution does not have to prove that legal rights were understood by minors, but given in appropriate language
53
Function of expert witness
Provide assistance to the triers of fact in the form of an opinion based on some type of specialized knowledge, education or training
Personal opinion on matters relevant to the case
Opinions must fall within the limits of area of expertise
Educator of judge or jury, not advocate of a particular side
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Conflicts between psychology and law: epistemology
Psychologists think you can find objective truth through experiments
Law is subjective and based on who can provide most convincing story consistent with the facts
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Conflicts between psychology and law: nature of law
Psychology describes how and why people behave the way they do
Law tells people how they should behave and means of punishment
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Conflicts between psychology and law: knowledge
Psychology is based on empirical, nomothetic data collected during research
Law knowledge comes from analysis of court cases and rational application of logic, facts, and legal precedents
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Conflicts between psychology and law: methodology
Psychology is predominantly nomothetic and experimental, controlling for confounding variables
Law operates case-by-case, constructing compelling narratives
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Conflicts between psychology and law: criterion
Psychologists use statistical tests
Law: guilt is determined by various criteria established for a particular case
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Conflicts between psychology and law: principles
Psychologists are exploratory and consider multiple explanations, preferably using experimentation
Law: explanation of a case based on coherence with facts and precedent setting cases
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Conflicts between psychology and law: latitude of courtroom behaviour
Psychologists are limited by the court and restricted by rules of evidence
Lawyers have fewer restrictions
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USA criteria for accepting expert testimony
Frye v. US, 1923
Expert testimony of novel scientific evidence is admissible if procedures used to arrive at testimony are generally accepted in scientific field to which it belongs
General acceptance test
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General acceptance test
Vagueness of general acceptance - judges make that determination
Challenged in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc, 1993
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Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc, 1993
For scientific evidence to be admitted in court:
Must be provided by qualified expert
Must be relevant
Must be reliable (peer reviwed, testable, recognized rate of error, adheres to professional standards)
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Canada criteria for accepting expert testimony
R v. Mohan, 1994
Evidence must be relevant (makes issue of case more or less likely)
Evidence must be necessary for assisting trier of face (must go beyond common understanding of the court)
Must not violate other rules of exclusion
Must be provided by qualified expert
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White Burgess Langille Inman v. Abbott and Haliburton Co, 2015
Additional criterion to Mohan criteria
Experts must be independent and impartial
Opinion must not change regardless of party retaining them
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