6 Intro to Forensic Psychology

Question 1

What is forensic psychology?

Answer 1

The application of psychological knowledge and theories to all aspects of the criminal and civil justice systems, including the processes and the people

Question 2

What do people like Blackburn (1996) argue that forensic psychology should be defined as?

Answer 2

“direct provision of psychological information to the courts, that is, to psychology in the courts”

Question 3

List the historical perspectives of crime theories?

Answer 3

Classical school of criminology

Positivist school of criminology

Question 4

Describe the classical school of criminology

Answer 4

• People are rational decision-makers
• Lawbreaking occurs when people, faced with a choice between right and wrong, freely choose wrongly
• Punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed e.g. swift and certain

Question 5

Describe the positivist school of criminology

Answer 5

• Emphasised individual differences in people determining criminal behaviour rather than free will
• Believe punishment should fit the criminal rather than the crime
• Seeks to understand crime through scientific method analysis of the empirical method

E.g. ape-like humans, typing humans based on looks

Question 6

What did Aristotle say about theories of crime?

Answer 6

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime

Emphasized the situational nature that if you’re in a situation you didn’t have the money you were more likely to commit crimes

Question 7

What has Sir Francis Bacon stated in the historical perspectives of theories of crime?

Answer 7

Opportunity makes a thief

If you’re in a situation that you can get away with it, you will do it

Question 8

What have philosophers such as Voltaire and Rousseau emphasised?

Answer 8

Free will, hedonism and flaws in the social contract

Question 9

What are the positive theorists (Cesare Lombroso & Ernest Hooton) approach to historical crime?

Answer 9

Cesare Lombroso throws back to early stages of evolution where humans not sufficiently advanced mentally to live out successfully in a modern world

Ernest Hooton took physical measurements of criminals and civilians
 Burglars: short heads, golden hair, undershot jaws
 Robbers: long wavy hair, high heads, short ears, broad faces

Question 10

List the four main types of modern crime theories

Answer 10

(1) Sociological theories
(2) Biological theories
(3) Psychological theories
(4) Social-psychological theories

Question 11

Explain sociological theories of crime

Answer 11

Explain crime as the result of social or cultural forces that are external to any specific individual, that exist prior to any criminal act, and that emerge from social class, political, ecological, or physical structures affecting large groups of people

Individual differences are deemphasized

Question 12

Describe the types of sociological theories

Answer 12

(1) Structural explanations

(2) Sub-cultural explanations

Question 13

What are the cons of sociological theories?

Answer 13

Crimes are often committed by people who have never been denied opportunities -> Applies only to certain offences e.g. may explain theft but not traffic violations

Does not explain why some people offend and others do not: Doesn’t look at individual differences

Question 14

Explain biological theories of crime

Answer 14

Stress genetic influences, chromosomal abnormalities, biochemical irregularities, or physical (body type) factors as causes of crime

Theorists respect social and environmental influences as well

Question 15

Name the types of biological theories

Answer 15

(1) Constitutional theories

(2) Genetic theories

Question 16

What could be inherited based on biological theories of crime?

Answer 16

• Constitutional pre-disposition (body type)
• Neuropsychological abnormalities
• Autonomic nervous system differences
• Physiological differences (serotonin)
• Personality and temperament differences

Question 17

What are the cons of biological theories of crime?

Answer 17

• Fear attributing crime partly to genetic factors as social and environmental neglected.
• Concern it will lead to some people being genetically “inferior”
• The extent to which any behaviour is inheritable cannot explain differences between groups.
• Unclear what exactly is inherited

Question 18

Explain psychological theories of crime

Answer 18

Crime results from personality attributes possessed by the potential criminal also emphasizes individual differences about the way people think or feel about the behaviour

Question 19

Name the types of psychological theories

Answer 19

(1) Psychoanalytic theories
(2) Personality traits
(3) Personality disorder

Question 20

Explain social-psychological theories of crime

Answer 20

Bridges gap between environmentalism of sociology and individualism of psychological or biological theories

Crime is learned, but theories differ on what and how it is learned

Question 21

Describe the types of social-psychological theories

Answer 21

(1) Control theories:
(2) Learning theories:
(3) Social-labelling:

Question 22

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 22

a prediction that comes true because it has been made

Question 23

What is the best theory of crime?

Answer 23

Most theories can explain certain types of crime, but none of them explains all forms, and some explain very little

e.g. drugs, traffic violations, sex crimes, violent crimes

Question 24

Forensic psychology is…

Answer 24

the application of psychological knowledge to the legal system

Question 25

The theories of crime..

Answer 25

are as old as crime itself

Question 26

Modern theories of crime can be grouped into 4 main categories. What are they?

Answer 26

Sociological (situational)
Biological (individual and biology),
Psychological (individual)
Social-psychological (suggest the combination of individual and society around them)

Question 27

Is there a theory that explains all crimes?

Answer 27

No, no theory can explain all types of crime

Question 28

Describe the structural explanations of sociological theories

Answer 28

• People have similar interests and motivations but differ dramatically in opportunities to employ their talents in socially legitimate ways
• Dysfunctional social arrangements and differential opportunity thwart people from legitimate attainment
• Discrepancies between aspirations and means create strains that lead to crime

Question 29

Describe the Subcultural explanations of sociological theories

Answer 29

• Crime originates when various groups of people endorse cultural values that clash with the conventional rules of society
• E.g. gangs enforce unique norms about how to behave

Question 30

Describe the constitutional theory of biological theories

Answer 30

• 3 somatypes (endomorph, ectomorph and mesomorph), mesomorph leads to criminal behaviour
• Mesomorphs exposed to wrong influences and environment would engage in more crimes.
• But; few all-or-none categories oversimplify, correlation doesn’t equal causation

Question 31

Describe the genetic theory of biological theories

Answer 31

• Adoption studies; men with biological parents with criminal records 4x more likely to be criminals, and 2x with adoptive. Both = 14x more likely.
• But; Unclear what exactly is inherited.

Question 32

Describe the psychoanalytic theory of psychological theories

Answer 32

• A weak ego (tries to moderate the id and superego) and superego (moral voice, angel) that cannot restrain the anti-social instincts of the id (instinctual, pressures related to passion, the devil)
• A means of obtaining substitute gratification (sublimation) of basic needs that have not been satisfied
• Thanatos, desire of animate matter to return to inanimate (die and/or be caught)
• But; modern theories don’t support

Question 33

Describe the personality trait theory of psychological theories

Answer 33

• Criminals show higher levels of all extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism
• First testable theory
• Extraverts seek stimulation, introverts typically over-aroused and avoid stimulation

Question 34

Describe the personality disorder theory of psychological theories

Answer 34

• Antisocial personality disorder: “Pattern of disregard for and violation of other rights occurring since age 15”
• Psychopathy: engage in frequent criminal activity with little or no remorse -> small percentage of law violaters (10-25%)

Question 35

Describe the control theory of social-psychological theories

Answer 35

People will behave antisocially unless they learn, through a combination of inner controls and external constraints on behaviour, not to offend

• It is largely external containment (e.g. Social pressure and institutionalised rules) that controls crime, but if these controls weaken, control of crime must depend on internal restraints. External constraints e.g. seeing a police offer

Question 36

Describe the learning theory of social-psychological theories

Answer 36

People directly acquire specific criminal behaviours through different forms of learning

• Operant learning: a person behaves criminally when such behaviour is favoured by reinforcement that outweighs punishment
• Social learning theory: behaviour is learned by observation through modelling

Question 37

Describe the social-labelling of social-psychological theories

Answer 37

Deviance is created by the labels that society assigns to certain acts
- The stigma of branded a deviant can create a self-fulfilling prophecy (e.g. teachers told bright girls) but little research due to ethics