Ch. 7 - Forensic Science and Psychology

Question 1

What is Bertillon credited with?

Answer 1

Mugshots and crime scene photography. Using a ruler for scale.

Question 2

What is the Locard exchange principle?

Answer 2

If the offender comes into contact with objects at the scene of the crime, then the offender will leave traces of that contact on the objects.

Question 3

What did Münsterberg study?

Answer 3

Eyewitness testimony and the psychology of false confessions.

Question 4

Who are major crimes investigated by?

Answer 4

Identification (ident) officers; highly experienced officers who specialize in forensics.

Question 5

Who are minor crimes investigated by?

Answer 5

Scene of crime officers (soco); typically less experienced than CSIs.

Question 6

What has become the gold standard in evidence?

Answer 6

DNA evidence.

Question 7

How is forensic psychology used in police recruitment and training?

Answer 7

It helps in determining suitability for police work.

Question 8

What does psychological profiling of the offender do?

Answer 8

Uses all available information about a crime, crime scene, and victim in order to compose a profile of the perpetrator.

Question 9

What does investigative psychology do?

Answer 9

It focuses on the classification and description of criminals and their activities; showing a connection between the offenders’ criminal behaviour and their everyday lives.

Question 10

What sorts of factors impede the ability to get reliable eyewitness testimony?

Answer 10

Self-confidence, desire to make an identification, social influences, faulty instructions.

Question 11

What is VIPER?

Answer 11

A huge database of volunteer mugshots so that police can pull a number of innocent people’s pictures from it to match a description.

Question 12

What are two types of false confessions?

Answer 12

Voluntary and coerced.

Question 13

What are reasons for false confessions?

Answer 13

Notoriety, protecting someone, failing to distinguish reality and fantasy.

Question 14

What is a common factor in coerced confessions?

Answer 14

The confrontational nature of police interrogations.

Question 15

What is the Mohan criteria used for?

Answer 15

Determining the admissibility of expert testimony.

Question 16

What are the 4 Mohan criteria?

Answer 16

Relevance, necessity criteria, exclusionary rules, and recognized expertise.

Question 17

What counts for relevance with regards to the Mohan criteria?

Answer 17

Logically relevant and non-prejudicial testimony.

Question 18

What counts for necessity criteria with regards to the Mohan criteria?

Answer 18

Knowledge neither the judge nor jury would be expected to know; expert knowledge.

Question 19

What counts for exclusionary rules with regards to the Mohan criteria?

Answer 19

It must not be related to evidence already excluded.

Question 20

What counts for recognized expertise with regards to the Mohan criteria?

Answer 20

The recognized expertise of the standee based on experience or training - determined by the judge.

Question 21

What is the McNaughton Rule?

Answer 21

They cannot be convicted if, at the time of the offence, the individual had some form of mental defect or disease of the mind that made the person incapable of knowing what he or she was doing was wrong.

Question 22

How is legal insanity determined?

Answer 22

Using the Rogers Criminal Responsibility Assessment Scale (R-CRAS).

Question 23

What challenges are there to the R-CRAS?

Answer 23

It varies depending on the assessor and how they choose to use this scale. It also determines the mental state at the time of the crime, not as they are now.