Ch.3 - The Psychology of Police Investigations

Question 1

Police rely on

Answer 1

witnesses, victims, and suspects to fill in details about crimes

Question 2

Evidence is often collected

Answer 2

through interrogations

Question 3

two goals of a police interrogation:

Answer 3

1.Obtain a confession

2.Gain information that will further the investigation (e.g., the location of evidence)

Question 4

History of coercive measures:
Mid 1900s

Answer 4

Whipping suspects to get a confession

Question 5

History of coercive measures 1980s

Answer 5

Stun guns used by the NYPD to extract confessions

Question 6

History of coercive measures: More Recent

Answer 6

Psychological methods such as trickery and deceit (e.g., lying about evidence)

Question 7

What is The Reid Model of Interrogation

Answer 7

The Reid model is a common interrogation method

Question 8

Reid Model: 3 steps

Answer 8

1) Gather evidence
2) Conduct a non-accusatorial interview to assess deception (guilt)
3) Conduct an accusatorial interrogation to obtain a confession (9 steps)

Question 9

The third stage involves _ steps to break down the suspect’s resistance to confessing

Answer 9

9 steps

Question 10

9 Steps of Reid designed to:

Answer 10

to make the anxiety associated with deception (i.e., by maintaining one’s innocence) greater than the anxiety associated with confessing

Question 11

Two categories of techniques included in the Reid mode

Answer 11

Minimization and Maximization

Question 12

Minimization techniques

Answer 12

Soft sell tactics that provide a sense of false security (e.g., justifying the crime)

Question 13

Maximization techniques

Answer 13

Scare tactics that attempt to intimidate suspects (e.g., making up evidence)

Question 14

Potential Problems with the Reid Model

Answer 14

1.Deception detection
2.Comprehension of legal rights
3.Investigator bias
4.False confessions

Question 15

Goal of canadian interrogations

Answer 15

Appeal to suspects pride with flattery (57%)

Question 16

What is a Mr.Big operation

Answer 16

Undercover officers
* Lure suspect into organized crime
* Get suspect to commit minor crimes
* Needs to be interviewed by the boss (“Mr. Big”)
* Confesses to something more serious (the crime under investigation)

Question 17

Research suggests that the Reid model

Answer 17

elicit false confessions

Question 18

what do undercover officers do

Answer 18

befriend suspect

Question 19

Disadvantages of Mr.Big Operation

Answer 19

• not allowed in most countries
• made & allowed in Canada (controversial)
• In U.S. : considered entrapment
• sometimes bring false confessions

Question 20

how much % falsely confess to a crime in an exonerated case

Answer 20

25%

Question 21

What are the 3 types of false confessions

Answer 21

-Voluntary
-Coerced-compliant
-Coerced-internalized

Question 22

Which false confessions are the police involved in

Answer 22

-Coerced-compliant
-Coerced-internalized

Question 23

Which false confession is the most common

Answer 23

Coerced-compliant

Question 24

Voluntary confession

Answer 24

• A voluntary false confession occurs without being prompted by the police

Question 25

Reasons for false voluntary confession

Answer 25

-mental
- protect real offender
- need to be punished

Question 26

Coerced-Compliant False Confessions

Answer 26

false confession occurs in response to a desire
to escape further interrogation or to gain a promised reward

-confessor knows they didnt commit crime

Question 27

Coerced-Internalized False Confessions

Answer 27

false confession results from suggestive interrogations

• People suffering from brain impairments, extreme anxiety, or confusion may be more susceptible

Question 28

Computer key study by Kassin and Kiechel (1996)

Answer 28

People believe they pressed the tab button

Question 29

• Criminal profiling

Answer 29

technique for identifying the personality and behavioural features of an offender based on an analysis of the crimes they have committed
-* Used in serial crime investigations, particularly homicide and sexual assault/rape

Question 30

Of the Computer key study by Kassin and Kiechel (1996) which group is the most vulnerable

a. slow, false evidence
b.slow, no false evidence
c.fast, false evidence
d. fast, no false evidende

Answer 30

c

Question 31

Why is criminal profiling only in serial crimes

Answer 31

Need repeating evidence to create profile

Question 32

Criminal profiles are used for a variety of purposes

(P.E.F.R.IA)

Answer 32

• prioritize suspects
  –develop new lines of enquiry
• flush out offenders
  -determine risk
  – provide interrogation advice

Question 33

why would you need to develop new lines of enquiry

Answer 33

at loss for place to look

Question 34

why would you need to determine risk

Answer 34

for the public saftey

Question 35

why would want to be provided interrogation advice

Answer 35

to know what questions to ask

Question 36

Types of Profiling

Answer 36

-Deductive profiling
-Inductive profiling

Question 37

Deductive profiling

Answer 37

Profiling an offender from evidence relating to that offender’s crimes

Question 38

Inductive profiling

Answer 38

Profiling an offender from what is known about other offenders who have committed similar (solved) crimes

Question 39

Organized-Disorganized Model

Answer 39

The most widely known inductive profiling approach is the organized-
disorganized model developed by the FBI –

Question 40

Problems with the Organized-Disorganized Model

Answer 40

• The small amount of research done raises doubts about its validity
• What about offenders who display a mixture of organized and disorganized features?

Question 41

Potential Problems with Profiling

Answer 41

–It lacks a strong theoretical base (trait v. state)
–Profiles are too ambiguous (vauge) to be useful (ex, “social misfit”)
–Professional profilers are not usually more accurate

Question 42

explain trait vs state

Answer 42

• stable characteristic (high-self esteem)
  -state (comes and goes)

Question 43

Geographic Profiling

Answer 43

an analysis of crime scene locations in order to determine the most probable area of offender residence

Question 44

• offenders do not ___ to commit the majority of their crimes

Answer 44

not travel long distances from home

Question 45

• Geographic profiling systems rely on mathematical models of spatial
  behaviour where the crime ___ related to ___

Answer 45

where the crime has been committed location related to crime

Question 46

• Computer programs are used, but

Answer 46

people can be trained easily to figure out the same information