children and the justice system, stalking, and homicidal offenders Flashcards
what are some factors that lead to a renewed interest in child witnesses?
- expert psychological testimony was becoming more acceptable in the courtroom (explained the abilities of children n the impact of their testimonies)
- social scientists were interested in research that could be applied to real-world problems
- studies on adult eyewitness testimonies were increasing (comparison of behavior child vs adult)
- the legal community became interested in behavioural science research regarding child witnesses (bc increase of sexual and physical abuse against children or being witness)
why had children’s testimonies been traditionally treated with suspicion by the justice system?
preschool children, in particular, were believed to be incompetent witnesses because of concerns over their memory limitations, linguistic immaturity, and conceptual underdevelopment
what are some general guidelines for interviewing preschool children?
- child needs to be able to engage in verbal conversations
- child may need to be older than 3 years old
- the crime must have occurred after the child is 2 years or older
what does some psychological reseach say with regards to memory dev in children?
- childhood amnesia in children: young kids can recall things from personal experiences from first few years of life
- visual retrieval aids for preschool children: benefit from having help bc kids don’t have good mnemonics strategies
what does some psychological reseach say with regards to language dev in children?
- verbal report of an event is frozen in time: when recall an event from when they were younger, they use the vocab they had at the time of the event
- question format (yes or no vs w’s questions): being asked bizzare questions in yes no format, kids will say yes instead of idk; less errors of recall when using the what, who, when…
what does some psychological reseach say with regards to conceptual dev in children?
- strong reliance on scripts in their recall: younger kids (3-4 yr) rely on scripts in recall and might say things that didn’t happen
what are the two factors influencing suggestibility in children?
- social compliance: bc they trust n want to cooperate w interviewer even if don’t understand question, have good intention
- changes to the cognitive system: tend to misattribute where info came from (thinking that something someone told u is ur actual experience)
name the main interview techniques used with children?
- anatomically detailed dolls
- criterion-based content analysis
- step-wise interview
- narrative elaboration
explain anatomically details dolls
- mainly used in sexual abuse cases
- will demonstrate the event experienced while playing w dolls (but might also create fanstasy/false details)
- no standardized way on how to use
- used when kids may have difficulty verbalizing what occured
explain criterion-based content analysis
- analysis using criteria to distinguish truthful from false statements made by children
- a component of a protocol called the statement validity analysis
- 1) structure interview with child 2) a systematic analysis of the verbal content of the victim’s statement 3) application of a statement validity checklist
explain the step-wise interview
- interview protocol with a series of steps designed to start the interview with the least leading and directive type of questioning then proceeding to more specific forms of questioning
- mainly using open ended question
explain narrative elaboration
- teaching them how to tell a story before they recall the critical event, using cues (picture cards) to remind what to talk about
what are children’s abilities with regards to target present and absent lineups?
- present: as young as 5, comparable to adults
- absent: children as old as 14 produce more errors (false identification) than adults
how does elimination lineup look for kids?
- all lineup photos are presented to the child and the child is asked to select the lineup member who looks the most like the culprit (relative judgment)
- after removing all the other pics except the one they chose, the child is asked to compare his or her memory of the culprit with the most-similar photo selected in the first stage and decide if the photo is of the culprit (absolute judgment)
what are some courtroom accommodations for children testifying in court?
- sitting in a different room but televised live in the courtroom
- child can decide who they want to be next to them white providing testimony, but if that person is a witness in the same court, that person must testify first
- shield/screen to separate the child and defendant so that the child does not see the defendant’s face
- child may be video-recorded while being interviewed about the details of the crime
- statements made by the child during initial disclosure of the abuse may be allowed as evidence (in cases of sexual abuse, ex. if a child talked to mom abt abuse, the mom can testify on behalf of child in court)
- courtroom may be closed to the public and/or media to protect the privacy of the child/ publication ban may be granted
what is stalking?
- repeated physical or visual proximiity
- non-consensual communication
- verbal, written, or implied threats
- sufficent to cause fear in a reasonable person
- crime of intimidation
what are the four categories of stalkers? in the ppt
- simple obsession stalkers: the most common kind, continuation of a previous pattern of dv in an intimate relationship, victim is usually former spouse
- love obsession stalkers: stalker and victim are casual acquaintances, includes celebrity stalking, primary motivation is to establish a personal relationship with victim
- erotomania stalking: offender is often plagued by serious mental disorders (most often schizophrenia), highly delusional, believe that the relationship with their victim already exists
- vengeance stalkers: they do not seek a personal relationship with their targeted victim, but rather try to elicit a particular response from their victim; vengeance is the prime motive (hopping they feel scared and move to a diff city or sumn)
what factors usually contribution to someone stopping stalking?
- finding a new love interest
- law enforcement intervention, with the exception of more formal intervention such as arrest
- relocation of the victim
talk abt about juvenile stalkers
more dangerous than adult stalker, prefer most direct contact w victim
name the four types of homicides in canada
- first-degree murder
- second-degree murder
- manslaughter
- infanticide
what are the caracs of first degree murder?
- all murder that is planned and deliberate
- murder of a law enforcement officer or correctional staff member
- murder occurring during the commission of another violent offence (ex. someone dies during sexual assult)
what are the caracs of second-degree murder?
- all murder not considered first-degree murder
- still have intention to kill, but not planned
what are the caracs of manslaughter
- unintentional murder that occurs during the “heat of passion” (anger, provocation, etc)
- intention to harm but NOT to kill
- criminal negligence (died bc of lack of assisstance)
what are the caracs of infanticide
- when a woman kills her newborn due to a mental disorder arising from the effect of childbirth
- post partum depression/psychosis during the first year after giving birth, not able to use NCRMD
- maximum sentence of 5 years in prison
what is the bimodal classification of agression and homicide? explain
- reactive: violence that is unplanned, immediate, driven by negative emotions, and occurring in response to some perceived provocation; usually relatives or sumn u know
- instrumental: violence that is premeditated, calculated, motivated by some goal, usually strangers
what is uxoricide (feminicide)
killing wife
what is mariticide (androcide)
killing husband
what is neonaticide
- a mother who kills her baby within 24h after birth
- usually young, unamarried, no history of mental illness, concealed pregnancy bc fear of no support
what is filicide
- parent killing their child
what is familicide
killing of spouse and at least one child
what is parricide
killing ones parent or close relative
what is fraticide and sororicide
killing ones sibling
what are the caracs of battering mothers
kill impulsively based on behavior of child, history of stress
what are the caracs of mothers with mental illness who kill
- older
- married
- kill older children,
- multiple victims
- psychosis/depression
- category most likely to attempt suicide after
what are the caracs of fathers who kill
- fatal child abuse
- higher rates of alcohol abuse
- familicide is almost always committed by father
what are the caracs of youth who kill
- youth who killed parents more likely to be victim/witness of abuse
- report amnesia for murder
what are the caracs of spousal killers
- husband more likely to kill wife
- high incident of suicide after
- most common motive is jealousy for infidelity or estrangement
what is a serial murderer?
- killing of min 3 ppl over time
- time interval btwn muders (cooling off period)
- longer cooling off btwn first n second, n less longer afterwards
what is a mass murder and caracs of offender
- killing of 3 of more
- same location, no cooling off period
- suspect likely to commit suicide or killed by police
- depressed, angry, belived not succeded in life
- lack interpersonal skill, planned crime n display warning sign
what is a spree murder?
- killing of three or more, in different location
- no cooling off period
- likely to suicide, least common
what are some caracs of serial murders?
- most serial murderers are male
- most serial murderers operate on their own
- most serial murderers are Caucasian
- victims of serial murderers are usually young females who are not related to the murderer
name the four main categories of serial murders
- visionary serial murder
- mission-oriented serial murder
- hedonistic serial murder
- power/control serial murder
what is a visionary serial murder?
kills in response to voices or visions telling him or her to kill
what is mission-oriented serial murder?
targets individuals from a group that he or she considers undesirable
what is hedonistic serial murder?
- motivated by self-gratification
- lust serial murderer: motivated by sexual gratification
- thrill serial murderer: motivated by the excitement associated with the act of killing
- comfort serial murderer: motivated by material or financial gain
what is power/control serial murder?
- motivated by wanting to have absolute dominance over the victim
