Criminal Flashcards
what is labelling?
labels are given to make judgements about who the person is. being labelled as a criminal will define them and affect how society acts towards them.
Becker (1963)- argues that powerful groups in society create deviance by making up rules and applying them to people they see as outisiders, what counts as criminal behaviour only becomes labelled by others making crime a social construct.
evaluation of labelling
- only a partial explanation, implies that without labelling crime would not exist, this seems to suggest that someone who has committed an offence but has not been labelled is not a criminal, labelling is too simplistic.
- lack of evidence, there is evidence into labelling but the studies are all conducted in an educational setting meaning its difficult to then apply to crime, this is because there are too many factors between crime and labelling.
- Braithwaite (1989) owes crime and reoffending rates occur when crime is shamed effectively, reintegrative shaming is preferable where the person receives support and is helped back into society. if offenders are labelled it may effect their retake back into society.
cognitive interview
- report everything
- resinate in context
- reverse the order
- change perspective
enhanced cognitive interview
fisher (1987)- paying more attention to aspects between interviewer and interviewee, eye contact, reducing distractions, asking open ended questions
strengths of cognitive interview
- evidence suggests its more effective than standard interview techniques. geielsman (1985) showed a violent crime video and then later interviewed them using either CI or standard interview or hypnosis. average number of correct recalled faces was 41.2 for CI, 29.4 for standard interfere and 38 for hypnosis.
- Milne and bull (2002) found that individual elements of CI would be more effective in electing accurate information. a combination of report everything and reinstate context was most effect. CI is time consuming so using some rather tan all may be better
weakness of cognitive interview
may increase recall of inaccurate information, Kohnken (1999) recorded 81% increase in correct information using CI but 61% increase in incorrect information.
what is post event information
refers to any information that arrives after an event that may affect eye witness testimonies. memory is reconstructive so any details forgotten may be filled in w9th tis information swell as schema making it inaccurate
Loftus and palmer aim
to see the effect of post event information specifically leading question on eye witness testimonies
Loftus and palmer procedure experiment 1
45 students shown film clips ranging from 5-30 seconds long. participants split into groups of nine and were all asked critical question ‘how fast were the cars going when they …… into each other?’ each group had different work hit, smashed etc
Loftus and palmer experiment 1 findings
smashed was 40.8, hit was 34 and collided was 39.3
Loftus and palmer experiment 1 conclusion
shows that post event information can have an effect on the recall of events
Loftus and palmer experiment 2 procedure
150 participants shown 1 minute film of car accident, 3 groups one asked speed with work hit, one with work smashed and other was control asking how fast. after a week participants called back and asked if they saw broken glass
Loftus and palmer experiment 2 findings
smashed highest speed estimate, were more likely to report seeing glass. 16 reported yes for smashed, 7 hit and 6 in control.
Loftus and palmer experiment 2 conclusion
post event information creates response bias, it altered persons memory of the event
strengths of Loftus and palmer
- well controlled , lab setting meaning controlled variables making it standardised- reliable
- lead to a review in the legal system, Devlin report stated that juries should not convict on the basis of a eye witness testimony.
