Criminal Flashcards
What is the key question for criminal
Are eye witness testimonies reliable?
Post event information
Their own pre-existing knowledge is contaminated by pre existing schema, expectations, what the witnesses say, how police ask questions, media reporting
What method was used for the criminal exam
Interviews
Aim of my criminal exam
To investigate whether Ps given a cognitive interview after witnessing an armed robbery will yield more correct facts than Ps who are given standard interviews
Hypothesis for my criminal exam
I believe that Ps who were given the standard interview will provide less correct facts than those who had the cognitive interview
Nul hypothesis for criminal
There will be no difference
IV of my criminal exam
Cognitive interview or standard interview
Dependent variable of my criminal exam
How many correct facts
What group design was used in my criminal
Independent group design
Procedure of my criminal psychology exam
Students from 2 psychology classes were randomly given either a CI or SI- the psych students then found Ps to interview who were then instructed to sit in the center of the room in silence while watching the same crime take place. Once the video had finished they were taken to a silent area and interviewed by the psych students 1-1 and the psych students watched the crime, ticking off each correct piece of info mentioned. The scores were then tallied onto a chart. Watched vid once
What type of sample was used in criminal psych
Opportunity 16
What was the finding of my criminal exam
CI had 14 mean and SI had 11.9 mean, critical value was 15 so we accept our null hypothesis
What type of data was collected in my criminal psych
Ordinal data and Mann Whitney u
Conclusion of my criminal study
There was very little difference between SI and CI and our critical value of U=15 was too small meaning there was not enough difference and our null hypothesis is accepted
Weaknesses of my criminal exp
- ethical difficulties as may be upsetting to some viewers
-some ppts were psych students emanating although it was generalizable, they new about the protocol and they were only SW students so there needed to be a wider range
What can effect EWT
-alcohol consumption
-pre-trail publicity
-schemas and pre-existing knowledge
-appearance
-WFE
-contamination
-time
How they were interviewed
Why mights someone commit a crime
-XYY
-amygdala impairment
-social influence
-labelling theory
-mental health
- psychoticism
-self-fulfilling prophecy
- FL damage
-neglect
-warrior gene
Generalizability of lotus and palmer
The ps were all psych students meaning they understand and have knowledge about the memory so will be more likely t second guess
Reliability of LnP
7 health and safety vids shown and these can easily be replicated for accurate results, all ps also saw the same thing meaning there was no confounding variables under the controlled conditions
Application of LnP
The case of Ronald Cotton who was falsely accused of rape as the victim was led to believe it was him
Validity of LnP
Lab experiment - artificial environment however no outside influence howvever isn’t true to real lie crimes as it is expected for something to happen
Thicality of LnP
Saw a video of car crash so may be distressing
Gender differences in personality and temperament
Women typically have less testosterone and culturally are raised to be caring and less protective
Gender differences in labelling theory and SPF
Men are more likely to be labeled as criminals due to official bias and stereotypes
Gender differences in XYY
Only effects men as women don’t typically have the Y chromosome
Gender differences in brain injury
Men being more likely to get injured due to more psychical work and interests
Experiment 1 LnP sample
45 students, uni of Washington, opportunity sample
Experiment 1 LNP procedure
Lab experiment, 5 conditions only 1 to each ppt, independent measures, 1-7 traffic accident films in a random order to each group for 5-30seconds, they were then asked questions like ‘how fast were they going when they crashed’ with wording changed to hit, contacted, bumped, smashed and collided
IV of LnP exp1
Wording of Q
DV of LnP speed reported by Ps
Exp 1 results LnP
Contacted (31.8)
Hit (34)
Bumped (38.1)
Collided (39.3)
Smash (40.8)
Estimated speed affected by verb used
Exp 2 results LnP
Saw glass-
Smash- 16
Hit- 7
Control-6
Didn’t see glass-
34
40
44
Exp 2 LnP procedure
Were shown multiple accidents for 1 min or 4 secs and then a series of Q asked to sets of 50 students and then 1 week later without rewatching were asked 10 Qs- one random and one critical e.g did you see any broken glass when there wasn’t any
Exp 1 LnP sample
150 students
IV and DV of exp 1 LnP
IV- type of Q asked
DV- one random and one critical Q asked without rewatching the videos
What were the 3 options of Q asked in LnP
50- how fast were the car going when they hit each other
50- how fast were the car going when they smashed each other
50- not asked a Q (control)
Why was the ethical interview invented
Should treat suspects with respect and equals
Due process
Individual has rights which must be adhered to despite criminal justice system
Baldwin 1992
Looked over 400 or more police interviews where standards were low and there was many problems with process by the officers leading them astray
What did Baldwin suggest
That SI took a strong and provocative approach, leading to suspects refusing to take part and interviews being too judgmental
Purpose of PEACE
Meant to build trust and make the suspect feel they’re listened to as part of the ethical interview
P in peace interview
Planning and prep
Should get to know the case and plan before the interview
E in peace
Engage and explain
Report built alongside suspect make them feel comfortable
A in peace
Account
Individual asked to mention what they saw and is decided ho this is elicited in planning stage
C in peace
Closure
Maintain report and bring it to a comfortable end
E in peace
Evaluate
Evaluated against required aims to look at material that is obtained
Weakness of Ei
Practical issues as it requires specialist training in order to use peace effectively- this would be cost and time effective
Strengths of EI
Practical application to society as it linked to the improvement in the reliability of EWT as well as improving societies view on the police
When is the CI used
For cooperative witnesses
Simple technique
Provide open Q to tell the witness to report everything they remember
Context reinstatement
Encourages retrieval of visual place and scenario through pics or place
Reverse the temporal order of recall techniques
Makes the witness recall most recent episodic scenes by going backwards so they cant lie
Change perspective technique
Triggers more info and gets witness to see the bigger picture from the event
What did Geisleman 1986 see
Found that CI decreased the witnesses susceptibility to misleading Q and prevented original memory trace from being altered
Fisher 1990
Carried out a field test on the use of CI by comparing the performance of police before and after CI training. Detectives collected more info after training and most was accurate and there was more confabulation in witness statement
Independent
Differences recorded
Dependent
What was recorded
WFE
If a witness to a crime that involves a weapon, they will focus more attention on the weapon and remember more details
Tunnel theory
Excludes other competing information as the weapon produces a form of selective attention
Loftus WFE
Argues the weapon draws attention from the less dramatic visual info as Ps looked longer at the gun in a slide sequence
Pickle WFE
It’s the unusualness and the unexpected that draws the attention towards the weapon
Who are jurors
Randomly selected individuals who are seen as equals t the offender
John Massey
Killed a bouncer during a pub crawl and was found to have amygdala shrinkage, child abuse and his mum leaves hi, psychopathic personality,lack of feeling for other people and was shown different facial expressions to see how he would react, had a steady role as the driver for robbing banks
What can effect jurors
Accent, race, appearance, background, in group, media, gender
Why might a crime be committed
XYY, excess testosterone, neglect, amygdala impairment, SFP and labelling, social influence, mental health, psychoticism, FL damage and the warrior gene
How could cognitive behavioral therapy be used
- Tiggers
- Faulty cognitions
- Coping mechanisms
- Role play
How does dopamine link to agg
Agg activates the release of dopamine and generates the reward feelings and euphoria
What are dopamine antagonists
Chemicals that reduce the dopamine activity and in turn agg behavior- antipsychotics such as riperidone
What did leblanc study
Boys with conduct disorder or oppositional disorder
What did Leblanc study find
After6 weeks, those who were treated with risperidone showed a 56.4% reduction in agg compared to the placebo 21.7%
What does MPA/ Depo-provera do
Reduces sexual drive and deviant sexual fantasies by reducing levels of testosterone
What is labelling theory
How we classify ourselves and others using ‘labels’ whom then defines that person
Social- peers effect and determine behavior of others
Stereotypes are used t place people as criminals depending on race, gender, age and more
How does labelling theory lead to criminality
The individual is labeled as deviant which may lead to rejection from groups and leads to the deownfall
Master status
Becomes this as its the only thing they are known for
Deviance amplification
Commit more crime or join the wrong groups as you identify with it now
What did ramatour and Farrington
Identify gender differences in participation for violent crime- females criminals are much more effected by negative parenting labelling and formal labelling than males however they are still effected by informal labelling
Bessemer
Looked at the extent to which children of convicted parents had a higher risk of conviction themselves due to official bias and found there was a link between the two and other social influences were involved regardless of whether. Parent had a record
Official bias
Criminal justice system focuses on certain families due to stereotypes that they follow
SFP
When individuals who are labeled begin to believe the label given and fulfill the expectations
4 steps of SFP
Our actions, others beliefs, others actions, our beliefs
Jahoda
Studied males born on Monday (peaceful) and Wednesday ( aggressive) and found that criminal records of those born on wed were more likely to commit a crime with arrest rates of 22% compared to the 6%
Strength aNd weakness of SFP
Explanation for crime, unable to gather experimental evidence as it is psychological
Aim of Yuille and Cutshall
Wanted to investigate the accuracy in recall of EW to a real crime, in response to leading Q and overtime
What type of experiment was YnC
Field exp/ after event with real gun shooting
Crime in YnC
Their entered a gun shop and tied up owner who later freed himself in hopes of getting number plate however was shot and he in turn shot the thief with 21 witnesses
Procedure of YnC
21 EW interviewed by police howver this was volunteer in the study as 13 agreed to be a par after 4-5 months of the event.
The researchers interviewed the Ps using the same procedure as the police and then half the group was asked if they saw a broken headlight or the broken headlight
The other half of Ps were asked about the or a yellow panel on the car
And finally they were asked to rate the stress hey felt during the event with any emotional issues
Results of YnC
10 of the EW sai there was no broken headlight or yellow panel which was correct
Conclusion of YnC
Within an unmanipulated real case, it was useful to find that EW are actually very reliable
Strengths of YnC
-field study so has validity
-scoring procedure allowed for reliable finings as care was taken when assessing the details of the event
- qualitataive and quantitiavte data was provided meaning there was no subject interpretation
Weakness of YnC
- lacs generalizability asit was a one off incident and may be flashbulb memory where some events are remembered in more detail
-when asked about age for scoring they were said to be inaccurate however this was subjective
Evaluation of FLD
Reductionist as it doesn’t take into acc environmental
Phone as Gage-supporting evidence
Opposing- (raine) psychopaths and social learning with Bandura
Links to amygdala-reductionist as cant regulate emotions like impulsivity soleads to impulsive actions
Evaluation of amygdala impairment
Opposing- eysencks personality theory and other biological explanations, banduras social influence eg nurture
Pardini- reduced volume ppts more likely to be agg
Yang- aimed to detect abnormalities and showed results of volume reduction in psycophats- androcentric as only males
SM Feinstein- lack of fight or flight so more likely to take risks however amygdala is never the whole story
Application- useful for fear therapy, Charles Whitman and John Massey
Evaluation of personality theory
Eysenck- support that the role of personality can play a role in your emotions and psychopathy howver is reductionist as categories are linear and your personality type can change Ailey and be influenced- doesn’t account for personality disorders
Boduszek- support as assessed recidivism an found personality played a large role with high levels of psychoticism and extroversion
Opposing- bandura, internal and external locus with obedience, Milgram’s obedience
What does amygdala impairment cause
Controls emotions responses in the brain, reading the fight or flight response and when this is effected then fear or aggression can not be processed correctly and often link to higher criminal behaviors
Yang aim
To detect abnormalities in the amygdala in individuals with psychopathy
Yang procedure and sample
27 psycchopathic and 32 matched control who were examined through amygdala volumes
Yang results
Psychopathy showed significant volume reductions in comparison to controls (left 17.1% and right was 18.9%)
Yang evaluation
Many are born with psychopathy and not all brain damage has this effect- environment an genes an play a role
SM case
SM was unable to show fear responses to a series of spiders, haunted house and scary films due to amygdala lesions howver is still able to experience other emotions- this shows how important the amygdala is in the role of fear
Evaluation of SM case
Useful for fear therapy and understanding the amygdala
Is this always the case as sometimes it increases fear levels rather than reduces so reductionist an questionable
Physical attractiveness effect on jury
Attractive defendants woul be evaluated more positively as they have more positive qualities than unattractive
The halo effect
Cognitive bbias where the characteristics we expect of the person allow us to make a judgement and often happens to men on attractive women
Attractive leniency effect
When women typically give attractive individuals Essex sentencing due to positive expectations
Abwender and hough aim
To look into the influence of attractiveness when making judgements and sentencing
AnH procedure
207 ps where 129 were women and 78 men who were shown a case f a 25 year old woman who was pulled over by the police for wreckless driving while under influence of alcohol. Two versions of the story were provided and both involved a dad pedestrian however, one had a defendant described as attractive and the other was unattractive, Ps had to rate the defendant on a likely type scale including their level of responsibility, consumption and attractiveness
AnH evaluation
Mock trial-lab experiment so their decisions have no consequences howver it is illegal to sit in on a trial
AnH results
Both male and females with the attractive rated them as more attractive than those with the unattractive
Male ps gave longer sentences to the attractive
Female ps gave longer sentneces to unattractive
AnH conc
Jury will never be unbiased howver attractive people are typically held in higher regard
Aim of Bradbury and Williams
Whether the racial composition of a jury and the race of the defendant has an effect on the decision making process
Evaluation of BnW
Real trial due t hung jury so less control was to be put in place
- thickly implications as information can be explained and manipulated
Application- caseof OJ Simpson where 8/12 jurors were black and was found not guilty despite he was
Only from 4 diff states and only black defenders used so not generalizable
Procedure of BnW
Secondary data from four different US states, nlytrials with black defendants were used as these were 60% of the cases, there were 7 controls in place such as quality of evidence, trial length, case type and lawyer type
IV of BnW
Racila make up of the jury measured in percentage of white, black or Hispanic
DV of BnW
Whether or not the trial led to a conviction
Bn W results
A dominantly white jury were more likely convict black defendants as well as Hispanic jurors howver not as much
Jury’s with a gig percentage of black jurors were less likely and black defendants were more likely to e convicted with a drug crime rather than violent
Conclusion of BnW
The racial composition of the jury has a significant effect on the likelihood of conviction and outgroup bias may come into play as black defendants with a majority black jury are less likely
Social identity theory and race
We fav our those we feel most in common with and label them as our in-group
What is XYY syndrome
Occurs when a male has an extra copy of the Y chromosome in each of their cells and will have 47 instead of 46 chromosomes. It has been found that 15:1000 males in prison have this and 1:1000 in the population
Symptoms of XYY
Taller and more physically active
Impulsive behavior
Problems with speaking and processing words- lower IQ
Evaluation of XYY
Androcentric
Application to criminal minds
Theilgaard aim
To see if criminals had a particular gene that could be responsible for their criminal behavior
Theilgaard procedure
Blood samples from 30000 men where i was found that XXY 16, XYY 12 who were born in 1940s. The men were interviewed by social workers and their criminal records were analyzed alongside an intelligence andpersonality tests
Theilgaard results
XYY males had higher levels of aggression and lower intelligence levels
Evaluation of theilgaard
Nature - only explores genes and a reason for criminal behavior
Androcentric and only one age
This is only one reason
Stockhlom studied men from 15-70 years old and found there were more convictions of those with xxy
Eysencks personality theory
Established ideas ofintroversin and extroversion and believed that personality type has a biological cause as extroversion causes low levels of arousal so they engage in more risk taking behavior
What is neuroticism
A trait which experiences negative effects such as anxiety, anger, depression and takes place when the limbo system is overhwlemed- this is the fight or flight response so acts less reasonly and lashes out
Which personalities cause criminal personality
Extroversion and neuroticism and psychoticism
Hare 1993
Psychopathy emerges in early childhood and characterize persistent anti social behavior that effect the persons life such as centredness Nd lack of remorse
They tend to have a thinning or loss of tissue in the brain structures such as their frontal cortex
Boduszek 2013
133 violent offenders and 179 non violent males who self reported to measure criminal attitudes and identities and recidivism
Results of boduszek
Criminal thinking is moderated by personality and extroverts are less likely to be conditioned to punishment
Criminal thinking styles were correlated with high levels of psychoticism and extroversion
Steblay 1999 aim
To see the effect of negative petrial publicity on jurors judgements and to identify conditions where pretrial publicity effects are most likely to occur
Steblay procedure
Surveys and mock juries used.Ps were given negative info about a defendant and a crime before the trial with a sample of 5,755 .3 researches coded the studies and compare to publicity- real or made up, the origin of the trial- realor made up, the sample size and type of study- experimental or survey and info about controlgroup and what type of media was used
DV of steblay
Whether the defendant was guilty or not
Results of steblay
More likely to judge guilty as 59% of guilty verdicts were in the negative publicity condition and the 45% were guilty verdicts in the control group while the study included many variables related to the claim hat negative publicity effects jury decision making
Conclusion of steblay
Negative publicity affects jurors decision and view relating to the guilt of the defendant than those not exposed to it. Findings also back that in a community where crimes are more commonly reported, will create more of a bias surrounding the defendant.
Evaluation of steblay
Application to understand jury decision making and how strategies should be put in place to combat pre trial publicity like induced schemas
Wide range of P which encourages the study to be more representative
Meta analysis allows for quick results, 44 studies so could find more of a significance
Mock trial studies so the ps new they weren’t real
Ways to combat pre trial publicity
Gagging order on High profile cases put a prevention on the media to not report on anything and done in different cities to the crime
Pre trialpublicity
Media and other coverage before the trial has begun where the jury can feel prejudice towards the case and pushes for negative publicity to lead to a bias decision against the defendant
Where and why is a case formulation carried out
By a forensic or criminal psychologist to study the offender and reduce their chance of recidivism
How is information drawn for case formulation
Interviews with family, interview with offender, school/ criminal/ history/ medical/ social service records
What should be assessed under the case formulation
Background experiences, events and motivations, behavioral and cognitive factors that maintain behavior
Thoughts, feelings, physical symptoms, behavior surrounding the offense
What happens after the case formulation is completed
Appropriate treatment plan is drawn up to bring behavioral and cognitive change and reduce chances of reoffending
The good lives model
Example of an offender rehabilitation model that would shape case formulation for certain types of offenders by promoting their goals
X3 HCPC standards
Respect confidentiality
Manage your health
Promote and protect the interests of service users and careers
Why are hcpc standrds needed
For confidence and understanding of the best interest of the individual with professionalism.
Working to the best ability and make sure everyone is meeting the same standards where you are mindful f there’s
Multi-dispiplaniry referrals and reference
Positives of hcpc
-targets SMART make sure standards are met
-standards are enforced for all members to follow
Negatives of standards
If hcpc goes to far, it infringes on the members right to private life
Adds to stress of health work when becomes too intrusive
Suspending or striking off members for not following denies skilled psychologists
What is the risk assessment
Collection of information to determine the degree t which harm is likely to happen
Risk prediction
The assigning of probability for a person to endure n risky behavior within custody or not
Risk management
A set of operational procedures and support systems which limit risky behaviors
What could we do to stop things going wrong for the need of a risk assessment
Handcuffs needed and guarded cells
Panic buttons
Read case details to avoid tiggers
