Criminal Psychology Flashcards
Dixon aim
Investigate influence of English regional accent compared to Birmingham on if criminal suspect found guilty
Dixon sample
119 white undergrad white psy students
24 men/95 women
If grew up in Birmingham excluded
Dixon method
Random allocation to conditions
- watched 2 min tae recording of fake interrogation
- suspect early 20s who played both brummie and English accent (pleads innocent)
- type manipulated (armed robbery/cheque fraud)
- race (black/white description from interrogator)
- participants complete 7 point semantic differential from innocent to guilty
Dixon results
Significant higher guilt with brummie
Accented, black and robbery most high guilt (3 way interaction)
Dixon conclusion
Supports previous research and accent associated with higher guilt (especially blue collar)
Penrod & Cutler
Used mock jury of students
- fake robbery trial
- one group heard female witness saying 80% confident
- one group heard witness day 100% confident
80%= 60% guilty
100%= 67% guilty
Implementation:
If they aren’t that confident, do not mention how confident you are. If they are 100% confident advise them to tell that to the jury
Castellow
Mock jury presented with receptionist accusing male employer of S/H
Most likely to be found guilty if painting attractive and D unattractive
Implementation:
Defence could advise D to get a haircut before the trial etc
Pennington & Hastie
Witness order= order most likely to sway jury perhaps best witnesses last)
Story order= order events occurred
Pros use witness/Defence use story- 31%
Defence use witness- 78%
Implementation:
Lawyers can use strategy of putting witnesses in story order (chronological) to get their desired verdict
Broeder
If inadmissible evidence (not relevant to if guilty of current crime) is brought up, should jury be told to disregard it?
Told driver had no insurance- awarded $33,000
Told had insurance- $37,000
Told to disregard they had insurance- $46,000
Reactance theory- stronger you try to alter, stronger jury resist
Implementation:
When inadmissible evidence stated that is evidence against your defendant, do not tell them to disregard as this can trigger reactance theory
Dixon implementation
Make jury aware of these unconscious biases and so are more able to combat them
Tell D to try and tone down any non traditional accent to help their case
Newman
Quasi experiment
Investigate how design of housing can reduce crime
- projects ‘van dyke’ and ‘Brownsville’ were NY projects on housing communities designed for low income
Factors that create defensible space:
1. Zone of territorial influence- markers like hedges/fences to make it seem private
2. Opportunities for surveillance- people entering communal area can easily be spotted when housing is around a courtyard
Defensible space lowers crime as the area feels controlled and isolates the criminal
Zero Tolerance
Being stricter on minor crime also reduces serious crime
William Bratton pioneered use of zero tolerance policy
Started with using it on fare dodgers, then widened policy to NY
Conducted sweeps, arrests for graffiti, public drinking
Arrests for serious crime in NY fell 22%
However, lead also banned from petrol and paint and said to cause violent behaviour
Brown
Looked at CCTV in cities
Newcastle, Birmingham, Kings Lynn
- effective in preventing crime in all cities
- after intro of CCTV, burglaries in Newcastle reduced by 56%
- effective in reducing anti social behaviour and come where large groups congregate
Ernest Jones et al
50% reduction in littering when posters contained eyes in comparison to flowers
- didn’t matter whether message on poster was regarding littering
Armitage
Cul-de-sacs, street lights and no leaky footpaths prevent crime
Wilson & Kelling
Individual/situational
Research is situational if circumstances of the criminal’s situation affects behaviour
- situation of police presence
- situation of put together community which looks after themselves and would notice any crime and care enough to challenge it
Newson
Individual/situational
Research is situational when elements of the environment around them influence behaviour
- opps 4 surveillance eg. Houses designed around a courtyard
- situation of being easy to spot in defensible spaces prevents crime
Ernest Jones
Individual/situational
Research is individual when characteristics independent of the person influences behaviour
- 50% reduction in littering when posters contained eyes
- half continued which suggests there is elements of an individuals makeup which affects their reaction to these posters
- not a strong conscious/ moral compass
- being a risk taker
Brown
Usefulness
Research not useful when only provides a temporary fix
- found burglaries decreased when CCTV introduced to cities
- Burrows found this only displaced crime (was still committed in diff location)
- not useful as does not provide long term solution with the main benefit we are looking for which is prevention not to change location of crime
Zero tolerance policy NY- Bratton
Usefulness
Research is useful when practical implementation can be made
- conducted sweeps and arrested people for public drinking, graffiti and other minor crimes
- useful because can be used for jobs (police) and is achievable in real life situation and effective from real life example not surveys/hypothetical
Ernest Jones
Usefulness
Research is useful if there are lots of easy opportunities put findings to use
- posters in advertising are very common and so it would be easy to get lots of companies behind using eyes so this could have lots of use as it’s practical to implement
Wilson & Kelling
Ethnocentrism
Research is ethnocentric when only carried out in one location
- carried out in Jersey (one state in America) not applicable to multiple ethnicities, localities etc
Zero tolerance policy- Bratton
Ethnocentrism
Research not ethnocentric if they study a multicultural/diverse area
- they expanded this policy to the whole of NY (the most linguistically diverse city in the world) which contains many different cultural backgrounds
Brown
Ethnocentrism
Research is ethnocentric if it can only be applied to a specific type of locality
- carried out in Birmingham, New Castle, Kings Lynn
- can only be applied to urban areas (cities) and English
Broader
Individual/situational
Research is situational if behaviour relies on context of information
- looked at whether admissible evidence is told to be disregarded or not
- amount awarded depends on language given to ‘disregard’ or no other context given
Pennington & Hastie
Individual/situational
Research is situational if behaviour depends on order of information given
- defence using story order (31% guilt)
- defence using witness order (78% guilt)
- situation because based on differing storylines and strategies in courtroom
Dixon
Individual/situational
Research is individual if a person’s values and personal biases influence behaviour
- found 3 way interaction of brummie, black & blue collar crime had highest guilt
- behaviour influenced by individual’s judgemental nature or racial biases specific to their own personality and experiences
Broeder
Usefulness
Research not useful if it’s unlikely able to be implemented
- being told to disregard inadmissible evidence evidence has significant influence on jury (reactance theory)
- lawyers may not get use out of this theory as certain procedures may mean inadmissible evidence has to be told to jury to disregarded regardless of it’s effects
Castellow
Usefulness
Research is useful when it addresses common issues in real life
- mock jury found D guilty the most when plaintiff attractive and D unattractive in sexual harassment case
- inadmissible evidence may not always occur in cases but physical appearance of D’s and C’s unavoidable in court and so can always be advised to get a fresh haircut before trial etc
Pennington & Hastie
Usefulness
Useful when practical implementation can be made
- defence used story order (31% guilt)
- defence use witness order (78% guilt)
- pros & defence lawyers prepare cases as their job and choose order of witnesses so this can be easily adapted by using info from this study
