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
