criminal theory Flashcards
describe biological explanations, including brain injury, amygdala, and aggression, xyy syndrome, personality
The biological approach to criminal behaviour looks at the structure of and activity within our brains and bodies, through the nervous system (via neurotransmitters) and the endocrine system (via hormones), and how these are directly correlated with things like aggression, violence, or anger for example.
Explaining ‘the criminal’ from a biological approach goes back many years, when Lombroso argued that criminals could be identified by facial features. His was one of the earliest attempts to make a scientific study of aggression. By using measurements from both the heads and faces of living prisoners, and the skulls of dead criminals he put forward a theory that criminals differed biologically from non-criminals. He argued that criminals were not as evolved as non-criminals, and they were an “evolutionary throwback” to an earlier stage of evolution. This idea is known as atavism.
He claimed that this caused them to be impulsive and less able to control their basic urges. Criminal types could be identified from their facial characteristics which he argued were signs of atavism. For example, he argued that criminals had low foreheads, shifty eyes and would show a reduced sensitivity to pain. Furthermore, he argued that certain types of criminals could be identified by facial features. For example, he said that in murderers the nose is “aquiline” like the beak of a bird.
describe brain injury as a biological explanation for crime and anti-social behaviour and describe application
Trauma
Can be caused by a range of factors such as car accident, a fall or the result of being involved in a criminal activity etc. Also, long term drug or alcohol abuse could be responsible for criminal behaviour, for example the toxic effect of alcohol on the central nervous system due to the reduction of absorption of vitamin B1 can lead to significant brain injury as this vitamin acts a nutrient for brain tissue. Deficiencies in this area can cause problems with balance (which may lead to further brain injury) and impaired decision making (which could lead to aggression and violence).
Frontal lobe damage
Affects problems solving abilities and decision making so damage here can lead to violence and anti-social behaviour. In addition, injuries here tend to lead to poor control over impulses / outbursts of behaviour and a lack of interpersonal sensitivity.
Damage to the limbic system
Could help to explain high recidivism rates. Damage to the hippocampus may affect the accuracy of how a memory is stored so a criminal event is stored differently making it more likely to be repeated. Damage to the hypothalamus could affect control of rage and pleasure a person experiences, which make explain offenders who torture their victims, as the brain is not able to process information in an appropriate way.
· Brain injury was evident in Phineas Gage, who in 1848 while working on a rail line, experienced a drastic accident in which a piece of iron went through his skull. Although Gage survived this ordeal, he did experience a change in personality and temperament, such as loss of inhibition and increased anger. This change provided evidence to support the idea that aggression and anger were localised brain functions (Damasio et al 1994).
Application
Diaz (1995) was interested in the insanity defense, which is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. This plea can relate to structural and functional brain issues, including brain injury. Diaz confirms that the most common areas of brain damage from trauma are the frontal lobes, the temporal lobes and the brain stem, and a lot of studies relate frontal lobe damage to anti-social and possibly criminal behaviour.
describe gender differences and brain injury for individual differences
Bruns and Hauser (2003) claim that males are at a higher risk of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury: an injury caused by an accident rather than an illness) than are females. They give evidence for this claim, such as in Olmsted County (US) in the adolescent and young adult age groups, the TBI ratio of males to females is more than 2:1. They suggest that in young adults a high ratio of males to females in terms of TBI might be because of interpersonal violence and motor vehicle collisions. In South Africa, the ratio of TBI was more than 4:1 and the greatest difference in gender was in young adults. They put this down to the amount of interpersonal violence.
So, the biological explanation of brain injury as a cause of crime and anti-social behaviour does not show gender differences in the anatomical brain biology but does show gender differences in people experiencing traumatic brain injury.
strengths for brain injury as an explanation of criminal and anti-social behaviour
Volkow and Tancredi (1987) found that two out of four violent psychiatric patients showed frontal lobe damage as shown using PET scanning. There seem to be reasonably consistent findings that frontal lobe brain injury relates to problem behaviour, this increases the plausibility that brain injury does have an impact on criminal and anti-social behaviour.
Evidence for brain injury explaining criminal and anti-social behaviour comes from case studies eg, Phineas Gage and from studies using brain scanning, as well as from the use of tests of executive functioning. Therefore, many different methods are used to come to similar conclusions about frontal lobe damage and aggression, this gives the research findings of such research reliability and therefore gives the brain injury explanation more credibility.
weaknesses for brain injury as an explanation of criminal and anti-social behaviour
Studies tend to show an association between frontal lobe brain damage and aggression in behaviour, which can relate to criminal or anti-social behaviour. However, as Diaz (1995) points out, scientific evidence is hard to find. There are other factors relating to criminal behaviour, such as being young and male, witnessing violence in the family, having previous convictions, or possibly having PTSD with anger and impulsivity as well as drug and alcohol misuse. It is hard to pinpoint brain injury alone as a cause for criminal behaviour, even though some studies show a relationship. Finding cause-and-effect conclusions is hard given the evidence that must be used (such as case studies and scanning) and the complexity of the behaviour.
There are individual differences in brain injury and differences between individuals in behaviour that is affected. This means it is hard to draw strong conclusions that a certain brain injury will lead to certain behaviour. Notwithstanding the amount of evidence that does relate brain injury in the frontal lobes to aggression, there may be other related factors involved in the aggressive behaviour.
describe amygdala and aggression as a biological explanation for crime and antisocial behaviour
When someone enters a potentially stressful situation, the amygdala (part of the limbic system) is activated. The amygdala responds to sensory input and connects sensory input with emotions associated with the fight or flight response (e.g., fear and anger). If the situation is deemed as stressful/dangerous, the amygdala sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus, which communicates with the body through the sympathetic nervous system. The SNS stimulates the adrenal medulla. The adrenal medulla secretes the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream. Adrenaline causes several physiological changes to prepare the body for fight or flight, for example increasing heart rate to increase blood flow to organs and increase the movement of adrenaline around the body.
Yang et al. (2009) was to look for regions in the amygdala that are problematic in psychopaths. The volume of the amygdala of each person was measured. They found that people with psychopathy had volume reductions on both amygdalae (bilateral) compared with the controls. There were significant correlations between the reduced volumes and the psychopathy scores, and the strongest correlations related to emotions and interpersonal abilities and the amygdala volume.
describe gender differences for amygdala and aggression - individual differences
Early research into the fight or flight response was typically conducted on males (androcentrism) and consequently, researchers assumed that the findings could be generalised to females. This highlights a beta bias as psychologists assumed that females responded in the same way as males, until Taylor provided evidence of a ‘tend and befriend’ response. Studies including males and females looking at the role of the amygdala in anti-social and aggressive behaviour seem not to highlight any gender differences.
Taylor et al. (2000), women are more likely to protect their offspring (tend) and form alliances with other women (befriend), rather than fight an adversary or flee. Furthermore, the fight or flight response may be counterintuitive for women, as running (flight) might be seen as a sign of weakness and put their offspring at risk of danger.
Shirtcliff et al. (2009) suggest gender differences in empathy (more in girls) and conduct disorders (more in boys). They believe that the amygdala is important in emotions and so it can be assumed that differences in emotionality between the genders might come from differences in the amygdala, thus may lead to differences in criminality.
Swantje et al (2012) conducted MRI scanning of 20 healthy women. Each participants amygdala
was measured, and an aggression score worked out. Those with a higher aggressive score 16-18% had an amygdale of lower volume. They concluded that the volume of the amygdala can predict the personality trait of aggression. This also highlights how the ole of the amygdala may not differ in men and women.
strengths of amygdala as an explanation for criminal and antisocial behaviour
Pardini et al. (2013) conducted a longitudinal study of 56 men with histories of violence and found that men with lower volumes of the amygdala were a lot more likely to show aggressive and violent behaviour, as well as psychopathic traits, than a control group of men with normal sized amygdala. This can be applied to wider social understanding of criminality and allow interventions and therapies to be designed that can help reduce reoffending.
Hyde et al. (2014) used both men and women in their study looking at anti-social personality disorder and psychopathy, relating these to negative emotionality and amygdala reactivity to perceived threat and to distress. They found higher anti-social personality scores associated with higher negative emotionality and higher amygdala activity. This suggests that the amygdala has a role in anti-social behaviour, and psychopathy, although in different ways. This provides supporting evidence for the role of the amygdala.
weaknesses of amygdala as an explanation for criminal and antisocial behaviour
One problem with research that focuses on biological explanations such as the amygdala is that it tends to concentrate on aggressive or violent behaviours. Crime is a much broader issue in society, for example theft, robbery, shop lifting, illegal drug use or distribution, for example. Often these are not violent or aggressive, so explanations of biological differences may ignore social factors such as age, social class, poverty, or even crowd behaviours.
Scanning is seen as scientific, objective, reliable and, to an extent valid, which are strengths. However, when relating what is found in the scans to behaviour, it is harder to achieve those qualities. For example, psychopathic tendencies are hard to relate to crime and violence directly and there are many factors that relate to crime and violence, including age, gender and early life experiences. A scan might show reduced amygdala volume but relating this research to aggression and criminal behaviour does not have the same objectivity and reliability and therefore the explanation may lack in credibility.
describe xyy syndrome as a biological explanation for crime and antisocial behaviour
The basic difference between men and women lies in their genotype. Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes and on these chromosomes are our genes. One pair of chromosomes decides whether we are male (XY) or female (XX). Early psychologists investigating aggression believed the genetic cause of aggression could lie in the Y chromosome. They were particularly interested in examining individuals with a genotype of XYY. These individuals were often referred to as ‘super males’ as they possessed two male Y chromosomes.
xyy traits/symptoms with applications
ndividuals with XYY syndrome will be taller than normal and, in some cases, have severe acne. In XYY, testosterone levels are normal, with normal sexual development and normal fertility. XYY syndrome people may have reduced intelligence and there can be learning difficulties, as well as developmental delays in speech and language. There can also be difficulties in development of physical skills such as walking, as well as behavioural and emotional difficulties.
Jacobs et al. (1965) suggested that men with XYY syndrome were more aggressive than XY men and they found that there was an over-representation of XYY men in the prison population, with 15 XYY men for every 1,000 prisoners. This observation led to an apparent link between XYY and crime and anti-social behaviour.
Application - Richard Speck in 1966 claimed he had XYY syndrome and that this explained his rape and murder of eight women. It turned out he was XY in any case, and the violence had nothing to do with XYY syndrome, but such links can persist. These links can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy in that someone can be labelled and then fulfils this label.
Court-Brown (1965) discovered 314 patients that had the XYY chromosome presentation, and he put forward the view that these patients should remain hospitalised given their increased likelihood of aggressive behaviour. This is where the socially sensitive nature of research becomes evident. The control that can be exercised over individuals because of psychological research can limit their freedoms and choices (ethics).
However, Theilgaard (1984) undertook research into men with the XYY genotype and found that XYY can cause an increase in height in individuals but not an increase in aggression.
gender differences with xyy syndrome - ID
XYY relates to males only, and therefore XYY is an explanation for criminal and anti- social behaviour that can focus only on males. XYY syndrome used to be called, ‘super-male’ disease because males with an XYY chromosomal pattern tended to be tall and have a large build, and
they were thought to be aggressive. However, this is no longer what is thought about XYY.
Nonetheless the syndrome does affect just males and so they can be labelled and can feel they need to fulfil any expectations that a culture has about masculinity when judging their masculinity differently from the ‘norm’ because of their height and build.
So, gender is an issue in XYY because of how such boys/men are seen in a society, rather than it being an issue between boys and girls.
strengths of xyy sydrome aas an explanation of crime
A strength of understanding XYY syndrome is that from results of studies eg………jacob 1965 action can be taken to prevent a link with criminality. If XYY syndrome is found early, and around 25% seem likely to be found before birth, then issues around physical development, and behavioural and emotional issues can be addressed early, which is important as studies seem to suggest that it is not that an XYY chromosome pattern leads to criminality, but there might be labelling and a self-fulfilling prophecy that can lead those with XYY syndrome into crime.
Supporting evidence come from Jacob (1965) suggested that XYY males are overrepresented in prisons such as 15 in every 1000 rather than 1 in every 1000 as found in the general population so shows that XYY may have a role in crime for some males.
weaknesses of xyy syndrome as an explanation of crime and antisocial behaviour
XYY syndrome tends to lead to men being extra tall and having acne and scars, and sometimes these were the characteristics that were used to classify men by some researchers, this is subjective, and may not be enough to be sure they were XYY, reducing the credibility of the explanation of a link between XYY and criminality.
Even in studies that find XYY does relate to crime, there could be labelling, and a self-fulfilling prophecy involved. This point relates to wider issues and debates about nature–nurture. Genetically, someone might have XYY syndrome but any presenting criminal effect from the genetic difference could actually be down to environmental influences.
Re and Birkhoff (2015) provide a review of evidence over the last 50 years relating to XYY syndrome and crime. Their conclusion was that there is not a direct link between XYY syndrome and crime. While XYY syndrome can be associated with problems with impulse control, low tolerance of frustration, aggressiveness and a tendency towards anti-social behaviour, these features might link more with environmental factors, such as dysfunctional families, where they suggest that XYY needs to be found early so that there can be intervention with families and in the child’s education to reduce the effects of the disorder.
describe personality as a bio explanation - id and pen model
Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently
think, feel, and behave in specific ways. Our personality is what makes us unique individuals. Each person has a pattern of enduring, long-term characteristics, and a way he or she interacts with other individuals and the world around them. Our personalities are thought to be long term, stable, and not easily changed.
Extraversion (E) · Extroverts have a high need for excitement, lively parties, are impulsive, optimistic and lose their temper (aggressive) easily so most likely to be criminal for the extra stimulation. · The RAS inhibits incoming sensations, resulting in the need to seek stimulation which can bring them into conflict with the law, so are more likely to engage in criminal activities, especially those which bring excitement (e.g. joyriding).
Neuroticism (N)
· High in neuroticism tend to be nervous, jumpy, anxious, find it difficult to cope with stress,
moody, easily upset by others and prone to physical ailments such as headaches and stomach
upsets. Tend to overreact to situations leading to criminal behaviour.
· Neuroticism is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which releases hormones
such as adrenaline which makes you “jump” when something frightening happens, the more
reactive ANS the higher the N score so are more likely to lash out in fear.
Psychoticism – normality (P)
· Psychoticism is characterised by being egocentric, impulsive, cold, lacking in empathy for
others, aggressive, hostile, socially withdrawn, uncooperative and troublesome.
· Psychoticism is linked to levels of testosterone, which would support the fact that more males
than females commit crime due to higher levels of testosterone and psychoticism.
pen model - Eysenck and Eysenck focused on temperament, the inborn, genetically based personality differences that exist. They believed personality is largely governed by biology, they viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability. The Eysenck’s’ theory divides people into four quadrants. The psychoticism-extraversion-neuroticism (PEN) scale (Eysenck, 1977) claims that anti-social behaviour is said to come from high levels of psychoticism, neuroticism, and extraversion.
evidence for personality as a bio explanation for crime
Eysenck (1977) linked arousal levels to extraversion. Arousal is a biological reaction that can be measured by skin conductance, sweating or brain activity. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is involved in the fight-or-flight response, which is arousal. It involves the body getting ready for action and this is done by the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system.
There is also cortical arousal, which means the brain is ready for action. Neurotransmitters are involved, including acetylcholine, norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. Stimulation of the neurons in the arousal system gives brain activity. Brain regions that are involved include the nucleus acumens, the striatum forebrain, the prefrontal cortex, and the limbic system.
strengths for personality as an explanation of crime
Lynn and Martin’s (1997) findings confirmed Eysenck’s in 1975 regarding neuroticism and psychoticism, though they did find gender differences in extraversion whereas Eysenck did not.
Steiner et al. (1999) showed a link between being high in psychoticism and showing a pattern of recidivism, which means re-offending frequently.
weaknesses for personality as an explanation of crime
There are some difficulties with Eysenck’s model whereby impulsivity was originally in the extraversion part of his model but was then moved to psychoticism, where he felt it fitted better. So, if traits can be moved between dimensions, then the traits seem rather arbitrary and perhaps highlight inaccuracies in the classification of personality, which weakens the plausibility of the model.
· Raine et al (1997) found lower levels of glucose metabolism in the pre-front cortex in NGRI compared to the control group, suggesting that criminal behaviour is due to malfunctioning of the brain and not personality
describe anti-social personality disorder as a biological explanation of crime and antisocial behaviour
This summary discusses the concept of personality in relation to crime, particularly focusing on antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Akers and Sellers (2009) describe a “criminal personality,” which includes traits such as manipulation, callousness, and self-centeredness. ASPD, previously referred to as psychopathy or sociopathy, is classified as a mental disorder in the DSM-5.
Key points:
Personality disorders (e.g., paranoid, schizotypal, borderline, and antisocial) differ from general personality traits. Not all clinicians accept personality disorders due to limited evidence.
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is particularly relevant in explaining criminal and antisocial behavior.
Individuals with ASPD show no regard for others’ rights or feelings, engage in illegal acts, lie, manipulate, and act impulsively. They also lack empathy and remorse.
Characteristics of ASPD include arrogance, superficial charm, irresponsibility, and reckless disregard for safety.
ASPD can be understood through three major traits: disinhibition, boldness, and meanness.
Signs may appear in childhood, but diagnosis requires an individual to be at least 18 years old.
why has antisocial personality disorder (characteristics)
Antisocial personality disorder is observed in about 3.6% of the population; the disorder is much more common among males, with a 3 to 1 ratio of men to women, and it is more likely to occur in men who are younger, widowed, separated, divorced, of lower socioeconomic status, who live in urban areas.
Compared to men with antisocial personality disorder, women with the disorder are more likely to have experienced emotional neglect and sexual abuse during childhood, and they are more likely to have had parents who abused substances and who engaged in antisocial behaviours themselves.
Decety, Skelly, and Kiehl, (2013) showed 80 prisoners photos of people being intentionally hurt by others (e.g., someone crushing a person’s hand in an automobile door) while undergoing brain imaging ().The investigators suggested that the heightened activation in a brain region when watching social interactions involving one person harming another may reflect a propensity or desire for this kind of behaviour.
describe gender differences and antisocial personality disorder
n North America, anti-social personality disorder is found in 4.5% of men and 0.8% of women, according to Robins et al. (1991), and 6.8% in men and 0.8 % in women, according to Swanson et al. (1994). This shows that it is predominantly found in males. Torgensen et al. (2001) found 1.3% in men and 0% in women in a study in Europe, and another European study found 1% in men and 0.2% in women. However, Yang and Coid (2007) suggest that the condition is more severe in women, despite it being found less often.
Van de Shoot et al. (2010) found differences in the type of anti-social behaviour in males and females, with females exhibiting more subtle anti-social behaviour, which might account for gender differences as anti-social behaviour, being more overt in males, might be diagnosed more in males.
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facts:
Men with antisocial personality disorder are more likely than women with antisocial personality disorder to
do things that could easily hurt themselves or others
Women with antisocial personality disorder are more likely than men with antisocial personality to
run away from home overnight
frequently miss school or work
describe hormones as an alternative bio explanation of crime
*LINK: Think back to your content on Biological Psychology for this section.
Observations of non-human and human species have demonstrated that aggression is more evident in males than in females. Animal studies have led to the explanation that male hormones are implicated in aggression. The main hormone which decides whether an embryo develops into a male or female is testosterone. Testosterone peaks in young adolescent males before gradually declining with age. It also promotes muscle strength and is responsible for the sex drive. However, testosterone is also implicated in aggression. Don’t forget… women do have some testosterone as well! It plays an important role in the competitive interactions of females. Testosterone is naturally present in women, being produced by the adrenal gland.
Women with high testosterone levels describe themselves as being action-oriented, resourceful, and powerful, but the effects on physical aggression are unclear. Research does show that high-testosterone women are more competitive and more verbally aggressive.
Adelson (2004) found that rats showing activity in the aggressive areas of their brain also showed a hormonal stress response. The researchers stimulated the rat’s aggression controlling centres in the brain which resulted in a hormonal response, measured by levels of hormone in the blood. Therefore, raising the stress hormones went with raised stimulation of the aggression centre in the brain and lowered stimulation went with a lower level of stress hormones. In humans, this could explain why stress in humans can lead to aggression and why aggression in humans can lead to stress.
Chang et al. (2012) studied the mangrove rivulus fish and aggression by seeing how it reacted to its mirror image as well as exploring behaviour (how ready it was to approach a new shelter). They wanted to see if 4 behaviours – boldness and learning in relation to hormones (cortisol and testosterone). He found aggression, exploring and boldness correlated with amount of testosterone before behaviours. Aggression and boldness also correlated with amount of cortisol before the behaviour. Aggressiveness and boldness showed a strong correlation, whereas learning did not. They concluded that cortisol and testosterone linked to the behaviour traits of aggression, boldness and exploring.
Wagner (1979) castrated mice and aggression levels went down, thus providing support to the theory that testosterone is implicated in aggression. Wagner’s (1979) research however only provides correlational support for the cause of aggression, as the research only demonstrates a relationship between lowered testosterone and lowered aggression. However, Wagner’s (1979) research does demonstrate that testosterone plays a crucial role in aggressive responses.
Dabbs et al (1987) measured 89 male prisoners involved in violent and non-violent crime and found that the level of testosterone was higher in those involved in violent crime. Those with high levels of testosterone were rated by peers as tough. This suggests that high levels of hormones like testosterone, has links to aggression in humans.
Barzman et al (2013) looked at 17 boys aged 7-9 from a psychiatric hospital and aimed to test their saliva for aggressive hormones like testosterone. They concluded that using saliva (non-invasive so ethical with children) and the BRACHA, Brief Rating of Aggression by Children and Adolescents questionnaire showed links between salivary hormones and aggression for children in psychiatric hospitals.
Montoya et al (2011) found that testosterone and cortisol balance predict both impulsive and instrumental aggression. Impulsive aggression is unplanned aggression driven by emotions. Instrumentals aggression is premeditated and occurs with a lack of emotions – both relate to the hormones, testosterone, and cortisol.
describe gender differences and hormones as an explanation or criminal and antisocial behaviour
The female hormone estradiol (part of oestrogen) plays a role in dominance communication and physical aggression among primates. Evidence suggests that it stokes competition amongst human females. Women with a high need for power have higher estradiol levels in their blood. What is more, their estradiol level increases when they “win” a contest with another woman that is actually manipulated by experimenters and remains elevated for a day. Estradiol declines when they lose.
So far, it seems that estradiol plays a similar role in the competitive interactions of women as testosterone plays for men. Yet, there is little evidence that high-estradiol women are more aggressive in the way that high-testosterone men tend to be. Their other distinguishing features are that they tend to be physically attractive, to have tempestuous romantic lives, and to be highly
competitive with other women (what might be called the Marilyn Monroe effect). Patchy though this evidence is, it paints an intriguing picture of women as being affected by estrogens (i.e., estradiol) in much the same way that men are affected by androgens (i.e., testosterone).
strengths for hormones and weaknesses
Strengths
Studies supporting the influence of hormones in aggressions have strong controls for example, Barzman using the Brief Rating of Aggression by Children and Adolescents questionnaire and measurements of salvia, which increases the reliability of the results and makes for easy replication.
There is lots of supporting evidence, Dabbs et al (1987) found that high testosterone levels linked with prisoners who had committed violent crime and lower testosterone levels with those who had committed non-violent crime, which shows that hormones are important in aggression.
There is lots of supporting evidence, Adelson (2004) found a link between stress hormone and aggression centre in the brain of rats, which shows that hormones are important in aggression, however this is a rat study and there are limitations in the generalisability to human emotional reactions such as aggression.
Weaknesses
Much of the data gathered through the supporting studies is correlated which does not show a cause-and-effect relationship between hormones and aggression, so firstly in Barzman study this means that we are unsure whether stress gives aggression or aggression gives stress.
Studies into aggression from a biological viewpoint look at certain areas for example, the influence of neurotransmitters and aggression, which is a simplistic view of aggression and is reductionist, Montoya et al. 2011 takes a more holistic viewpoint looking at neurotransmitter, brain structure and function which gives a more accurate picture of what influences aggression.
Many studies focus on aggression within animals, specifically fish, which is not generalisable to humans, humans have other variables that animals may not have like motivation to be aggressive or planning aggressive acts, in additional to the animals studies being in artificial environment so generalisability is limited.
describe (A) Labelling and (B) self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) as an explanation of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Labelling
Labelling involves a majority group (ingroup) considering a minority group (outgroup) as inferior and using inferior terms when talking about them. There is a negative connotation to being labelled, although in theory someone can be labelled positively, it is the negativity that is connected to criminality. Labelling links to stereotyping in much the same ways a prejudice does.
Stereotyping
This means thinking of a whole group as having certain characteristics, usually using evidence from one member of the group or the media and assuming that this is true of all members. The SFP develops from a label.
SFP
self-fulfilling prophecy is when a belief or expectation about a situation or person influences actions in a way that causes the belief to come true. It follows this cycle:
Expectation or belief – A person holds a certain belief about themselves, others, or a situation.
Influence on behavior – This belief affects how they act toward themselves or others.
Outcome confirms belief – These actions lead to results that reinforce the original belief.
describe labelling as an explanation of crime and antisocial behaviour with consideration given to gender differences
Sociologists are interested in examining the reasons why individuals become labelled as deviant and how social responses to them may amplify deviance. Social psychologists do take this into account, but they focus more on how the individual responds to the label, rather than the social process behind the label itself.
Becker (1963) points out that social groups create deviance by making the rules about what constitutes deviant and then applying those rules to particular types of people.
Piliavian and Blair (1964) found that police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on physical clues (such as manner and dress), from which they made judgements about the youth’s character. This shows how processes such as ingroup (police) outgroup (youths) can underline the process of labelling.
Labelling people as deviant will tend to mark them out. The label may become a master status which overrides all other statuses, like parent, friend and so on. As a result, the individual is only seen then to be a criminal. Public labelling may result in a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby the person labelled deviant not only commits further deviant acts but also accepts the label.
describe self fullfilling prophecy as an explanation of crime and antisocial behaviour with consideration given to gender differences
The self-fulfilling prophecy can also explain recidivism.
Once an individual has the label of “criminal” it becomes hard to shift or get rid of that label.
As people reinforce the label by their behaviour, it becomes part of the individual’s self-concept, producing further deviant behaviour.
In this sense we should be wary of labelling a child as a “problem” too early, as this may precipitate a worsening of their behaviour. This also helps to explain why criminals find it so hard to get a second chance once they have served time, the label has stuck with them and many people in society will stereotype them in that way and not for example give them a job.
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Chambliss (1973) focuses on two groups of boys who went to the same American high school, the Saints and the Roughnecks. Over time a self-fulfilling prophecy took place as the Roughnecks accepted the negative label. All of the Saints graduated from college, some of the Roughnecks became serious offenders. In other words, both groups lived up to their labels.
Jahoda (1954) studied the Ashanti people who traditionally choose names for their male children according to the day of the week on which they were born. They also believe that a boy’s day of birth affects temperament. Jahoda found that over a five-year period almost 22% of violent offences were committed by boys with Wednesday’s names whereas Monday’s boys accounted for only 6.9% – they fulfil the prophecy.
Ageton and Elliott (1974) suggested that treatment of youth offenders by the police and courts could lead to further deviance. In a longitudinal study they found that of boys who exhibited delinquent behaviour, those who avoided apprehension had higher self-esteem and less delinquent views of themselves.
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) carried out a study in which, at the start of a school year, they told teachers that certain pupils were ‘about to bloom’ and do well at school, though in fact they chose the pupils at random. The teachers must have treated the pupils differently from the rest and, as a result of that additional attention, the pupils did better – or perhaps they gained more confidence because the teachers perceived them to be brighter. While this is a study of educational achievement, it does work as evidence that SFP takes place, and thus could be applied to criminality.
strengths of labelling and SFT and explanations for crime and anti-social behaviour
Madon applied findings from other areas where there can be false beliefs and has found some suggestion that it works for criminal behaviour too, in that those labelled respond to their labels in a criminal way.
· SFP and labeling help explain recidivism, as they suggest that expectations about former criminals, such as labels applied to them in the local community, could lead to SFP, depending on the relationship between those giving the label and the person being labelled i.e., close family members and parents, therefore leading to criminal tendencies.
· Johada’s study gives strong evidence for the effect of labelling, the children given a more criminal tendency label based on the day they were born were more likely to fulfil the prophecy and become criminal. This is also a natural study whereby the context was not artificial.
weakness of labelling and SFT and explanations for crime and anti-social behaviour
Much of the research into SFP and labelling has been in education, where the teacher-child relationship being a special one where expectations might be fulfilled, or from a sociological perspective whereby the social process behind labels has been the stronger focus. Therefore, applying this to the behaviour of individuals and criminals may not be fully plausible.
· Self-fulfilling prophecy suggests that anti-social behaviour is caused by labelling and stereotyping those involved however another explanation is that of Social Learning Theory (Bandura (1961)) which shows that children model aggressive behaviour, so it is the experiences they observe rather than how they are treated that cause criminal/anti-social behaviour.
The explanation is deterministic, this means it is based on an idea that individuals do not have free-will react against their label. The notion of free will suggests that an individual can exercise more control over their destiny than
determinism suggests, and as such it may be that there are other factors that influence whether or not someone internalises their label. This could be linked back to your understanding of internal and external locus of control, perhaps those who rely more on external forces are more likely to fulfil a prophecy - therefore the explanations of criminality may be interwoven with other aspects of individuals.
describe slt as an alternative social explanation of crime
Social learning theory can be applied to criminal behaviour. Observational learning involved criminal behaviour being learned indirectly by observing and imitating the actions of deviant others. To learn a criminal act such as breaking into a car the behaviour must be attended to, recalled and the could-be offender must have the skill and capacity to perform the behaviour successfully. Crucially the observer must be motivated to reproduce the behaviour, and this is where vicarious reinforcement comes in.
· Vicarious reinforcement- if a criminal behaviour is to be imitated, it must be seen to be rewarded (vicarious reinforcement). It is not difficult to see how offending behaviour could be rewarded though acquisition of money, for instance, or increased status in a criminal gang.
· Role models: remember also that social learning theory is a developmental explanation that can account for the development of criminal activity at different ages. Young offenders may be especially susceptible to the influence of role models. This is more likely if identification take place – a young offender may look up to and want to be like a gang leader for example, as they see them as commanding high status and respect as well as enjoying lifestyle that is glamorous and attractive.
Tasler (1939) suggests that ineffective parental strategies, such as poor discipline, lack of emotional support etc., may produce inadequately socialised children who then go onto offend. This is particularly likely if these children also associate with other children from whom they learn offending patterns of behaviour. Therefore, if a child had had poor parenting and socialises with those who have already offended, they are more likely to imitate and become offenders themselves.
Murray (1990) argues that the crime rate is increasing because of the growing underclass of “new rabble” who are defined by their deviant behaviour and who fail to socialise their children.
Sutherland (1939) proposed that criminal behaviour is a learned response and suggested that individuals learn criminal behaviour by becoming part of a close group whom offending has become a norm. According to social learning theory, not only are criminal skills acquired, but also attitudes and beliefs which support offending behaviour, together with a feeling of group identity and belonging.
Bandura developed Sutherland ideas suggesting that rewards and punishment were learnt by imitation and observation of others behaviour. Peers who are held in high regard are very influential role models, as are media stars, while rewards which might encourage certain behaviour include status, self-esteem, financial incentives, or just plain excitement. In his 1963 and 1965 research, Bandura also looked at the role of the media, and subsequently a lot of research into crime and anti-social behaviour has focussed on this aspect.
Vidal-Vazquez et al. (2000) aimed to investigate adolescents views of media violence and assess the cognitive and emotional effects of watching violence in the media. They found that viewing violence caused a more positive assessment of and greater attraction to violence, even in participants who had expressed a negative view prior to watching the videos.
strengths of of social learning theory and an alternative social explanation of crime and antisocial behaviour
Eron and Huesmann (1986) aimed to determine whether there is a positive correlation between the amount of TV violence watched and aggressive behaviour shown in everyday life. Overall, they found that aggressive children not only observe more media violence but are more likely to identify with violent characters and believe that the violence they see on TV reflects real life. Furthermore, the more TV violence the boys had watched at age eight, the more likely they were to have been convicted of violent crimes at age 30.
· Boyatzis et al. (1995) assessed the effect of power rangers on children’s aggressive behaviour. 52 boys and girls aged 5-11 years were observed playing in their school classroom. Half were shown an episode from Power Rangers, and all were observed again. The increase in aggressive behaviour was much greater in boys than girls. They exhibited many behaviours similar to the Power Rangers, such as martial arts. So, after watching Power Rangers children were more likely to demonstrate aggressive behaviours. This was more evident in boys.
· William (1981) conducted a natural experiment looking at the effects of the introduction of broadcast television to a remote community in Canada. The aggressiveness of the children in the town (nicknamed “Notel”) which initially had no television was compared, over the same time span, to two towns (one with just one TV channel and the other with many channels). Following the introduction of broadcast television, the level of physical and verbal aggression in the children in Notel almost doubled. Although levels of aggression in the other towns also increased over the same time period, the changes were less marked.
weaknesses of social learning theory and an alternative social explanation of crime and antisocial behaviour
Charlton et al. (2000) conducted a naturalistic experiment using 3–8-year-olds on St Helena, an island that had not previously seen transmitted TV. The children’s aggressive behaviour was analysed in 1994 prior to transmitted TV in 1995. Children from 2 schools were filmed in free play in the school playground. They concluded that exposure to more violent TV does not necessarily result in an increase in aggressive behaviour.
· It could be that individuals with a predisposition to anti-social/criminal behaviour are maybe more likely to seek out similar individuals or watch violent media, they are perhaps anti-social through association rather than through copying what they see. It may be possible that if you have a predisposition, such as personality types, you may be more attracted to the thrill seeking of watching violent action movies, thus they are a product of your personality and not a cause of your behaviour.
· Social learning theory can only really explain the behaviours of individuals, what it cannot explain are criminal actions such as genocide. For tis, concepts from social identity theory, realistic conflict theory and agency theory are more appropriate. As a result, the process of SLT has limitations in the types of crime it can be applied to.
gender differences for social explanations of crime
Children are often rewarded (operant conditioning) for gender appropriate behaviour, for example, a girl may be praised when playing with dolls and may be punished for inappropriate gender-specific behaviour like aggression as ‘that is not very lady-like’, or a girl may be told off or laughed at for playing with guns. This selective reinforcement shapes behaviour to conform to gender stereotypes. The child then learns to value sex-typed behaviours for their own gender. Given that the gender stereotypes of girls and boys differ significantly, this not only links to the developmental aspects of criminal and anti-social behaviour, but to the gender differences found in criminals.
Sutherland (1949) also indicated that social factors work on the individual and affecting skills, attitudes, and beliefs, through this he attempted an analysis of gender differential in crime, arguing that boys are more likely to become delinquent than girls because they are less strictly controlled, and are taught to be aggressive and active risk-seekers, all characteristics likely to bring success in the criminal world.
Sutherland (1949) argues that boys and girls are socialised differently, firstly girls are more closely supervised and more strictly controlled. Second, boys are more likely to be encouraged to take risks and to be tough and aggressive. As a result, boys have more opportunity and more inclination to commit crime.
Macklin and Klobe (1984) showed that advertisements aired on Saturday mornings, when children are likely to be watching, are far more likely to contain aggression if they feature boys rather than girls. Social learning theory would also support this through the research of Bandura (1961) who found that boys are more physically aggressive than girls, therefore they are more likely to imitate and copy this aggressive behaviour because their role model is the same gender as them.
Bowen et al. (2008) conducted The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children which focuses on anti-social and problem behaviours among young children, including gender differences in anti-social behaviour. The study reports that more males than females reported being involved in anti-social behaviour and males reported being involved in more anti-social and problem behaviours than females. It was found that girls were more likely to show resilience than boys. When boys did show resilience, this linked to school enjoyment, high levels of pro-social behaviour and having mothers with good parenting skills. The findings back up the general claim that crime and anti-social behaviour are found in males more than females.
describe personality ID as a factor in criminal/anti social behaviour - bio
The type of crime committed could be due to the part of personality is most dominant such as someone who scores high in psychoticism is more likely to be aggressive and violent. Different crimes that are committed could be due to the combination of personality components that an offender has such as rapists and child abusers are extravert, neurotic and psychotic. High scores in extraversion and psychoticism are often linked to delinquency.
Eysenck believed that people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition so they are less likely to learn to be anxious when being anti-social. Certain personality traits are more likely to lend themselves to antisocial behaviour and if someone inherits these traits and is raised in an environment that nurtures crime, then they are liable to engage in criminal acts.
Morley et al found that impulsivity and aggression are the main two traits associated with criminal behaviour, showing that individual differences between criminals is important in terms of the type of crime they commit.
Hollins (1989) found that offenders generally show higher P and N scores but not necessarily
higher E scores than non-offenders, which allows conclusions and predictions to be made about who is most likely to turn to crime based on their individual personality traits.
Davison and Janca (2012) show that there is a well- established connection between anti-social personality disorder and criminal behaviour. Davison and Janca (2012) reviewed the literature that relates personality disorder to offending. They say that personality disorder is found in serious offenders, but personality disorder might feature more in some offences than others. Disorders that seem to relate to personality disorder include stalkers perhaps and men who kill their children. They conclude from their review that there are a lot of variables that go with personality traits, and it is not just ‘personality’ when it comes to understanding crime and anti-social behaviour. Variables they list include substance misuse, mood disorders, ADHD, maladaptive cognitions, anger, and situational factors. It is important to note that personality alone does not explain crime and anti-social behaviour – this is a useful evaluation point.
describe Individual Differences Freud and Catharsis (non-biological
Freud would suggest that exposure to violence and aggression is cathartic, in that it is a safe release of frustrations and aggression, so by default if an individual is more or less predisposed to such behaviour then they are equally more or less likely to seek out sources for catharsis
describe and example of Individual Differences - affecting whether a self- fulfilling prophecy occurs, e.g., regarding developing criminal or anti-social behaviour (Social)
Self-fulfilling prophecy and Individual Differences
Societies reaction to criminal behaviour can lead to someone being expected to be a criminal. How the person is treated by others around them could explain why some don’t internalise the prophecy as they are not made to feel it is important so ignore the expectation.
Both labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy suggests that anti-social behaviour ignore the role of personality, so theories which suggest that a person’s character determines how they behave and respond in certain situations may account for the individual differences that contribute to criminal tendencies and behaviour, after all, not everyone who is labelled becomes a criminal.
Application Example
Another concern is that not every criminal has been labelled in the past, you just have to look at cases such as Harold Shipman to question whether a self-fulfilling prophecy took place. The Shipman Inquiry, a two-year-long investigation of all deaths certified by Shipman, examined Shipman’s crimes. The inquiry identified 218 victims and estimated his total victim count at 250, about 80% of whom were elderly women. Shipman’s youngest confirmed victim was a 41-year-old man, although suspicion arose that he had killed patients as young as four. He is the most prolific serial killer in recorded history. It is highly unlikely that he was labelled as a murder at any point, and also unlikely he was ever labelled deviant either as all accounts seem to indicate a positive, well-educated person throughout his early life, and even if that were the case, it would be quite a leap to go from a label of petty deviant to serial killer. In fact, Harold Shipman would more likely have been labelled with positivity given his role in the community as a respected Doctor. Therefore, in cases such as these there is likely to be differences in the individual that better explain their criminalit
Gender differences
Dvir et al. (1995) claim that he overwhelming majority of studies that have confirmed the Pygmalion hypothesis have been done using men; there have only been a few studies focusing on females. Dvir et al. point out that when women make up most of the participants, the Pygmalion effect is not found.
They carried out two studies to test the Pygmalion hypothesis on women. They used Israel Defense Forces and led leaders to believe that the trainees in the experimental condition, which was the Pygmalion hypothesis condition, had ‘higher than usual potential’.
Experiment One focused on female officer cadets led by women and Experiment Two focused on men and women taking the same course but in separate groups.
· In Experiment One, where women were led by women, they found that there was an effect from giving the information about high potential. However, there was no evidence of the participants doing better because of expectations.
· In Experiment Two, there was a self-fulfilling prophecy in men led by a man and in women led by a man, but not in women led by a woman. It seemed that the Pygmalion effect could be found in women but perhaps not when the expectations come from a woman.
Levy and Hartocollis (1976) researched the incidence of antisocial behaviour in two psychiatric units, one staffed by women, the other with both male and female staff. Over one year, the unit staffed by women had no instances of violence, compared to 13 in the unit with mixed staff. This suggests that the expectation of violence, and the consequent use of male nurses to combat such expectations, may have led to the violent incidents because patient’s behaviour fulfilled those violent expectations as a result of staff on the units behaved differently towards them. This is not a direct study of gender, however like Dvir et al. (1995) there could be a gender effect on the outcome of a prophecy where women are the leaders or in the authority position, which is equally worthy of consideration.
describe Individual Difference and the Authoritarian personality (social explanation)
Adorno (1947) Authoritarian Personality
Authoritarian Personality (Adorno, 1947)
Some people have an authoritarian personality, meaning they strongly obey authority and dislike people who are different.
Adorno said this comes from strict parenting, making people angry but afraid to challenge authority.
Instead, they take out their anger on weaker groups (prejudice).
He created the F-scale to measure how authoritarian someone is.
This explains why some people are more obedient than others.
describe Individual differences in criminality because of culture (non-biological)
(LINK: Think back to your content on Social Psychology here)
Individualist cultures and collectivist cultures place emphasis on different basic values.
· People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe that independence, competition, and personal achievement are important. Individuals in Western nations such as the United States, England, and Australia score high on individualism.
· People who live in collectivist cultures value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs. Individuals who live in countries in Asia, Africa, and South America score high on collectivism.
SO
These values influence personality. For example, Yang (2006) found that people in individualist cultures displayed more personally oriented personality traits, whereas people in collectivist cultures displayed more socially oriented personality traits.
describe Developmental Psychology- Other causes for criminal/anti-social behaviour, including biological, can explain development (Biological)
Personality and temperament dimensions (biological explanation)
Are related to this disorder, including fearlessness, impulsive antisociality, and callousness, have a substantial genetic influence, however adoption studies clearly demonstrate that the development of antisocial behaviours is determined by the interaction of genetic factors and adverse environmental circumstances (Rhee and Waldman, 2002).
· For example, Cadoret, et al. (1995) found that adoptees of biological parents with antisocial personality disorder were more likely to exhibit adolescent and adult antisocial behaviours if they were raised in adverse adoptive family environments (e.g., adoptive parents had marital problems, were divorced, used drugs, and had legal problems) than if they were raised in a more normal adoptive environment.
describe Brain Injury and Development (Biological explanation)
Traumatic injury to the brain may occur at any time, which also suggests that criminal behaviour can develop over time depending on the initial injury. Especially if injury is due to a tumour so the damage is slow to make its self-known.
Perez (2012) looked at psychopathy and in particular brain dysfunction, such as showing impairment in the orbital frontal cortex, an area for executive functioning, so problems there can relate to problems with impulse control. Perez also found a strong correlation between attachment disorder and anti-social personality disorder, so while perhaps being about brain region functioning, is not all down to someone’s biology.
describe D. Developmental psychology - The self-fulfilling prophecy is an explanation for criminal/anti-social behaviour that explains development of some individuals. (Social)
Self-fulfilling prophecy and developmental psychology (Social explanation)
The term self-fulfilling prophecy suggests it involves various stages and can explain the development of anti-social and criminal behaviour due to society’s reaction to criminality. A child who is naughty in primary school may be followed by the prediction that they are a problem child into high school. This causes teachers to expect the child to misbehaviour leading them to interpret the child’s behaviour as delinquent. The child quickly learns what is expected of them so become more delinquent (vandals / fighting with others) and the prophecy is fulfilled. This leads to expectations becoming more severe as the delinquent ages causing criminal behaviour to be more likely. Society’s expectation of being criminal becomes internalised by the child as part of their normal behaviour pattern.
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) showed that teacher expectations could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy of a child’s academic ability, but this was an unnatural study because the independent variable (whether a child was about to bloom) was set up. In naturalistic studies, expectations develop naturally, and these are important, because they can affect achievement and occupational opportunities as well as personal development.
In general, although it is found that incorrect teacher expectations do lead to self-fulfilling prophecies, the effect is small. This is mainly because teacher expectations are found to be largely accurate, as they are based on valid information (unlike in Rosenthal and Jacobson’s study).
Outside educational settings, however, it might be that the self-fulfilling prophecy occurs and has more of an effect. Child self-esteem, family social class and parental expectations are seen as factors that might affect whether a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs
Jahoda’s (1954) delinquency rates among the Ashanti boys and Ageton and Elliott (1974) with youth offenders reinforce that labelling and SFP often begin during the formative early years of life, highlighting the importance of understanding the developmental aspects of human nature.
Madon et al. (2004), who found that when both parents have false unfavorable beliefs about their child’s likelihood of drinking alcohol, those parents have the strongest self-fulfilling effect. This is evidence that false beliefs can come true through a self- fulfilling prophecy that can develop from early socialisation and family.
describe Developmental Psychology - Social learning theory is a theory of human development that can account for criminal/ anti-social behaviour. (Social) and application
Social Learning theory and developmental psychology (social explanation)
This suggest that criminal and anti-social behaviour is developed from an early age as children learn all behaviour via observation and imitation. Children who grow up in areas of high crime will observe it and be motivated to reproduce it due to seeing the rewards that criminals get such as fancy cars and designer clothes.
Holmes found that between 70-90% of violent offenders had been very aggressive as children, showing that violent behaviour had developed from an early age.
Bandura found that children imitated the aggressive role models behaviour, showing that violent and anti-social behaviour can be learnt from the social environment showing that criminal behaviour is slow developmental process.
Application – childhood
There are links between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and both victimisation and criminality in adulthood. There is a strong case for preventing crime by targeting those most at risk of experiencing adverse childhoods and supporting people in the Justice System whose lives have been affected by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in order to reduce reoffending and prevent intergenerational crime and victimisation
Another developmental link goes back to the idea of attachment theory by Bowlby. The Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis proposed by Bowlby suggested that a child requires the continuous presence of a primary carer throughout a sensitive period (time when the bond is formed) lasting at least the first 2 years, which results in the formation of the MONOTROPIC BOND (bond between child and caregiver). If not, he suggested there could be 2 consequences of the failure to form an attachment or serious disruption to the attachment during the sensitive period;
affectionless psychopathy and developmental retardation. It is affectionless psychopathy that is linked to criminality.
research the 44 Juvenile Thieves study by Bowlby (1944) and make a summary here of how this links to the development of criminality and anti-social behaviours.
Bowlby’s 44 Juvenile Thieves Study (1944) & Criminality
Aim: Bowlby wanted to see if early separation from mothers led to criminal behavior.
Method: He studied 44 young thieves and compared them to 44 non-thieves (control group).
Findings:
14 of the thieves were diagnosed as “affectionless psychopaths” (lacking guilt/empathy).
12 of these 14 had experienced early separation from their mother.
In contrast, only 2 in the control group had early separation.
Link to Criminality & Anti-Social Behavior
Bowlby concluded that maternal deprivation (being separated from a mother in early life) could lead to:
Lack of empathy → More likely to commit crimes.
Difficulty forming relationships → Higher risk of anti-social behavior.
Emotional issues → Leads to aggression or delinquency.
This study supports the idea that early childhood experiences affect personality and behavior, which can contribute to criminality later in life.
describe understanding the offender and a case and psychological formulation
There are different ways in which the nature of an offender or their offence can be analysed in forensic psychology. These allow us to try to understand the reasons behind criminal behaviours, and ultimately aim to help provide solutions that can prevent recidivism.
A. Case and Psychological Formulation
Case formulation includes offence analysis because it goes from the assessment, which gives the information, to the analysis, and linking to theory, which can then hopefully suggest a useful and effective treatment plan.
Psychological formulation is said to be a hypothesis about someone’s problems, in this case their criminal behaviour, and what has led to them and why those criminal behaviours are maintained. They tend to be brief and try and integrate information into key features. They try and say how the behaviour developed and why the behaviour is maintained and carries on. The formulations are working documents and can be modified when new information comes to light.
Case formulation takes the key features of an offender – a ‘case’ – in order to choose suitable treatment. It can also help an offender to understand their own issues and can improve the therapeutic relationship between the offender and the therapist. Case formulation is done by clinical and counselling psychologists in clinical settings and relating to mental health issues, so it is not just done by forensic psychologists.
It is often part of the court process to help the court determine if the person were capable of committing the offence, if they knew what they were doing and how likely it is that the offender would reoffend.
Case formulation tends to cover a range of offender mental health problems, some of which are long-standing and dangerous and so more common in forensic settings, such as arson, sexual offending, self-harm, and aggression. Forensic mental health professionals also formulate more common conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Forensic psychologist courses include case formulation; it is an important part of the role. Case formulation helps in understanding offender histories, current offending behaviour, and mental health problems.
Psychological formulation is also used when deciding whether to release an offender from prison, by determining if they are safe to be released back into the community and to decide on the most appropriate treatment for an offender. Case formulation of risk assessment combines specialised knowledge with traditional clinical skills for understanding the individual.
Psychologists within the criminal system may also use psychological formulation to see what influenced the offenders’ behaviour and to try and reduce the chances of reoffending. They will look at the offenders’ relationships, both past and present, biological, and social circumstances, life events and how the offender interpreted these events. The forensic psychologist will then use different psychological theories to create an understanding of the offenders’ behaviour, as well as possible recommend treatments for the offender.
Case formulation is most useful where the offender has complex problems, and the treatment is unclear.
Also, when standard treatments used previously have not changed the behaviour of the criminal,
It also helps when offenders are not motivated to change and so do not engage in group therapy or disrupt the group therapy, so affecting other offenders and their treatment.
describe offence analysis
Offence analysis requires an assessment of the offender to look at the criminogenic state (anything that is likely to be causing the criminal behaviour) and contingencies (anything that go along with the offence) so the analysis looks for underlying reasons for the crime. E.g. car crimes could be due to the criminogenic issue of money problems with contingencies of drug problems or delinquent friends.
Offence analysis comes from the assessment part of understanding the offender. Then there is case formulation before treatment is put into place. A difficulty for forensic psychologists is that they cannot observe the criminal behaviour that took place to analyse it or to assess risk. The answer is to find a similar offence and draw conclusions from that about a different offender or to look for behaviour and issues that go along with the offence, called contingencies, and from what is then observed, draw conclusions.
describe understanding the function of offending and the application of treatment
Since the 1950’s, psychological case formulation has enabled clinical psychologists to be able to consider what may have caused the criminal to commit a crime, how criminal behaviour has developed over time and why it is maintained. According to Eells (2007) psychological formulation is a hypothesis about someone’s
psychological, interpersonal and behavioural problems. The main aim of psychological formulation is to provide a blueprint of how to deal with the offender during a court case, to create a suitable treatment programme, to determine the risk of reoffending in the future and therefore if parole is appropriate. Psychological formulations are tentative as they are always open to being revised in the light of new information, as case formulation is used when the offender has complex problems and treatment is unclear.
An important end goal of psychological formation is to establish some form of intervention for the offender based on the conclusions drawn. The rehabilitative programme recommended should reflect how the offending started in the first place, the risk of offending, and how likely the offender is to stick with the programme – the level of motivation. The psychological formation is very much a “work in progress” and will be reassessed and adapted based on the success of diagnosis and treatment.
how does case/psychological formation work
- Interviews are conducted to collect information from the offender about their lives before being taken into police custody for committing the crime, which allows a personal story to be created about the offender to develop understanding of who the offender is and understand the pattern of events that lead to the offence.
- Information is collected about their past and present relationships, biological and social circumstances, life events and their cognitive interpretation of the situations they have found themselves.
- Information is also collected about early childhood experiences that could have triggered the situation (e.g. early childhood abuse), what their core beliefs may be (e.g. they do not want to be seen as weak), what may have been a trigger for their crime (e.g. drugs or alcohol) and the situation (e.g. what did they do that was wrong?).
- The psychologist then assesses all this information and links this together to understand the pattern of events that lead to the offence to create the formulation.
- Whenever new information is gained, it is added to the formulation.
- Once the formulation has been completed, it is used during the court process to help determine the likelihood of the offender committing the crime and if they knew what they were doing and therefore the likelihood of reoffending.
- A suitable treatment programme could be suggested and offered to the offender based on the formulation e.g. drug abuse or mental health issues could lead to appropriate therapy such as CBT or drug therapy.
- Finally, the psychological formulation can be used as part of the parole process to assess potential recidivism issues or if they are safe to release from prison.
describe hcpc
The HCPC has Standards of Proficiency for practitioner psychologists and these principles underpin work in undertaking psychological, formulation and intervention.
The Standards of Proficiency are 15 statements that apply to all professionals regulated by the HCPC, including forensic, clinical, and counselling psychologists who all use formulation. There are also standards that are specific to the separate professions, and they also are in the Standards of Proficiency document. The standards focus on safe and effective practice, which is different from doing research, but very similar in many ways to the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct (2009) principles. The HCPC regulates all psychologists. Before someone can be registered with the HCPC, they must meet the standards in the document, including those for the specific profession they work within.
HCPC Standards of Proficiency
The additional specific standards for forensic psychologists include understanding how psychology is applied to the legal system, a range of theories, including psychological, social and biological perspectives, psychological models, including mild to severe problems in offenders, problems with biology or neuropsychological aspects, and problems involving psychosocial factors, such as life events and health conditions. There is also a requirement to understand the development of
criminal and anti-social behaviour and psychological interventions for offenders as well as for victims and others involved in the legal system.
strengths of case formulation
McKnight et al. (1984) found that case formulation did predict effective treatments and also which treatments would not be effective.
· Ghaderi (206) found formulation helped with suggesting a treatment plan for bulimia and the treatment was better than standard CBT.
· Psychological/case formulation uses specialists from many areas such as probations service, police, psychologists so the expertise if helpful when deciding the best way forward for the offender, this ensures that each case is handled effective in terms of a suitable treatment.
weakness of case formulation
A related issue is that likelihood of reconviction might not be the best measure of risk. This is because offenders can report whatever attitudes and thoughts they want to, and these may be down to wanting to evade detection about their risk of re-offending. It might be that reconviction measures just capture those who are not using good detection evasion skills.
· Jones (2004) claims that most offending goes undetected. There are issues in using behaviour once convicted to predict behaviour once released. For example, it might be that the aggression before conviction was not detected, or it might be that being in prison leads to the aggression which would not occur again once released. Assessing risk has these difficulties. Therefore, treatment will focus on strategies to avoid contingencies, such as avoiding high-risk situations.
· Ward et al. (2007) suggests the focus should be on ‘approach goals’, which means setting up a lifestyle where there is no need to offend because needs are met. These are ways of
breaking offence cycles. Either the situation that might lead to the offence being repeated should be avoided or a lifestyle set up where needs are met, or both.
describe cognitive interview and ethical interview techniques
George and Clifford (1992) suggest that a traditional interview often starts with police investigators generally began interviews by making an open-ended request to the witness: ‘Tell me what happened.’ Often no more than just a few seconds, the interviewer interrupts the witness’s narrative response and conducts the remainder of the interview as a series of direct, short-answer questions, e.g. how tall was he is.
Eliciting the information needed to find out more about the offender can be difficult, especially if part of that process is during the interviews by police and justice officials as part of the evidence gathering and prosecution process. This is also the case when interviewing witnesses or victims.
Psychology research has demonstrated the dangers of asking leading questions and supplying post-event information, which can suggest a response to the witness and even cause them to form a false memory. In addition, research has developed techniques that the police can use to get the most from the memory of an eyewitness, without contaminating their memories.
The process of a cognitive interview will provide the subject an opportunity to recall facts more effectively and efficiently. If the interviewee is going to fabricate information or attempt to consciously deceive the interviewer, then this process may uncover inconsistencies that can be explored and later investigated.
describe the 5 stages of cognitive interview
5 stages
The following four basic principles are used:
- Free recall (report everting) : Asking witnesses to report absolutely everything about the crime, regardless of the perceived importance of the information. Witnesses are asked to report every detail, even if they think that detail is trivial. In this way, apparently unimportant detail might act as a trigger for key information about the event.
- Reinstating the context: Mentally reinstating the context of the event, e.g. the sounds, smells, feelings experienced during the event e.g. what noises did you hear when the shooting occurred? Also, they could be taken back to the scene of the crime to try and trigger new memories. The interviewer tries to mentally reinstate the environmental and personal context of the crime for the witnesses, perhaps by asking them about their general activities and feelings on the day. This could include sights, sounds, feelings and emotions, the weather etc. In the interview, witnesses are often asked to use all of their 5 senses in their recollection of the event. This can help in recreating the event clearly in their mind and may trigger the recall of context dependent memories.
The positive effects of context reinstatement would suggest that all witnesses should be interviewed at the crime scene. In practice there are many problems with this, including that the witness may not feel safe; it would be hard to record the interview; and surroundings often change, e.g. lighting changes, people and objects move. To overcome these problems it is advised that the police officer asks the witness to ‘mentally reinstate the context of the crime’; that is, to picture the place where the crime occurred as clearly as possible in their mind. Mentally reinstating context seems to be a very effective way of getting witnesses to remember more information.
- Multiple retrieval (reverse the order) : Asking witnesses to recall the crime in various orders or in reverse order such as starting at the end, which may activate new information about the crime. Recounting the incident in a different narrative order. Geiselman and Fisher proposed that due to the recency effect, people tend to recall more recent events more clearly than others. Witnesses should be encouraged to work backwards from the end to the beginning.
- Varied recall (changing perspective): Recalling the scene from different points of view such as another person that was present during the crime to try to trigger new memories of the event.. Witnesses are asked to report the incident from different perspective, describing what they think other witnesses (or even the criminals themselves) might have seen.
It is believed that the change of narrative order and change of perceptive techniques aid recall because they reduce witness’ use of prior knowledge, expectations, or schema.
*LINK: Think back to your understanding from cognitive psychology about schema theory
Advanced Cognitive Interview (added a stage 5)
- Building rapport: This involves building a relationship between the witness and the interviewer as part of this process they will explain the social dynamics of the interview and emphasise that the witness is in control as they were at the scene and the interviewer was not. This helps to transfer control of the interview to the witness. This involves making eye contact with the witness, reducing distractions, asking open-ended questions, getting witness to speak slowly and not rush their account.
describe ethical cognitive interviewing techniques
Fisher and Geiselman (1992) talked about using a cognitive interview, using ethical interviewing and cognitive interviewing are similar in many aspects, including a drive to uncover as much correct information as possible. However, the ethical interview emphasises using rapport to reduce stress and anxiety for moral and ethical reasons as much as for producing correct information.
The focus on rapport is important because rapport leads to trust, which reduces anxiety and distress in a witness or suspect, meaning more information is likely to be disclosed in an interview. It also means more reliable information.
Interviewing an offender or someone charged with a crime, before being sentenced, has to be done ethically, as do all interviews. This can be challenging as the crime in question might be shocking and an interviewer is not going to be immune to such issues. It is the interviewer in charge of the interview who is responsible for working ethically. Conducting an ethical interview is more likely to get valid information than if the interviewer brings their own views and judgements into the interviewing process.
There has to be ‘due process’, which means the criminal justice system tends to have the power in a situation, such as where someone is being interviewed before possibly being charged, and yet the individual has rights which must be adhered to.
what are the ethical standard for interviewing relating to crime
Some ethical standards for interviewing relating to crime: Every human being has worth and is to be treated with dignity.
An interview must be carried out in a non-judgemental way, with openness, and treat interviewees in a fair way.
interviewers must not affect the interviewt or the data gathered.
In this regard, interviews must not involve coercion and material gained from an interview must not be suppressed.
Interviewers should use different ways of getting information so that reliability and validity can be checked as far as possible.
There should be no shortcuts in an interview; the truth must be the focus and not a confession. Anyone with special needs of any sort must be treated with additional care when interviewing, taking account of their needs
*Interviewers should not bring in false information or use deception to get a confession.
Pitch deck tite
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describe the pease model of ethical interviewing
The PEASE model of ethical interviewing
Developed in the early 1990s, the PEASE model was a collaboration between law enforcement agencies and psychologist in England and Wales. It is based on the idea that suspects are more likely to cooperate with the police, and hence give a true confession if they feel relaxed, secure and not threatened. 5 principle
1. Preparation and planning - active listening to promote rapport.
2. Engage and explain-active listening to promote rapport
3. Account, clarification, challenge - using open-ended questions to elicit information.
4. Closure-giving the suspect chances to ask any questions.
5. Evaluate reflecting on the interviewers performance.
All interviewers that adopt the PEASE model are recorded to maintain transparency, and to ensure that guidelines for proper policy are being adhered to.
id
strengths of cognitive interviews
Paulo (2015) found that students who experienced the ECI recalled more accurate information that those who had an unstructured interview after watching a mock robbery video. This shows that ECI is an effective way to gain more information from a witness without losing any accuracy.
Fisher (1989) found that 63 % more information was recorded by the CI trained Florida police officers rather than the untrained control group of police officers, showing CI is a more effective technique to use when questioning witnesses.
· Fisher (1989) found that 94% of information collected in the cognitive interviews could be corroborated with other evidence. This shows that CI is a better technique to use with witnesses to get as accurate information about the crime.
weaknesses of cognitive interviews
Roberts (2012) reported reasons for a suspect not wanting to engage with an interview. These were psychological factors such as anxiety, fear, depression, and anxiety; mental health status; intelligence; and general attitude towards the police. Other factors that seemed to lead to
· non-engagement included inappropriate listening by the interviewer, disruptions from the interviewer, not pacing an interview properly and not allowing time for reflection. It was thought that these factors all pointed to the interviewer signalling a lack of interest and as such they were barriers to communication.
· Another issue was failure to explain the interview situation properly, such as what was going to happen in the interview. This affects suspects as they do not know how to behave or what the police want, or what will happen to them. It was Shepherd (1992) who used the term ‘ethical interviewing’ to explain interviewing that avoided the issues that made them unsuccessful. Interviewers should treat suspects with respect, as equals and with the same rights to dignity, self-determination, and choice.
describe regulating treatment and therapy for crime
To be able to assess an offender and create a psychological formulation, psychologists need to follow a list of professional guidelines that need to be accounted for to ensure safe and effective practice, they are similar to the BPS code of ethics and conduct (2009).
The HCPC regulates all psychologists in the UK and before someone can register with the HCPC they must show they meet the standards set out for their specific occupations. The HCPC has Standards of Proficiency for practitioner psychologists and these principles underpin work in undertaking psychological, formulation and intervention.
The Standards of Proficiency are 15 statements that apply to all professionals regulated by the HCPC, including forensic, clinical, and counselling psychologists who all use formulation. There are also standards that are specific to the separate professions, and they also are in the Standards of Proficiency document. The standards focus on safe and effective practice, which is different from doing research, but very similar in many ways to the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct (2009) principles. The HCPC regulates all psychologists. Before someone can be registered with the HCPC, they must meet the standards in the document, including those for the specific profession they work within.
HCPC Standards of Proficiency
The standards of proficiency for psychologist practitioners include;
- Be able to practise safely and effectively within their scope of practice
- Be able to practise within the legal and ethical boundaries of their profession
- Be able to maintain fitness to practise
- Be able to practise as an autonomous professional, exercising their own professional judgement
- Be aware of the impact of culture, equality and diversity on practice
- Be able to practise in a non-discriminatory manner
- Understand the importance of and be able to maintain confidentiality
- Be able to communicate effectively
- Be able to work appropriately with others
- Be able to maintain records appropriately
- Be able to reflect on and review practice
- Be able to assure the quality of their practice
- Understand the key concepts of the knowledge base relevant to their profession
- Drawing on knowledge and skills to inform practice
- Understanding the need to establish and maintain safe practice
The additional specific standards for forensic psychologists include understanding how psychology is applied to the legal system, a range of theories, including psychological, social and biological perspectives, psychological models, including mild to severe problems in offenders, problems with biology or neuropsychological aspects, and problems involving psychosocial factors, such as life events and health conditions. There is also a requirement to understand the development of criminal and anti-social behaviour and psychological interventions for offenders as well as for victims and others involved in the legal system.
Other standards practitioner psychologists must follow include:
· Character: To join the HCPC, trustworthy character references need to be obtained from people who have known you for at least three years. This will also consider criminal convictions or cautions.
· Health: Regular updates on general health must be sent to the HCPC (this will happen every 2 years when you re-register). If you have any conditions that will impact on your clients, you must stop work immediately.
· Standards of ethics: There are 10 ethical guidelines that practitioners must conform to, including: maintaining confidentiality of clients and only acting within the limits of your own knowledge and skills (competence) and referring on to others when necessary (collegiality)
describe cognitive behavioural treatment - anger management
Everyone suffers a little bit of anger, but when it gets out of control if can put a strain on the body.
Anger can trigger aggressive “outbursts” which may lead to criminal behaviour such as harming another person. Some offenders are put on anger management programmes as part of their treatment, because of the nature of the offence or due to personal circumstances.
Novaco (1975) suggests that some violent offences occur because offenders cannot deal effectively with their anger, which tends to be expressed in antisocial ways and displaced onto inappropriate targets. In an anger management programme, cognitive behavioural techniques are used to help offenders deal more effectively with their feelings of anger.
The aim is to teach offenders to
(1) recognise their own feelings of anger;
(2) control their angry behaviour; and
(3) resolve conflict in positive ways.
explain the 3 steps of cbt
Ainsworth (2000) identifies three stages in most anger management programmes:
- Cognitive preparation: offenders analyse their own patterns of anger: the types of situations that make them angry and the thinking processes that accompany their anger. Group members are helped to recognise their own anger patterns and so identify situations that trigger aggressive behaviour. For example, if they become angry when laughed at, they might work through alternative conclusions such as that people are laughing at the behaviour and not them. They also consider the negative consequences of their anger on others.
- Skills acquisition: the offenders learn behavioural and
cognitive coping strategies which will help them to control the feelings of anger and replace these emotions with acceptable responses.
Assertiveness training can help deal with the issue
constructively rather than violently. These might include relaxation, avoidance, or social skills such as assertiveness and conflict resolution. - Application practice: offenders apply their skills in a controlled and non-threatening environment, they may use role play to try out their skills and are positively reinforced for appropriate, non-aggressive responses.
These are conducted in controlled environments so that the offenders feel safe and untrained individuals are not exposed to risk of harm.
describe programme - what is involved in a running group for cbt and include an application
A programme is the process by which anger management is undertaken, for example this could be in the form of twice weekly meetings in a group. A trained practitioner is likely to run the group, which in a prison may be a forensic or prison psychologist.
· First, they focus on helping the group to work together, concentrating on social skills, to make sure that everyone is listened to and that there are ground rules for letting each person contribute.
· Group skills are used, such as having a check-in for each session, where each person briefly explains how they are feeling, describes their day or talks to about their progress in the group. During the sessions different techniques eg, relaxation, are used to help the members talk about their feelings.
· Gradually the group work turns to discussions of what makes each person angry, and such sessions would end with positive thoughts about groups members progress, what they enjoy, or being positive about someone they dislike. Members may be asked to think about the last time they were angry and what their thoughts were at the time, or to reflect on the last time they were kind.
· The sessions progress in this way, by introducing the idea of changing the thoughts that relate to an angry response and ending with something positive. It is suggested that the course of group sessions ends by lengthening the time between the sessions, so that the support framework us bit removed immediately.
Application
The National Anger Management Package, developed by the Prison Service in England and Wales, is one example of how the technique is used in the UK. Keen (2000) describes the use of the course in a young offender institution with males aged 17-21 years. The course is based on eight, 2-hour sessions, seven of which are given over 2-3 weeks, followed by the final session a month later. The aims of the course are;
- Raise members awareness of how they become angry
- Raise members awareness of the need to monitor their behaviour
- Educate members in the benefits of controlling their anger
- Improve techniques of anger management
- Allow members to practice anger management in role plays.
Keen found that the participants felt that they had a better awareness of their anger management difficulties and had improved their ability to control their anger after the course.
describe the strengths for CBT
Feindler et al (1984) found that anger management training led to improvements in self-control, more effective problem solving and a reduction in offending in young men.
· Ireland (2000) looked at 50 young offenders and found a difference (reduction) in the anger felt after the programme, according to self-report data. She found that 92% of the prisoners
in the experimental group showed an improvement between the two times, but no reduction in the angry behaviours of the control was seen. One reason that such an intervention may be effective is that they provide individuals with greater insight into the causes of their behaviours and offer alternative ways of responding to provocation.
Dobash et al (1996) found that only 33% of offenders committed further violent acts against their partners in 12 months following participation in a treatment programme compared to 75% of offenders who received an alternative sentence, so this is effective in changing thinking patterns that leads to a change in offending behaviour.
weakness for cbt
Ainsworth (2000) argues that it is effective only if managed properly, given the right resources, and targeted at the right offenders.
Howitt (2009) reiterates this, pointing out that some offenders act violently not out of anger but to achieve specific goals. Such individuals are unlikely to benefit from anger management.
Rice (1997) found that psychopaths given treatment were more likely to offend afterwards, possibly because the skills they acquired raised their self-esteem and allowed them to manipulate others more effectively.
describe the aim of howells et al 2005 contemporary study for brief anger management programs with offender - outcomes and predictors of change
Aim
To see if anger management is more effective than no treatment in producing a change in offenders behaviour.
To see if pre-treatment offender characteristics, especially level of need and offender readiness, can predict improvement in offenders’ behaviour.
describe the sample of howells et al 2005 contemporary study for brief anger management programs with offender - outcomes and predictors of change
Sample: 418 male offenders mostly violent from different ethnic backgrounds in Australia (mean age 28.8 years) who had been referred to AMP. 86% came from prison-based AMP and the rest from community programmes with 73% taking part in AMP for the first time. 285 males took part in the post-intervention assessment, with 78 completing the two-month follow up and 21 completing the 6 months follow up.
A control sample was selected from the offenders on a waiting list for AMP from the same area. The small numbers at the follow-up sessions were planned for logistical reasons and do not reflect a large attrition rate.
describe the procedure of howells et al 2005 contemporary study for brief anger management programs with offender - outcomes and predictors of change
Procedure: Offenders attended 10 sessions lasting 2 hours each. Offenders had to identify provocations, relaxation, cognitive restricting, assertion and relapse prevention via skills activities.
Offenders completed 2 international self-report measures about experiences of anger and triggers (questionnaires were verbally administered for those with literacy issues) before and after attending the programme, with follow-up assessments at two and six months after finishing the group. Staff also completed an observational staff rating scale of aggression for each offender.
describe the results of howells et al 2005 contemporary study for brief anger management programs with offender - outcomes and predictors of change
Showed that the offenders who completed the AMP showed greater improvement in anger knowledge (1.80) than those in the control group (0.95).
Ability to appropriately manage anger was not significantly different compared to the control group. In the two month follow up, it was found that offenders who took part in the AMP were better able to manage their anger and were continuing to make progress after the course finished but not seen at six months.
Also found those who scored higher on the readiness for treatment tended to make the most improvements so this could be used as a predictor for which offenders would benefit most from AMP in future.
describe the conclusion of howells study
Conclusion: It is possible to make predictions about which offenders are most likely to benefit from anger management as those most motivated to change had the biggest positive change than those not ready. AMP had a limited impact overall and the benefits were not always maintained long term.
strengths of howells study
· The data obtained was within a naturally occurring programme for the 418 offenders and therefore has real life clinical application so has high ecological validity in terms of finding out if anger management programme was effective.
· The 418 male offenders were randomized to either the control or experimental groups which reduced experimenter bias which increases reliability of the extent to which the treatment programme worked.
· Howells et al. (2005), also found that knowledge of anger was better after the programme. Also, readiness before a programme should be considered as it can predict whether a programme is successful – predictive validity.
weaknesses of howells study
· Anger management can be practically more expensive that other therapies, such as change of diet, as it requires a trained professional to lead the sessions and is done is small groups of offenders.
· Anger management is not the only therapy for aggression, Social Skills Training suggests that lack of social competence leads to offending and not aggression and therefore criminal behaviour, therefore encouraging skill acquisition would be more effective than the anger management programme with some offenders.
· Most of the data gathered was self-report and offenders may not have been honest in their responses about the treatment programme possibly due to concerns about the impact of being homes among their peers which means response bias may occur and reduce the reliability of the finding about how effective the anger management programme may be.
describe neurotransmitter drug treatments
· Anger management can be practically more expensive that other therapies, such as change of diet, as it requires a trained professional to lead the sessions and is done is small groups of offenders.
· Anger management is not the only therapy for aggression, Social Skills Training suggests that lack of social competence leads to offending and not aggression and therefore criminal behaviour, therefore encouraging skill acquisition would be more effective than the anger management programme with some offenders.
· Most of the data gathered was self-report and offenders may not have been honest in their responses about the treatment programme possibly due to concerns about the impact of being homes among their peers which means response bias may occur and reduce the reliability of the finding about how effective the anger management programme may be.
strengths of neurotransmitter drug treatments (use with hormone drug treatment)
· Pharmacological treatments (chemical castration) have been found to reduce sex drive, deviant sexual fantasies and sometimes reduce aggression eg………………….
· LeBlanc et al. (2005) found that adolescent boys diagnosed with conduct disorder or oppositional disorder, who took risperidone had a 56.4% reduction in aggressive behaviour after six weeks compared to a control group who were given a placebo drug who had a 21.7% reduction in aggression. Risperidone affects various neurotransmitters, in particular dopamine and serotonin.
weaknesses of neurotransmitter drug treatments
Bradbury and Kaye (1999) say that use of drugs for sexual deviancy assumes that such behaviour comes from biological drives and suppressing sexual drive would reduce those drives. The goal is to maintain ‘normal’ sexual drives but to suppress deviant behaviour.
They claim that using anti-androgens and hormonal agents is successful when treating sex offenders, and recidivism rates are reduced, by reducing sexual fantasies, sexual arousal and drive, and sexual behaviour.
· Ireland (2000) who found that 92% of prisoners who underwent anger management showed some improvement in their behaviour with only 8% showing a deterioration in their anger. This shows that if sex based crimes are due to anger than AM so may be more effective than drug treatments.
· A weakness of drug therapy is that it does not stand alone so it is hard to evaluate on its own. Psychotherapy includes cognitive-behavioural treatments and supervised probation, as well as community-based interventions. When there is more than one therapy, it is hard to say which therapy is effective.
describe hormone drug treatments
Anti-androgens work on the premise that excess testosterone causes aggressive behaviour as well as deviant sexual behaviour, therefore reducing the effects of testosterone will reduce such behaviour.
cyproterone acetate (CPA) which is used to reduce sex drive and sexual fantasies. Androgen suppression using anti-androgens and hormonal agents has the same effect on sexual behaviour as surgical castration, the use of drug treatments came from the success of surgical castration and neurosurgery which have been used with very low recidivism rates reported. CPA has anti-androgenic, antigonadotrophic and pregestational effects. It quickly reduces sexual drive and deviant fantasies, though it is not available in the USA, just in Canada. There are side-effects, such as liver dysfunction and adrenal suppression. Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) decreases the effects of testosterone, as well as breaking it down quicker and inhibiting the production of testosterone. MPA is a hormonal agent and is the one used most in the USA. Side-effects included weight gain, decreased sperm production, and gall bladder and gastrointestinal dysfunctions. MPA brings reduction in sexual drive and deviant sexual fantasy, and possibly aggression.
strengths of hormone drug treatments
· Perkins et al. (1998) recommend using a combination of group-based cognitive-behavioural interventions looking at underpinning needs (criminogenic) and personality factors together with anti-libidinal medication. Perkins et al. (1998) also concluded that hormone medication helps as long as there is informed consent given to have the treatment and the ability to withdraw from the medication.
· Emory et al. (1992) evaluated MPA (hormone) and concluded that such treatment lowered the sexual interest of the patients and was useful in allowing engagement with psychotherapies. Federoff et al. (1992, cited in Perkins et al., 1998) looked at MPA and found that 15% of those using MPA re-offended, compared with 68 per cent of non-users.
· Thibaut et al (1998) found that the use of anti-androgens (hormones) was helpful for 11 sex offenders if it was combined with psychotherapy and the offenders were ready to be treated.
weaknesses of hormone drug treatments
rengths
· Perkins et al. (1998) recommend using a combination of group-based cognitive-behavioural interventions looking at underpinning needs (criminogenic) and personality factors together with anti-libidinal medication. Perkins et al. (1998) also concluded that hormone medication helps as long as there is informed consent given to have the treatment and the ability to withdraw from the medication.
· Emory et al. (1992) evaluated MPA (hormone) and concluded that such treatment lowered the sexual interest of the patients and was useful in allowing engagement with psychotherapies. Federoff et al. (1992, cited in Perkins et al., 1998) looked at MPA and found that 15% of those using MPA re-offended, compared with 68 per cent of non-users.
· Thibaut et al (1998) found that the use of anti-androgens (hormones) was helpful for 11 sex offenders if it was combined with psychotherapy and the offenders were ready to be treated.
describe arousal as a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony
Witnessing a crime can be very stressful causing arousal levels to be very high so could make it difficult to accurately take in information at the time of the event. This means what is actually witnessed is encoded wrong in memory so causing later recall to be different to what actually happened. For most witnesses, giving evidence in court is a stressful experience, because not only do they have to recall unpleasant events, but also because the courtroom itself is an alien environment causing arousal levels to be high.
Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908) suggests that as we become stresses about a situation or event such as a court room, out performance in that situation will eventually decline. There is an optimum amount of arousal needed to be successful, but it is very easy to go beyond this. Being too relaxed in a situation will also not help performance. If witnesses too relaxed, and experiencing low arousal, their recall of the even may be less accurate and therefore more unreliable.
strengths of Arousal as a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
· Deffenbacher (83) found that accuracy is poor when emotional arousal is either too high or too low, showing that optimum level of arousal is needed for recall to be accurate of a crime.
· Yuille et al (1986) found accuracy of the witnesses at a real life shooting in Canada was 82% at the time of the event, showing the level of involvement/arousal at the time of the crime can create a flashbulb memory of the event due to increased attention to details of the crime.
weaknesses Arousal as a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
· Arousal is one of many factors that affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony, it may be due to the type of weapon the witness sees and not due to arousal levels.
describe weapon focus as a factor affecting the reliability if EWT
- In crime scenes involving a weapon,
person’s attention becomes diverted to the immediate threat of that weapon due to fear of being harmed thus leaving less attention for other details of the scene. This will cause the later recall of the incident to become less reliable as the witness memory of the event is not an accurate replication of what was initially seen during the crime. - This may be due to looking longer and more often at unusual objects and so it may be the unusualness of an event rather than simply danger posed by the weapon that attracts out attention. This still decreases accuracy as attention is paid to the weapon and not the details of what is happening during the crime.
strengths of Weapon Focus as a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
· Pickel (1998) investigated whether the presence of a weapon affected the ability to recall. They found that unusual objects had the most delirious effect on recall but not on line-up identification. As a weapon is typically seen out of context, its unusualness would explain why memory is impaired, rather than arousal caused by the threat it poses.
· Yarmey and Jones (1983) asked psychology researchers who had published articles on eyewitness testimony about weapon focus and experts agreed that in a crime a victim is going to focus on a gun, which will mean they don’t focus on the criminal’s face.
weaknesses of Weapon Focus as a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
Weapon focus is one of many factors that affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony, it may be due to arousal and not the type of weapon the witness.
However, Wagstaff et al. (2003) examined real witnesses and victim descriptions of offenders and compared them to the actual offender’s details on arrest. They found very little evidence that factors such as weapon focus, age or level of violence had any effect on witness testimony. This shows that factors identified as having an effect on eyewitness testimony in laboratory and field studies may not have an effect in real life.
describe reconstructive memory/post event info. as a factor affecting the reliability of EWT
Bartlett’s theory of reconstructive memory is crucial to an understanding of the reliability of eyewitness testimony as he suggested that recall is subject to personal interpretation dependent on our learned or cultural norms and values, and the way we make sense of our world.
This suggests that recall of an event is subject to our personal interpretation of what happened and is dependent on our learnt or cultural norms and values, and the way we make sense of our world.
Information received after the crime – post event is a major factor such as media footage of the crime or discussion of what happened with others will affect the memory that has been stored potentially changing it so that it is no longer a consistent representation of the event. It may be that the discussion of the event has caused memory to change as witnesses collate information they have seen or heard into one version of the event, and this may not be a true representation of the event causing eyewitness testimony to be less reliable as it becomes consistent.
strengths of Reconstructive memory/Post event information as a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
· Shaw and Porter (2015) found that 70% of participants in the criminal condition explained a false memory of committing crime such as theft, some giving details of their contact with the police. This therefore suggest that how people are questioned can lead to people reconstructing and creating false memories of committing crime.
· Loftus and Pickrall (1995) found that 25% of participants remembered a false memory of being lost in a shopping mall and some elaborated on the false memory in detail. This supports reconstructive memory as it shows that memories can be altered by suggestion.
weaknesses of Reconstructive memory/Post event information as a factor affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
Although results provide an insight into the effect of post-event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, we are unable to conclude why the distortion occurs. The distortion could be the result of poor memory, where people assimilate new information into their own accounts of the event and are unable to distinguish between what they have seen and what they have heard. On the other hand, it could be that the distortion occurs due to conformity and the social pressure from the co-witness. Further research is required answer this question.
Reconstructive/post event information is one of many factors that affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony, it may be due to arousal and not the post event information.
describe leading questions as a factor affecting the reliability of EWT
Leading questions: A leading question suggests to the witness what answer is desired or leads the witness to the desired answer. There is also the problem of the witnesses’ lack of
understanding what the questions they are being asked which could also be a reason as to why memory of an event gets changed. In addition, it has been argued that as well as being asked confusing questions; witnesses are often interrupted, giving the witness little time to give a full answer.
strengths of leading questions as a factor affecting the reliability of EWT
· Marshall (1969) tested Air Force personnel about the speed of a moving automobile, estimates ranged from 10 to 50 mph. The car they watched was actually going only 12 mph, showing that witnesses may guess the answer when unsure so limits their accuracy.
· Loftus and Palmer (1974) found more students reported broken glass when asked about the verb smashed (32%) compared to no verb (12%) after watching a film clip, suggesting leading questions do change an eyewitness’s memory of an event.
weaknesses leading questions as a factor affecting the reliability of EWT
· Loftus (1979b) failed to mislead 98 out of 100 participants with an incorrect suggestion relating to s slide of a man stealing a red purse from a woman’s bag. Most of the participants who then read an account which referred to a brown purse still recalled the colour correctly. Suggesting that some memories cannot be altered.
· Leading questions is one of many factors that affecting the reliability of eyewitness testimony, it may be due to arousal and not leading questions.
describe Loftus and Palmer (1974) Reconstruction of auto mobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. aim - classic study
Aim(s)
To see if the phrasing of a question would affect estimates of speed, applying these findings to the idea of leading questions in court.
describe procedure for experiment 1
45 students were put into groups.
7 films were shown, each involving a traffic accident, with each film lasting 5-30 seconds. The films were segments from longer driver’s education film borrowed from the Evergreen Safety Council and the Seattle Police Department. After every film the participants had a questionnaire to fill in.
First, they were required to give an account of the accident, and then to answer to specific questions. The critical question was the one asking about the speed of the vehicle.
9 participants were asked “about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” and equal numbers of the rest were asked the same question, but with the word “hit” being replaced by “smashed”, “collided”, “bumped”, or “contacted”.
The same procedure was followed for each film; however the order of the films was randomised for each group. 4 of the 7 films used contained staged crashes originally designed to illustrate what can happen to human beings when cars collide at various speeds. In these cases, the speed of the cars was known. One was travelling at 20 mph; one was at 30 mph and two were at 40mph.
describe results of loftus and palmer classics study
Results
Table 1 shows the mean speed estimate by verb used in the questioning of the participants.
Table 1
The use of the verb “smashed” gave the highest mean estimate of speed and “contacted” the lowest mean estimate.
“Collided”, “bumped” and “hit” had speed estimates that decreased as per the perceived severity of the verb.
e.g.
smashed 40.5
collided 39.3
aim and procedure of experiment 2 for loftus and palmer
Experiment 2
Aim(s)
Verb used Mean speed estimated (mph)
smashed 40.5
collided 39.3
bumped 38.1
hit 34.0
contacted 31.8
The second experiment was designed to provide additional insights into the origin of the differential speed estimates.
Procedure
150 participants were sampled and in groups of various sizes they watched a film with a multiple car accident, this was followed by completing a questionnaire.
The film lasted less than 1 minute of which the accident was 4 seconds.
The questionnaire at the end of the film asked participants to describe the accident in their own words and then to answer more questions. Some were asked about the speed using the word “smashed” as part of the questions, some were asked the same question with the word “hit” replacing “smashed”, and some were not asked about speed. This group acted as a baseline control group measure.
One week later the participants came back but were not shown the film again. They were asked more questions, including “Did you see any broken glass?”. There was no broken glass in the film, but it was thought that the word “smashed” used in the question the week before would lead to more broken glass being “remembered” by those participants.
results and conclusion for loftus and palmer experiment 2
Results
The mean estimate of speed for the question including the word “smashed” was 10.46mph and for “hit” it was 8mph. These differences were found to be statistically significant.
An chi-square test was conducted on these responses and was found to be significant beyond the .025 level. The probability of saying “yes” to the question about broken glass is 0.32 when the verb smashed is used, and 0.14 with hit. So, smashed leads to more “yes” responses and to higher speed estimates.
Table 2 shows the number of participants that answered yes or no to the question of ‘Did you see any broken glass’.
Response “smashed” “hit” Control
Yes 16 7 6
No 34 43 44
Table 2
Conclusions
The question about “how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each
other?” led to higher estimates of speed than the same question asked with the verb
smashed replaced by hit. This also had consequences for how questions are answered a week after the original event occurred.
Loftus and Palmer proposed that two kinds of information go into memory. The first is information is from the perception of the original event; the second is external information supplied after the fact.
These two sources of information become integrated so that we are unable to tell from
which source specific detail is recalled. All that is available is one “memory”.
strengths of loftus and palmer
· One strength of Loftus and Palmer’s study is that it is high in validity as an independent measures design was used meaning students were less likely to display order effects (such as boredom) so the results on leading questions are more likely to be accurate representation of witness recall.
· One strength of Loftus and Palmer’s research is that it is high in validity due to high controls being used in terms of the experimental question being the same except of the critical verb, which means the research was able to measure if leading questions could distort eyewitness testimony accounts as it intended.
· One strength of Loftus and Palmer’s study is that it is high in reliability as all students completed the same standardised videos and questions so can be easily replicated to check if the effects of leading questions eyewitness testimony are consistent.
weaknesses of loftus and palmer
· One weakness of Loftus and Palmer’s sample was that a restricted sample of students so may not be representative of all individuals’ eyewitness testimony accounts so the results of memory cannot be generalised to other witnesses of different ages with different experience.
· One weakness of Loftus and Palmer’s study is that they did not control for individual differences between students in terms of driving experience, which may affect the accuracy of results into eyewitness testimony as other factors such as age are affecting the outcome and reliability of recall.
· One weakness of Loftus and Palmer’s study is that it could be considered low in ecological validity as artificial tasks watching a video were used to test eyewitness memory so lacks realism of how memory works in the real world as it lacks emotion that would be felt by a real witness.
lab experiments + evaluation
An experiment n a tightly controlled environment in which the IV is manipulated by the researcher to see how it can affect the DV.
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strengths:
Laboratory experiments have provided a lot of
evidence to investigate eyewitness effect
because of their controlled standardised
procedures and seeing the accurate effect the
IV can have on the DV therefore reliability is
possible, this is because laboratory
experiments can be tested over and over to
see if the results are reliable e.g., Loftus did
many studies of EWT and found supporting
evidence for her leading questions suggestion
in several of these.
Many of the criminal laboratory experiments
are scientific tested and from this an objective
and accurate body of knowledge about the
influence of leading questions on eyewitnesses
which can be built up using firm conclusions
than say using case studies which cannot be
tested in a scientific way due to where they
have to be some for example.
Results from laboratory studies are deemed
scientific because of the strict way in which the
data was gathered, therefore they are more
credible, for example Loftus did many of her
studies in a laboratory environment which is
not only scientific, but the results would be
credible also.
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Weaknesses:
There is a lack of ecological validity in
laboratory experiments because the setting for
the participants in many experiments were not
natural and realistic e.g., participants might
suffer stress and anxiety during the incident,
particularly if it is violent or traumatic. In
addition showing someone a film of a car
accident is not a valid task because none of
the emotion attacked to this particular event is
present which could also be a contributing
factor to eyewitness recall.
The lack of validity in laboratory experiments is
important when considering something as
serious and life changing as the witness
accounts of a crime, so any attempt to apply
the findings of these studies to real
eyewitnesses in real cases may not be fully
appropriate because laboratory experiments
are not like real life. Criminal psychology
researchers should act with caution when
making generalisations about eyewitnesses in
court.
Laboratory experiments suffer from demand characteristics because participants know they are part of an experiment and may go back and change their original answers, therefore committing demand characteristics and making their witness accounts unrealistic. Also, being part of a laboratory experiment may also make a participant more or less cautious about their testimony compared to a real witness. Or, if a participant believes that the researcher knows what really happened in a video, they might be more likely to be misled by leading questions than a witness being interviewed by the police
field experiments and evaluation
An experiment carried out in a natural environment. The IV is still manipulated but this it done in an environment which is typical of the behaviour being studied.
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strengths:
Field experiments, like Yarmey (2004) are more valid with regard to the setting, which means they have ecological validity, because they occur in the participants natural setting or a setting that could be natural for the task (or both).
Field experiments can reassure practitioners in police forces that findings about eyewitness memory are important, and that the guidance the police are asked to implement is sound. Features that are required in order for field experiments to be seen as valid are double-blind techniques and random assignment to groups, as these help to rule out confounding variables.
If field experiments are controlled and carefully planned, they have the reliability and scientific status of laboratory experiments, while also having validity because of being a real-life witness setting and using real-life crimes and events.
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weaknesses:
There is a chance in field experiments that uncontrolled elements may influence the results, which could mean there are confounding variables, and the findings are not completely reliable. This is an issue for retesting research into eyewitness accounts, however in some ways it also reflects the likelihood of similar variables influencing the real-life accounts of genuine witnesses.
Field experiments might not be valid with regard to the task either – for example, a line-up that has been set up is not the same as identifying a real-life criminal in a real line line-up, there is less pressure on witnesses in staged line-ups, their decision is not going to influence the life on an individual, nor will it potentially jeopardise victims.
Field experiments suffer from extraneous variables because of the situational variables i.e., noise, distractions etc. that have a proven impact on human memory processing. These occur in a natural setting and are difficult to control, as such they might interfere with memory input and affect the results about the accuracy of their eyewitness accounts.
describe race for characteristics of defendants
If the jury is made up of people of the same ethnic origins as the defendant, they are less likely to convict the defendant but more likely to convict someone of a different ethnic origin. Social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner) suggests that anyone who is seen to be in the out-group (different ethnic origin to the jury) will be treated more harshly than someone from the in-group (same ethnic origin). Social comparison would also suggest that jurors are more likely to give guilty verdicts to someone of a different race to them as this promotes their own race as superior as they are not the ones committing crime. Also social stereotypes created by society will influence the decisions made by a jury in terms of guilt such as in South Africa were only black prisoners were ever seen by the public before apartheid ended, which may lead a jury in this country to believe that if the defendant is black then they must be guilty.
Mitchell et al. (2005) conducted a meta- analysis focusing on in-group and out-group favouritism. It was thought that mock jurors would show in-group favouritism and would be more lenient to defendants of their own racial group. They looked at 34 studies and found that participants were more likely to give a guilty verdict for defendants of a race different from their own than for defendants of their own race.
The meta-analysis found that race of the participant, dependent variable measure, presence or absence of instructions and the date of the study significantly affected whether there was racial bias in decision-making or not.
In addition, 16 studies were looked at to consider racial bias in sentencing and it was found that longer sentences were given out to defendants of a different racial group from the participant/ juror, though this result was not strongly significant. This suggests in-group favouritism and out- group hostility/bias.
Bradbury and Williams (2013) looked at the effects of race on juror decision-making (page 333). The study gives evidence that, with regard to a black defendant, it makes a difference if the majority of the jury is white, and it also makes a small difference if the majority of the jury is Hispanic.
Glaser et al. (2015) carried out an experiment that gathered data using a survey and they used a representative sample to look at the effect of defendant race on sentence severity. Their study
gave participants a summary of a triple murder trial that gave the possibility of death sentence or life without parole and also manipulated defendant race.
Those who were told that life without parole was the maximum sentence were not significantly more likely to convict a black defendant (67.7%) than a white defendant (66.7%).
However, those who had a death sentence as the maximum sentence showed a higher likelihood of convicting a black defendant (80%) than a white defendant (55.1%). These results suggest it is the death sentence that gives the difference in juror decision-making regarding racial bias, which has civil rights implications.
Glaser et al. (2015) go on to look at findings about juror decision-making and defendant race and repeat what has been said in other studies, mainly suggesting that there are different variables affecting whether the race of the defendant affects the jury decision-making and that overall it is hard to show that race of the defendant directly affects decision-making
Thomas (2010) produced a report for the Ministry of Justice about whether juries are fair. Some studies are given in the report, including focusing on race of the defendant. Thomas discusses a key question: ‘Do all-white juries discriminate against black and minority ethnic (BME) defendants?’ The study used 41 all-white juries and gave them an identical case where only the race of defendants and victims was varied. Unlike many studies looking at race of the defendant and juror decision- making, this study was done in England using Winchester and Nottingham juries. The finding was that all-white juries did not discriminate against BME defendants and all-white juries were not more likely to convict a black or Asian defendant more than a white one. When race of the juror was looked at, it was found that white jurors had lower conviction rates overall when they were on racially mixed juries. White jurors in a racially diverse area like Nottingham were more likely to convict the white defendant when he was accused of assaulting a BME victim than when assaulting a white victim. This result was not found in Winchester. This suggests that the area the crime was carried out in is important. Thomas (2010) reports that gender of the juror affected jury decision- making, with female jurors more open to persuasion.
Male jurors rarely changed their minds.
describe physical attractiveness for characteristics of defendants
Implicit Personality Theory: Suggests that physically attractive people must have attractive personalities. This can be seen throughout the media whereby the “good” guys (i.e. heroes) are
often depicted as attractive and virtuous people whereas villains are often portrayed as unattractive people with morally corrupt personalities.
This can also be called the “halo effect” – a cognitive bias whereby the perception of one trait (e.g. morality) is influenced by the perception of another trait (e.g. physical attractiveness). This suggests that if the defendant is attractive then the jury may find it harder to believe that they have committed a crime or if they are guilty, judges are more likely to give a smaller sentence.
One issue with attractiveness is that it may have a negative effect if the offender is seen as using their good looks to help them commit the crime. Attractiveness could be considered a peripheral cue that triggers specific stereotypes that individual jurors may use to help them make their decision of whether the suspect is guilty or not. If any of the evidence presented in the case also fits the stereotype, then this may convince the juror that they have made the right decision rather than basing their verdict on just the facts of the case.
Taylor and Butcher (2007) carried out a mock juror study to look at reactions to defendant attractiveness. The study was done in the UK and used 96 participants: 48 white and 48 black. Participants were given a fictitious write- up of a mugging, with a photograph of the defendant attached. The photos varied, though the story of the crime was the same for all participants. Some of the photos showed an attractive defendant and in some the defendant was not attractive; some photos showed a black defendant and others showed a white defendant. The researchers found that the participants (jurors) were more likely to find the less attractive defendants guilty than the attractive ones.
However, race had no effect on the verdict. Unattractive black defendants were, however, given harsher sentences if found guilty than white defendants, regardless of the race of the participant (juror). It seems that jury decision-making tends to be affected by two (or more) extra-legal defendant factors.
Taylor and Butcher (2007) carried out a mock juror study to look at reactions to defendant attractiveness. The study was done in the UK and used 96 participants: 48 white and 48 black. Participants were given a fictitious write- up of a mugging, with a photograph of the defendant attached. The photos varied, though the story of the crime was the same for all participants. Some of the photos showed an attractive defendant and in some the defendant was not attractive; some photos showed a black defendant and others showed a white defendant. The researchers found
that the participants (jurors) were more likely to find the less attractive defendants guilty than the attractive ones.
Patry (2008) looked at the effect of attractiveness on jury discussion. Participants were randomly assigned to four conditions: attractive and deliberation; attractive and no deliberation; plain-looking and deliberation; plain-looking and no deliberation. Patry found that deliberation meant jurors were more likely to find the attractive defendant guilty.
Baron and Byrne (1997) found that attractive defendants are more likely to receive lighter sentences and gain the sympathy of the jurors than unattractive individuals, showing that inbuilt biases affect the verdict given to the defendant.
Sigall & Ostrove (1975) found that mock jurors who were shown an attractive photo of a defendant charged with burglary recommend almost half the average sentence of those shown no photo or an unattractive photo. This shows that the attractiveness of the defendant can affect sentencing.
describe accent for characteristics of defendants
Accents carry with them not only a vocal cadence, but often a cultural history as well. Accent bias occurs when people are evaluated based upon spoken word sounds, and not speech content. This bias’s results because listening to accented voices requires more cognitive resources or disrupts comprehension. Also, accents are a symbol of a speaker’s social identity and serve as a cue for race, ethnicity, and/or national origin, which can cause a perpetuation of negative stereotypes. This can lead to racism and stereotypes being a major factor in the decision making of a jury member if they are reminded throughout the case.
Jurors feel a lack of trust towards offenders with a foreign or very heavy accent due to stereotypes / prejudice or because they feel intimidated by its strength, and consequently struggle to interpret it. Also, strong regional accents and the use of slang typical with an area could lead a jury to be more biased due to the stereotypical link between a geographical area and crime.
Dixon and Mahoney (2002) found that those with a strong Brummie accent were considered to be more guilty, compared to those with a stereotypical “posh” accent, using a mock trial procedure. This shows how those with prevalent regional accents are judged as being more culpable than those with a softer dialect.
Seggie (1993) Found that when British fancy, Broad Australian, and English Asian accents were listened to pleading innocence on tapes, the broad Australian accent was found to be guilty more often for Assault (Blue Collar Crime) and the RP Fancy accent being found more guilty for Theft
(White Collar Crime). This shows accent may affect the degree of guilt a defendant may be implicated with depending on what crime they commit.
Levi-Ari (2010) found that a foreign accent undermines a person’s credibility as their accent makes a person hard to understand, and the jury are less likely to understand what the person is saying making it sound less truthful
Frumkin (2020) found that those who speak using African American Vernacular English may be presumed to be less trustworthy, or less credible and this applied to an eyewitness as well as a defendant.
describe pre trial publicity
Pre-trial publicity means media and other coverage of a case before the trial takes place. It is assumed that jury members will have read or heard about a case that has had a lot of publicity (or indeed any case with any publicity can be a problem) and the question is raised about how, in such cases, there can be a fair trial as the jury will be swayed by what they have heard and read.
As well as characteristics affecting jury-decision-making, jurors can be influenced by pre-trial publicity.
Pre-trial publicity means information in the media about a case and a defendant can argue that what a jury has read and heard about their case might prejudice the case when it comes to trial. As with characteristics of the defendant, pre-trial publicity can also prevent a fair trial. If publicity is widespread enough, it can be hard to get 12 people who don’t know about the case to be on the jury.
Courts may impose ‘gagging’ orders on the media in high-profile cases in order to avoid problems with pre-trial publicity affecting not only juror decision-making but also choosing a jury in the first place. A problem is that a defendant has the right to be tried fairly and by jury in certain
circumstances, and so ‘gagging’ is put into place. However, the idea of free speech also must be considered.
describe during the trial
Characteristics of defendants such as race, gender and appearance etc.. can bias the jury based on stereotypes the jury might have towards individuals with certain characteristics.
Expert witnesses are called to warn jurors about the problems with eyewitness testimony, jurors tend to disregard these warning and still believe witnesses.
Story models – which faced with complex information, a jury is likely to pick out key information or facts and create a story from them in order to make sense of the information given to them. This suggests that legal experts need to take care when constructing final arguments as to not influence the outcomes of trail.
describe post trial
Conformity is when an individual gives up his or her own personal views under group pressure. Within a jury situation, two types of conformity may occur – normative and informational. The latter suggest the individual conforms to the group norms because they do not know what to do and looks to the group for guidance. With normative conformity the jury member conforms to avoid rejection by the group or to gain rewards from them, but not in reality agree with the decision.
describe evidence for pre publicity
Hope et al (2004) found that negative pre-trial publicity lead to 73% guilty verdict and distorted the evidence to be more in favour of the prosecution compared to only 56% guilty for the other group. Similar results have been found when the information supported the defendant so shows that pre-trial publicity can change a verdict.
Kovera (2002) used 2 rape cases with different media exposure; they found that undergraduate mock jurors who had been exposed to pro defence media coverage needed more evidence to convict than those who had watch pro prosecution media coverage. This shows that pre-trial publicity can create bias in the juror’s mind which can affect the verdict.
Ruva, McEvoy and Bryant (2007) investigated the effects of exposure to pre-trial publicity (PTP) and jury deliberation on juror memory and decision making. They sampled 558 university students (128 males and 430 females) aged 18 to 52 years (mean age 20.6 years) who received extra course credit for participating in the experiment. 354 were Caucasian, 86 were African American, 36 were Asian or Pacific Islander, 73 were Hispanic, 2 were Native Americans, and 2 fell into the other category.
The exposed jurors received negative PTP about the defendant in the trial, and the non-exposed jurors read unrelated crime articles. Participants in the PTP-exposed conditions received packets containing news stories that were modified from actual PTP from the trial. Participants in the non-exposed PTP conditions received packets containing news articles of an unrelated crime in which a woman was accused of embezzling child support funds.
Approximately 4 days after exposure to the articles, participants viewed the videotaped trial. They were told they were not to use any prior information when making decisions about the defendant’s guilt and to only use the evidence presented during the trial. Immediately following the viewing of the trial, each juror was given a verdict form asking for their verdicts of ‘not guilty’, ‘hung’, or ‘guilty’, how confident they were in these verdicts (score ratings) and the length of the prison sentence (between 30–45 years) they would suggest.
Results showed that jurors in the exposed conditions were significantly more likely than jurors in the non-exposed conditions to attribute information presented only in the PTP to either the trial or both the trial and the PTP. This suggests a link between PTP exposure and critical PTP source memory errors and perceived credibility of the defendant. They also suggest a link between PTP exposure and guilt ratings.
They concluded that negative PTP about a defendant can have an extremely biasing effect on juror decision making. Exposed jurors were more likely than non-exposed jurors to make misattributions between PTP and trial evidence. Most errors for exposed jurors were due to inaccurately attributing this information to both the trial and the PTP. The jurors did not forget that they read about this information in the PTP, but they also believed that they heard it during the trial. Also, those exposed to negative PTP perceived the defendant as being less credible than non-exposed jurors. Negative PTP may have caused jurors to form a negative impression of the defendant.
Overall, where there is a lot of negative pre-trial publicity about a defendant, it may be impossible for them to have a fair trial. Even when jurors are instructed not to use PTP information they may be unable to do so because of source memory errors or negative impressions already formed about the defendant.
Thomas (2010), in her report about the fairness of juries, discusses a study conducted in Nottingham, Winchester and London focusing on media reporting of trials. When jurors recalled
the emphasis of reports - and 66% did not recall exact detail - they tended to remember publicity suggesting defendant guilt. In high-profile cases, 20% of the jurors who did remember media reports about the case found it hard to put reports out of their mind while serving as a juror on the case. Jurors also looked at their cases on the internet during the trial, which they are not supposed to do. This information suggests that pre-trial publicity can negatively affect the defendant.
Steblay et al. (1999) carried out a meta-analysis to review the effects of pre-trial publicity on juror verdicts. Forty- four tests were looked at and findings were often in support of the idea that participants exposed to negative pre-trial publicity are more likely to find a defendant guilty than if there is less or no negative pre-trial publicity.
research evidence for for factors affecting jury decision making
· A strength of the research looking at characteristics of the defendant and the effect on juror decision-making is its usefulness for society. There is clearly a need to know if jurors are affected by extra-legal factors and discussion about such factors should be thought about if there can be something like ‘unattractive harshness bias’ or ‘attractiveness leniency’. A jury decision should be a fair one and research into characteristics of the defendant affecting such a decision strongly suggests it is not. A strength of research is when it has a clear practical application.
· A problem with looking at the effects of characteristics of the defendant on juror decision-making is that it does not seem that in real life one characteristic at a time affects the juror. Variables are combined, such that gender, race, physical attractiveness and other features of a defendant when combined can affect a juror’s decision in a way that separately they may not. Studies have to bring in more than one variable, Gunnell and Ceci (2010) looked at different ways of processing and the attractiveness of the defendant. This shows how juror characteristics are important too. Using reductionist methods like experiments can mean the whole picture is not studied. There is a lack of ecological validity.
strengths of mock jury studies
· Many studies use the mock jury idea and the strengths of doing that apply to this area of research (as do the weaknesses). Mock juror studies enable the relatively ethical study of
jury decision-making when actual juries are not available. Also they enable specific extra-legal variables to be manipulated for study, with controls over other variables and consequential cause- and-effect conclusions drawn. They give a strong body of evidence.
· They allow variables that might affect juror decision- making to be tested using a lot of control over extraneous variables that the more naturalistic situation of a real court case and jury would not allow.
· They enable the actual decision-making to be studied, whereas jury decision-making takes place out of the public eye so is not directly accessible.
· Enough studies have been done looking at the effects of pre-trial publicity (particularly negative pre-trial publicity) that meta-analyses have been carried out. This is a strength because samples can be merged, meaning larger numbers are available for statistical analysis, which strengthens results, as Steblay et al. (1999) claim
describe weaknesses of mock jury studies
· They are not real trials and would not involve the stress and responsibility of an actual trial where someone may be convicted, and that has implications for them and often for others. There is a lack of internal and external validity.
· Mock jury trials are not generalisable to real jury trials because of the lack of external validity mentioned and because they tend to involve small samples and confounding variables.
· Mock juror studies using the experimental method tend to lack ecological validity, though there are studies that use real pre-trial publicity and recreate a trial that uses real information, so there is some validity in these cases. Nonetheless, unless real jurors are used in real-life situations, there will be limitations with regard to validity. Studebaker et al. (2002) suggest that the internet can be used to look at the effects of pre-trial publicity in an actual trial taking place, which might help with problems regarding lack of ecological validity from mock jury research.
describe ID for gender differences in jury decision making
Carlen (1997) argues that when women are jailed, it is less for “the seriousness of their crimes and more according to the court’s assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters”. Girls whose parents believe them to be beyond control are more likely to receive custodial sentences than females who live more “conventional” lives. Carlen found that Scottish judges were much more likely to jail women whose children were in care than women who they saw as good mothers. Black women were about 25% more likely than white women to be sentenced to custody at Crown Court while custodial sentencing was proportionate for all other BAME women. Therefore, the context of gender and crime should also consider ethnicity. Basically men and women are treated differently in the justice system.
In the US the average prison sentence for men who kill their female partners is two to six years (the illustration here takes the midpoint of those values). By contrast women, who kill their partners are sentenced on average to 15 years.
describe how ID impact on the explanations of criminal behaviour, also can include hormones etc
- Personality
Eysenck’s Theory: Criminals may be more extroverted, neurotic, and psychotic.
Impulsivity: People who act without thinking are more likely to break the law. - Cognitive Differences
Some criminals may have poor problem-solving skills or faulty thinking patterns, making them more likely to commit crimes. - Mental Disorders
Conditions like antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) or schizophrenia can increase the risk of criminal behaviour. - Gender Differences
Hormones: Testosterone is linked to aggression, which may explain why men commit more violent crimes.
Socialisation: Boys are often raised to be more aggressive, while girls are encouraged to be more empathetic.
describe how developmental aspects can impact on the explanations of criminal behaviour, you may include casual factors e.g. bowlby
Criminal and anti-social behaviour can be linked to early life experiences and development. Key factors include:
- Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Theory
If a child does not form a strong bond with their mother (or caregiver), they may develop emotional problems.
Bowlby found that many juvenile offenders had experienced separation from their mothers. - Childhood Experiences
Neglect or abuse can lead to aggression and criminal behaviour.
Poor parenting (lack of discipline or warmth) can result in anti-social behaviour. - Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
Children learn by watching others. If they see violence or crime, they may copy it.
Role models (parents, friends, media) influence behaviour. - Brain Development
The prefrontal cortex (controls impulse and decision-making) develops fully in the mid-20s.
Young people may struggle with self-control, increasing the risk of crime.
