Exam

Question 1

Week 5: Civil (tort) law and forensic psychology

Answer 1

• Duty of Care: this is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others.
• Breach of Duty: the conduct falls short of the expected standard under the circumstances.
• Cause: separated into cause in fact, i.e. but/for test, and proximate cause, i.e. an event that is sufficiently related to the harm.
• Harm and/or damage: This relates to the proof that the plaintiff has suffered a loss, e.g. costs, reputation.

Question 2

How to read an appellate court opinion

Answer 2

1. Issue: What is the specific and concise issue at hand in this case (often framed as a question)?
2. Facts: What are the relevant facts of the case?
3. Case History: What was the judicial route that brought the case to the attention of this court (including grounds for appeal)?
4. Holding: What is the decision of the court (upheld, reversed, remanded)?
5. Rationale: What is the reason for the court’s decision (including persuasive evidence)?

Question 3

What is a survey?

Answer 3

A survey is a research method used for collecting data from a predefined group of respondents to gain information and insights into various topics of interest. It can have multiple purposes, and researchers can conduct it in many ways depending on the methodology chosen and the study’s goal.

When creating a survey and designing the questions you’ll use, it is important to keep in mind that each survey question should have a specific goal that is directly related to the report. A useful and constructive survey avoids questions that are complex, confusing or overly long. It also avoids using double negatives, and the social psychology trap of circuitous questioning without a valid reason, e.g. attitudes related to political issues, sensitive issues, sexuality, etc.

Question 4

What is the expert witness?

Answer 4

Common definitions of an expert describe someone who holds specialised knowledge in an area, who has attained a high level of ability or performance in their field, or who is recognised as a leader in the field. As you can see, one of the key problems here is that there are very few objective measures to define who is and who isn’t an expert.
The legal definition of an expert witness, however, is different. In order for a witness to be qualified as an expert for the purposes of testifying in Australia, they must be assessed as meeting the following criteria:

Expertise rule: this includes an assessment of qualifications, research and peer recognition.
Relevant field of expertise rule: this involves demonstrating that the expert is knowledgeable in the specific area at hand.

Question 5

What are the four different policing models?

Answer 5

1) zero-tolerance policing, i.e. the strict responsive model:
It focuses on taking a hard-line approach to disorder and minor crime, or so-called quality-of-life offences. This strategy is usually employed when a community is defined as out of control, in fear and high in crime. Characterised by interventions that aggressively enforce criminal and civil laws and that are conducted for the purpose of restoring order to communities. The idea is that through aggressive enforcement, residents will be more inclined to care for their community, which will increase order. This will, in turn, lead to a reduction in the fear of crime and ultimately signal to potential criminals that law-breaking will not be tolerated. Strategy steps: Strict enforcement, Community ownership and pride, Increased order, Less fear of crime & Message to offenders.
The top three challenges to this strict responsive model include that is has a negative impact on police relations due to its aggressive enforcement. It also has the potential to increase crime in the long run, due to the increased records of arrest for individuals and finally, it has been widely criticised for its disproportionate impact on poor and culturally diverse communities.

2) problem-oriented policing, i.e. the proactive model:
It follows the belief that separate criminal incidents are a result of a common problem and that this is, in turn, due to an underlying condition. The proactive model argues that the police are best positioned to identify when a variety of incidents are related to a common problem. Once identified, the underlying cause of the problem is also identified and a strategy is put in place to positively impact said cause.
Problem-oriented policing works on the assumption of incorporating problem-solving as a normal part of a police officer’s day-to-day activity. It also assumes that this problem-solving activity can identify underlying conditions, fashion effective responses and eliminate the underlying causes. It is, in some ways, analogous to GPs and medical conditions.
The SARA model: Problem-oriented policing is normally pursued by employing the SARA model:

=Scanning: in which officers pay particular attention to a variety of incident calls in order to try to identify a common thread across them.
=Analysis: in which officers are tasked with gathering additional information about the series of incidents from a variety of sources, e.g. other police data, probation, housing authority, to identify the core underlying condition. This is the most important step, and often on the ‘crime triangle’ framework, which suggests that crime events should be analysed according to victims, offenders, and problem areas, e.g. opportunity.
=Response: police officers are encouraged to develop a strategic response to positively impact the underlying condition and to include other ‘partners’ in their efforts.
=Assessment: this involves police officers evaluating whether the strategy was successful.

3) community-oriented policing, i.e. the partnership model:
The community-oriented policing model is all about partnerships. This model is based on the realisation that police cannot deal with crime by themselves, and that therefore, the community must play a role. There is a belief that there is a direct link between physical disorder, social disorder, and crime, known as the ‘broken window’ theory. For example, this is often the basis for graffiti response initiatives. Given these notions, police should focus their attention on disorder and quality-of-life crimes.

There are four core features to community policing:

=Police–community partnership: this is about the need to forge formal ties between the police and communities. It has been suggested that the success of this feature is based on the success of consultation and mobilisation. The main difficulty here revolves around defining ‘police’, as personnel change constantly, and ‘community’.
=Organisational change: this suggests that there is a need for a change to both the organisational structure and culture. Structural changes include a decentralisation of the department, with fewer levels of management and less specialisation, greater discretion for patrol officers, and less frequent re-assignment of officers to allow for stable relationships with the community. This last point encourages ownership of a beat. Cultural changes, on the other hand, include a change from a reactive to a proactive orientation and getting rid of the ‘us versus them’ mentality.
=Problem-solving: this takes place through the identification and strategic response to underlying conditions.
=Programmatic elements: these are common elements across initiatives, including the philosophical dimension (the central ideas behind the philosophy); the strategic dimension (operational concepts that translate philosophy into action); the tactical dimension (programs, practices and behaviours); and the organisational dimension (changes in administration, management and supervision to support community policing).

4) CompStat, i.e. the technology model:
The final strategy is CompStat, or computer statistics policing, i.e. a technology-based model. This is a scientific approach, based on the belief that the police have the ability to both prevent and reduce crime. This happens primarily through the use of computer-generated statistics to analyse crime problems and develop appropriate responses, with a heavy emphasis on data mining. The key to this model is the understanding that timely analysis of data is central to the success of the initiative.
Policing Principles: Identification of specific objectives: For example, reducing the number of guns on the street, reducing auto-theft
Timely and accurate intelligence: Such as GIS, hot spot analysis, crime patterns
Effective strategies and tactics: Developed across various units and patrol-based
Rapid deployment: For example, of personnel and resources
Relentless follow-up: This includes both follow-up and assessment

Question 6

Week 7: Courts and psychology, part 1. Jury selection:

Answer 6

Jury selection revolves around the issue of ensuring that the members of the jury are not likely to employ extra-evidential factors in their decisions. Juries are instructed not to take these factors into account, but sometimes it’s difficult to do.

Evidential examples:

• defendant’s alibi
• statements made by witnesses.

Extra-evidential: factors relating to the defendants:

• culture
• race
• religious background
• tattoos
• gender.

Question 7

What is the Process of jury selection?

Answer 7

1. Identification of eligible jurors
   In order to get a statistically representative sample of the population, eligible jurors are identified from a defined source (e.g., medical card, national number, electoral roll). This provides a complete list of all possible people who could potentially serve on a jury.
2. Confirmation of eligibility
   Selected people complete an online questionnaire that includes questions to determine someone’s eligibility for jury service. Factors that might exclude someone from jury service include: age, citizenship, language comprehension, etc.
   Note: excluded from service is not the same as excused from service (more on ‘excused’ in step 5).
3. Summons
   Randomly selected eligible potential jurors recieve a directive to appear at a specific courthouse on a specific date. Those summoned form the jury pool. 200 people might be summonsed and appear at the courthouse.
4. Selection of the venire
   A random selection is made of a group of individuals from the jury pool. The ‘venire’ is is the group that the jury will be selected from. From the jury pool of 200, 50 might be selected to form the venire, which proceeds to a courtroom. A 12-person jury will be chosen from the venire of 50.
5. Excuses from service
   Any individual who believes that they are unable to serve due to either undue hardship or potential bias can ask the judge to be excused (serves as the challenge for cause component and is based on self-identification). From the venire of 50, perhaps 10 might be excused.

Undue hardship
Most claims relate to undue hardship. Examples include:
time for trial clashes with scheduled surgery
single parent
business operator

Potential bias
Potential jurors can be excused because:
they’re aquainted with people in the case (i.e. victim, lawyers)
they have an identified bias. The judge will ask if they can put it aside and consider evidence only.

6. Empanelment & peremptory challenges
   The names of the remaining people in the venire are called randomly. They walk in front of the accused and toward the jury box. If they do not hear ‘challenge’ or ‘stand-aside’, they are seated. If they are ‘challenged’ then they leave the courtroom. Different jurisdictions use different approaches to empanelment. From 40 remaining in venire, 12 jurors will be selected.

7. Affirmation
Once 12 (or in some cases 15) jurors are selected they take an oath to carry out their task faithfully, impartially, and to decide on a verdict according to the evidence.

Question 8

Alternative Models: US

Answer 8

In the United States, the main difference revolves around the assumption that potential jurors cannot or will not identify their biases and that this may result in an inability to impartially assess the evidence. As such, there is greater emphasis on information-gathering through:

*challenge for cause—removal of a juror based on proof or demonstration of a bias that would impede their ability to be objective (attitude-behaviour question)
peremptory challenges—removal of a juror with no basis for dismissal required (limited number).
*This expansive model is the reason why most psychological research comes from the United States, and why most of the forensic psychology consulting (psychological profiling) about selection of jurors is in the United States.

Question 9

Sources of information (in the US)

Answer 9

Because trial lawyers can take so much more information about potential jurors into account, they will source background information about jurors from many various sources, such as the following.

Pre-trial

• Pre-trial questionnaires
• Investigative reports
• Public information
• Social media

Trial

• Judge’s questions
• Attorney questions
• Observation (inside the courtroom and outside)

Question 10

Attitude components

Answer 10

Knowledge of jurors’ attitudes is very important in trying to predict the likelihood that the juror will decide guilty or not guilty in a trial. Jury experts are sometimes engaged to assess different components of jurors’ attitudes.

• Attitude strength (potency): suggests that the stronger an attitude the more resistant it will be to change.
• Attitude accessibility: suggests that some attitudes are more easily accessed (and subsequently employed) than other attitudes.
• Attitude relevance: suggests that an attitude is only ‘triggered’ if it is perceived as relevant to the current situation.

Question 11

Trait theory

Answer 11

Trait theory revolves around the belief that, like everyone, jurors have certain personality traits and that these traits have a connection to the decisions the juror might make.

Traits include the following.

**Authoritarianism: this is defined as one’s level of belief in obedience to authority and is correlated with conservatism. It is important with regard to the degree to which they will ‘follow’ the instructions of the judge. It is generally assessed by the -F-scale:
-low on F-scale = questioning, high on F-scale = non-questioning authority
lawyers might want jurors who follow instruction rather than give F-scale test, assessment is based on observation, response to questions.

• *Introversion/extroversion: it is suggested that introverted jurors are more likely to conform with the majority during deliberations and that extroverted jurors are more likely to have an impact during deliberations (including selection of foreperson) important for lawyers to know who’s going in to the jury room
• introverted = likely to follow, extroverted = likely to lead the discussion.
• *Need for cognition: this suggests that those with a need to analyse information may be better suited to a cognitive trial strategy:
• low need—don’t need to know, give me story
• high need—want to dissect every piece of information.
• *16 PF: it is suggested that information regarding 16 PF traits may be employed to select jurors (see the following table):
• 16 personality factors makes a personality profile can’t give personality test in –juror selection—make guesses (60% science, 40% art/guesswork).

Question 12

Watch the the We the jury (Links to an external site.) (Everyday-Law, 2014) video about the process of jury selection in Victoria. Pay close attention to the section on jury empanelment (12:45 - 17:00) (Links to an external site.) (Everyday-Law, 2014).

Step 2: Post your opinion about either the benefit to the accused or about the limitations of the empanelment and challenge procedures. Especially consider the impact upon the fairness of trials.

Answer 12

I believe the benefit to the accused of the empanelment process to be:

consistency of practice among jury trials.
attempts to eliminate prejudice or bias/i.e. racial, religious, gender etc.
attempts to eliminate people from the jury who have a negative perspective of the defendant or knows the defendant.

The limitations of the empanelment process:
I use the word attempt in the above as bias is part of our cognitive makeup following tabula rasa and is sometimes unconcious to us. Research studies have shown that we still make decisions involving bias being completely unaware.
The outside effect of the media can sometimes interfere in jury judgement.
Jury selection itself, while it is recommended to be diverse, targets particular people who the legal team will be most or least likely to find the defendant guilty (dependant on the legal team side - prosecution or defendant) - therefore they are dependant on these biases to win cases.

*Impact on fairness of the trial:
The impact of bias in fairness of the trial is huge, especially when the jury can be too emotionally charged and not utilise objective rational thinking. There have been cases where there have been very little differences in evidence and the outcome very clear, yet many different opinions of the jurors results in the verdict being delayed. For example if a black person was placed on trial for murder and half the jury was white the likelihood of the defendant being found guilty substantially increases - whereas if a black person was placed on trial and half the jury was black, and the other half mixed race the likelihood of pleading guilty is substantially lower (dependant on evidence). This weeks reading pays particular attention to the case of R v Williams, where an aboriginal appealed a guilty verdict of robbery on two separate occasions as a result of media and racial bias. The first appeal was denied stating a “cost/benefit” ratio and the impingement on the rights of jurors, while the second was confirmed, stating the only cost was a small increase in the length of a trial - no cost to the prospective juror and that the prospective juror should not be embarrassed by the question if considering the trial in a fair, just and unbiased manner.

Question 13

Week 8: Courts and psychology, part 2. What is the Head versus heart strategy?

Answer 13

One of the first tactical decisions made by an attorney revolves around whether the presentation of evidence should be aimed at the cognitive level (head) or emotional level (heart). The decision is based on a number of variables, including:

• who is the trier of fact—cognitive approach is most often selected when the judge is the trier of fact. In cases of a jury, either approach may be effective
• what is the level of emotional content in trial - the higher the level of emotional content (e.g. children, vulnerable individuals, vivid impact), the more likely an emotional presentation will be successful
• the jury demographic - the composition of the jury may dictate the approach, e.g. business professionals, front-line human service providers = cognitive; social work, teachers = emotional
• the appeal of the defendant/victim—less appealing individuals may indicate that a cognitive approach is better suited.

Question 14

What are the Attributions of causality?

Answer 14

Attribution—the process of assigning cause to our own behaviour (as well as related cognitions, feelings, etc.) and that of others, e.g. actor/observer bias.

• Human tendency for attribution is based on:
• the tendency to be naïve psychologists, i.e. the need to know why
• a psychological need for organisation and meaning, e.g. grouping principles—perception
• an understanding of attribution biases.

Question 15

1. Primary attribution (Heider)
2. Fundamental attribution error
3. Actor/observer bias

Answer 15

1. When deciding on the cause for the behaviour of others who we do not know very well, we have a tendency to make an immediate dispositional or situational judgement
2. When deciding on the cause for the negative behaviour of others (especially those we do not know well), we have a tendency to over-emphasise dispositional factors and under-emphasise situational factors.
3. When deciding on the cause for the behaviour of ourselves and others, we have a tendency to view our negative behaviours as situational and our positive behaviours as dispositional, while doing the opposite for others.

Question 16

What is the Weiner model?

Answer 16

Internal External
Stable Ability- ‘I have the talent’ Task difficulty- ‘This is hard’

Unstable Effort- ‘I worked hard’ Luck- ‘I just got lucky’

Weiner says that when we’re trying to decide on the cause of something that somebody has engaged in, ourselves or somebody else, we tend to make two decisions. First of all, we decide, if you look across the top, as to whether the action is internal or external. That’s dispositional - internal vs external, which is situational. Weiner says we cross that, however, by another decision as to whether the behaviour is stable, which means it’s something that happens all the time, or it’s unstable.

Let’s just walk through this in terms of the final exam. I say to you ‘Sally, it looks like you received 98 per cent on the final examination’ so that’s good news, right? now look at these four boxes, Sally could say ‘Yes, that is correct and then this is the important question, I say ‘Why do you think that is? Why did you get a 98?’

Now Sally has four options for the cause, which is her attribution, she could say firstly ‘Ability - because I’m smart’ this is an internal stable. It’s her saying it is something in me, internal and it’s stable, ‘I’m smart’ it stays all the time. Or Sally could pick an external stable, which is the blue square, where she says ‘that’s because the Professor writes easy tests’ so it’s external because the professor, that’s not me, always writes easy tests, so that’s stable, so she could say that. The third thing she could say is on the pink box, which is effort. She could say ‘ I scored a 98 on the examination because on this test, I - internal, studied really hard, which I don’t always do, so it’s unstable. She may pick the green box, which is, ‘I did well on this test, because of luck’, luck is external, and luck is as we all know, very unstable. She’ll look at these four choices and she’ll say one of them.

The example I just gave with Sally getting a 98, we’re going to take Sally again who comes in and says ‘I failed the final examination, so it’s a negative, and you say to Sally ‘why is that?’ she could say ‘It’s because I’m not very smart’ - that’s ability, it’s internal. She could say ‘ I failed because the professor always writes very hard examinations’ and that’s external stable

Question 17

What are Attorney tactics?

Answer 17

1) Vivid language
Based on input bias from social cognition model. Suggests that jurors will give more cognitive weight to vivid information, e.g. he lunged at me vs he came toward me.

2) Repetition
Using cognitive and social psychology principles, e.g. mere exposure effect.

3) Loaded questions
Also known as leading question. Based on cognitive psychology principles, suggesting a particular concept can be subtly ‘implanted’ through the phrasing of the question, e.g. ‘Did you see the broken window when you walked into the store?’

4) Subtle shifts in wording
Again based on cognitive and social psychology principles. Subtly impacting the meaning for a sequence of events, e.g. ‘he decided to sit with her’ vs ‘he decided to sit near her’.

5) Definitional tactics
Words and/or images employed by attorneys to ‘assist’ jurors with how to define ambiguous concepts, e.g. not guilty question, beyond a reasonable doubt question.

6) Establishing and disrupting connections in the stories being told
Employed to assist jurors to see a smooth narrative in a witness’s story or across the evidence or to disrupt the smoothness of the story.

7) Reinforcement of internal attributions
Using words and phrases that reinforce the belief that the defendant was the cause of the alleged crime and that the action was engaged in of their own free will.

8) Powerful vs non-powerful speech
Refers to the degree to which an individual speaks with authority.

9) Non-verbal components
The range of non-verbal aspects of witnesses and defendants, e.g. body language

Question 18

What is the Persuasion (attitude change)?

Answer 18

The attitude change model is a historic model that suggests that the attitudes of jurors may be impacted through two approaches:

1) Cognitive dissonance (internal)
A feeling of discomfort caused by the realisation that one’s behaviour is inconsistent with one’s attitudes or that one holds two conflicting attitudes.

Cognitive dissonance: Model for change

1. Awareness of inconsistency
2. Discomfort
3. Motivation for addressing inconsistency
4. Alternatives for reduction of dissonance

*The goal is to encourage the juror to select the easiest option for eliminating dissonance (i.e. altering their attitude and subsequent behaviour).

2) The Yale approach (external)
A second approach is to try to persuade jurors through external means, including the characteristics of the source of the persuasion and the message.

Source

• Perceived expertise
• Perceived honesty
• Perceived credibility/trustworthiness
• Perceived attractiveness

Message

• Fear
• Emotional tone (relation to formal education)

Question 19

What is the Cognitive processing and jurors?

Answer 19

The newer model suggests that juror behaviour (like consumer behaviour) may be impacted by a greater understanding of relevant cognitive theories and models, including social cognition model.

Social cognition model
The social cognition model is based on the belief that humans are:
-naïve psychologists
-social creatures
-cognitive misers.

Question 20

Compare the computer model versus the social cognition model of human information processing

Answer 20

1. Computer model
   Input- Processing-Output
2. Social cognition model
   Input biases-processing biases-Output biases-Judgement-Behhaviour

This is applied to juries; attorneys want juries to make a judgement of guilty or not guilty, so they will use the jurors’ input, processing and output biases to lead them to the judgement and behaviour to vote a certain way. Use the arrows to to navigate to the different biases that lawyers may use to persuade the jury.

Question 21

Input biases:

Answer 21

• Vividness—WMD, the tendency to give increased cognitive weight to information that is perceived as bizarre or intense (relationship to attention, clutter challenges).
• Examples include vivid pictures and detailed descriptions of alleged acts.
• Availability—WMD, the tendency to give increased cognitive weight to information that is readily accessible (relation to peripheral route processing).
• Examples might include a judge’s summary instructions, opening and closing arguments.
• Perseverance—WMD, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on information, even after it has been proven to be false.
• Examples might be an attempt by an attorney to introduce non-evidential information.
• Primacy—WMD, the tendency to place extra cognitive weight on earlier information and less cognitive weight on later information.
• Example might be the way an attorney ‘orders’ the evidence in the narrative to the jury.

Question 22

Processing biases

Answer 22

• Representative Heuristic—WMD, the tendency to employ emotionally-evoking stimuli and false beliefs rather than logic and common sense:
• (e.g. Gambler’s Fallacy) related to head vs heart strategy.
• Illusory Correlation—WMD, the tendency to believe that two things that occur together are causally related.
• For example, suggesting that ‘coincidences’ are highly unlikely.
• Framing—WMD, the tendency to use a vivid cognitive anchor to frame one’s decisions.
• Examples include repeated reference to one vivid aspect of the evidence.
• Simulation Heuristic—WMD, the tendency to spend less cognitive effort on situations that one cannot imagine themselves ever being in.
• Example may include lawyer attempts to bring the case nearer to a juror.

Question 23

Output biases

Answer 23

• Response Bias—WMD, the tendency to behave contrary to one’s decision due to social influences.
• Jury example involves alerting jurors to the various social norms in society.

*Functional Fixedness—the inability to apply a logical decision to a behaviour due to the cognitive categorisation one holds about another person.
-Jury example involves attempting to describe a victim or defendant as a certain
‘type’ and therefore reflective or non-reflective of the accusations being made about them.

Question 24

Competence to stand trial

Answer 24

Competence to stand trial revolves around the issue of whether an individual is fully able to understand the situation.

*Legal standard:
Whether the defendant has sufficient present ability to consult with his attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding—and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.

*Psychological aspects
Comprehension of:
-the basic concepts related to the trial, e.g. truth
-the roles of the main actors in the trial
-their legal/constitutional rights
-example: Georgia Court Competency Test - Revised.

Question 25

Excuse defence

Answer 25

The excuse defence revolves around the defendant proving that they are less culpable for their behaviour due to an excuse such as duress or diminished capacity.

• Legal standard:
  ‘An alteration to a defendant’s mental state, a reduced ability to understand, usually the result of mental retardation, alcohol or drug intoxication, or some other factor, which exists at the time of the commission of a crime, not sufficient to support an insanity defense, but that raises the issue of whether the defendant was able to form the intent to commit the crime. Typically offered as a defense in partial mitigation to obtain conviction on a lesser included charge or to receive a lesser sentence’
  (Wild, 2006, p. 124)
• Psychological aspects:
  These revolve around the alteration to a defendant’s mental state:
  -reduced ability to understand
  -mental retardation, alcohol or drug intoxication, or some other factor
  -can be temporary—existing at the time of the commission of a crime
  -issue of whether the defendant was able to form the intent to commit the crime.

Question 26

Week 9: Corrections and psychology.

Psychology and offender rehabilitation​

Answer 26

Programs that use psychology to assist with rehabilitation are mostly based on the following behaviourist theories:​

*******social learning theory​:
Social learning theory combines the basic principles of Skinnerian learning with an understanding that humans can observe, think and speak.​
Social behavior is learned by observing and imitating the behavior of others.

*Threats and promises:
Social learning theory suggests that, because humans have language, we can understand the connection between words and potential direct reinforcement, i.e. punishment or reward.

Effective threats and promises​ (Ts and Ps):

1) -Limited use: ​
- the less often T and Ps are used the more effective they are.

2) Specificity:
- the more specific a T or P, the more effective it is.

3) Realism:
- the more realistic a T or P, the more effective it is.

4) History/reputation:
- T and P effectiveness will be weighed against your reputation for follow-through.

5) Reciprocal impact:
- the more a T or P is seen to cost the person issuing the statement, the more effective it will be.

*Modelling:
Social learning theory suggests that the concept of operant conditioning can be applied in humans through seeing others who receive direct reinforcement, i.e. punishment or reward.

*Social learning model:
Required components
1) Characteristics of the model (demographics, appeal, etc.)​
2) Characteristics of the observer (motivation, attention)​
3) Reward structure (perceived as a reward, effective schedule)

The components of the social learning model need to be successfully integrated within four processes in order for modelling to be successfully achieved.

*Required processes
1) Attentional process:
The individual must be paying close enough attention to allow for the accurate imitation of the model in terms of displayed behaviours.

2) Retention process:
The individual must be able and willing to designate cognitive effort to retaining the modelled behaviours effectively (image and/verbal processing).

3) Production process:
The individual must be able to translate the mental image or verbal symbolism into an overt behaviour.

4) Incentive process:
The individual must hold a belief that the production of the behaviour will provide some positive reinforcement.​ ​

*****Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence Model​
This model suggests that antecedents, e.g. learning, modelling, and self-belief, lead individuals to engage in certain behaviours and that these behaviours often have negative consequences. It is a tool that can help people examine behaviors they want to change, the triggers behind those behaviors, and the impact of those behaviors on negative or maladaptive patterns

The model suggests a number of places for potential intervention, including:

1) learning/re-learning
2) selection of models
3) behavioural control.

*Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence Model​.

Question 27

Guiding principles for offender treatment

General risk factors

Answer 27

When using psychology to deal with the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, there are four specific things we need to take into account. The following risk factors are important in gaining an understanding of how to best assist somebody with their rehabilitation.

1) Dispositional risk factors:
Factors that reflect the individual’s traits, tendencies, or styles.
- Examples: demographics (age, gender)​ and personality characteristics (psychopathology, deviant sexual arousal)​.

2) Historical risk factors:
Factors related to events that have been experienced in the past.
-Examples: past behaviour (violence, dealing with stress), age of anti-social behaviour and childhood maltreatment.

3) Clinical risk factors:
Factors related to types and symptoms of mental disorders
Examples: substance use and psychological disorder.

4) Contextual risk factors:
Factors related to aspects of the current environment.
Examples: lack of social support, access to weapons and access to victims.

Question 28

Criminogenic needs assessment tool and risk of re-offending

Answer 28

Another area that is very important for offender treatment is understanding their risk of re-offending. The criminogenic needs assessment tool predicts the risk of somebody re-offending according to eight indicators and determines how much programming somebody requires, depending on their risk of re-offending.

1) Criminal history
The accumulated experiences of offending and incarceration

2) Drug and alcohol use:
The degree to which usage is a factor in the offending behaviour

3) Friends and family (associates):
The degree to which friends, family and partners play a role in the offending pattern

4) Recreation and leisure:
The degree to which the individual engages in organised group activities that are recreational or a hobby

5) Anti-social attitudes:
The degree to which the person holds pro-criminal attitudes or lacks pro-social attitudes

6) Anti-social personality traits:
Identification of core personality traits related to criminal activity (e.g. risk seeking, impulsivity)

7) Employment:
The degree to which the individual is able to maintain stable and continuous employment

8) Education
The degree to which an individual is motivated to engage in educational/vocational training and complete requirements

Question 29

Week 10: Conceptualisations of justice

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

Answer 29

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is an alternative approach to looking at how justice can be achieved in a case under common law.
The traditional way to resolve disputes involves a lot of different costs, with the two most common being the cost of litigation, i.e. court costs and lawyer fees. This is one of the reasons ADR is on the rise, as it can offer a less costly way to resolve a dispute. In fact, going to court is often seen as the last resort, where all other options have failed. Another reason why this method is used more often is due to alterations in the criminal codes, allowing for alternatives, and finally, due to the developments of more and more ADR programs.

When using an alternate dispute resolution approach, it is very important to remember that the selection, and subsequent effectiveness, of a third-party conflict intervention may be impacted by the following variables:

• perceived importance
• communication
• commitment to the process.

The levels of these variables range from low to high—the higher the level, the easier the process. It is quite similar to what, for example, a relationship counsellor would be doing when working with people who are having problems. Here, the counsellor becomes the third-party conflict manager, guiding the affected parties through their dispute and conflict.

Question 30

Third-party intervention types

Answer 30

1) Conciliation:
Bring together the two parties to discuss the conflict. The conciliator role is to facilitate discussion.

2) Mediation:
Bring together the two parties to discuss the conflict. The mediator role is to be actively involved in identifying the problem as well as potential solutions.

3) Arbitration:
Bring together the two parties to discuss the conflict. The arbitrator role is to be actively involved in identifying the problem and then to make a binding decision.

4) Adjudication:
Bring together the two parties to present their case to the adjudicator, i.e. the judge. The adjudicator role is to listen to both sides, question both sides and make a binding decision.

5) Fact finding:
The fact finder meets independently with the two parties and then make a binding decision.

These five are also ranked from high to low, as with the previously discussed levels of perceived importance, communication and commitment to the process. Starting with conciliation, this is generally the best approach when you have two parties who have a high level of importance, communication and commitment. Here, your job is essentially just to keep the communication channels open, and let the parties involved solve their issue for themselves, whereas the mediator role is a little more directive. As you can see from the table, the lower the levels of importance and communication and commitment, the more input is required from the third party. Hence, in the final approach, fact finding, the third party takes a very active role as the two parties involved are likely not communicating at all and may very well be refusing to have any contact, or have expressed very little interest in the process overall.

Question 31

ADR and the sequential intercept model (SIM)

Answer 31

ADR and the sequential intercept model is the belief that we can make a difference in the disputes that people have in a number of different places. Disputes have a continuum and there are a lot of issues that happen before, during and after each dispute. There are a number of places where various forensic agencies can intercept to make a difference in the disputes in people’s lives. As with the third-party interventions, there are five different opportunities for interceptions that can take place at different points.

Intercept 1: Law enforcement and emergency services
This involves the establishment and implementation of specialised training and services for first responders, especially when dealing with those experiencing trait or state-based psychological challenges, e.g. specialised police responding or crisis intervention teams.

Intercept 2: Initial detention, initial hearing and pre-trial services
This generally involves the point at which an individual first appears before a judge and includes the possibility of diversion. It is important to base this intercept on rigorous research concerning diversion candidacy.

Intercept 3: Post initial hearings (jail, prison, courts, forensic evaluations and commitments hearings)
This is heavily related to the therapeutic jurisprudence movement and revolves around ensuring that the legal system takes a therapeutic and responsive approach to an individual’s experiences at this point in the system.

Intercept 4: Re-entry from jails, prisons and forensic hospitalisation
This involves the development and implementation of re-entry programs but is heavily disadvantaged by the silo effect regarding different justice sectors.

Intercept 5: Community corrections and community support
The final interception suggests that those who have been involved with the legal system, e.g. offenders, victims, and witnesses, need continual support from their community. The major challenge with this step is identifying the community in question and as such, this intercept has been applied mostly within Indigenous and culturally-identified communities.

Question 32

Reading: Culture matters : forensic issues for Australian
Indigenous peoples (Lincoln, 2008)

What are the Five forensic issues ?

Answer 32

1. Consequences of over-representation:
   It has been recognised since the 1970s that Indigenous people are over-represented in the criminal justice system and this disproportionality is increasing (ABS, 2005). For example in New South Wales Indigenous people are 13 times more likely to appear in court and ten times more likely to be incarcerated
   than the expected level of either of these justice outcomes, given their proportion in the Australian population compared to non-Indigenous Australians (Weatherbum et al., 2006).
2. Risk of deaths in custody:
   Suffice to state that the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which examined 99 cases of Indigenous custodial deaths and reported its findings in 1991 constituted an important watershed. The final analysis found that the death rate was 23 times that for non-Aborigines which translated to rates
   per 100 000 of 75 Aboriginal deaths compared to 3.3 non-Aboriginal deaths. However, the key finding was that the within custody death rate of black versus white did not differ and therefore all the attention was sheeted home to over-representation. It was not that more Indigenous people were dying in custody but
   rather that a disproportion of Indigenous persons were being sent to custodial settings (Cunneen, 2006).
3. Focus on family violence:
   Another issue of national significance is that of sexual violence, domestic assault and child abuse
   which are said to be commonplace and increasing in Aboriginal communities. There have now been several major investigations into the incidence and prevalence of violence with estimates of over-representation of this form of offence category ranging from twice that of non-Indigenous Australians to up to 45 times for Aboriginal women in Western Australia for it depends whether justice or hospital data are used in the estimates (Al-Yaman et al., 2006). It is noted that it is more prevalent in rural and remote sites and that it is inter-generational and can extend to encompass a wide circle of kin. It is also imperative that the historical,
   political, social and cultural environments’ are taken into account (Al-Yaman et al., 2006).
4. Issues in Indigenous interviewing:
   Aboriginal English has been recognised since the 1960s as a distinct dialect. It formed as a creole following settlement and became a necessary lingua franca when different language groups were herded together on reserves and mission. It is not just ‘bad’ English; but rather has different rules, is different in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, meaning, use, and style. For example, rarely are questions asked directly; instead, the statements are made or propositions hinted at and then the asker awaits confirmation in a narrative rather than question-and-answer approach; often an answer is not even expected in a rhetorical way; either/or questions are rarely used; personal privacy is respected, particularly in matters of
   sexual or intimate activities and especially for women; silences are important and should not be ‘interpreted as evasion, ignorance, confusion, insolence, or even guilt’ (Eades, 1995, p. 187).
5. Promises of new justice practices:
   Many of the key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were addressed at reducing Indigenous incarceration and increasing participation by Indigenous people in the criminal justice processes. Thus greater levels of participation have been engendered through several avenues: justice advisory groups, community conferencing and the establishment of Indigenous courts. The justice advisory groups or councils have taken up the concern voiced by the royal commission about ‘underlying issues’ and thus many see that their role is to deal with fundamental issues of land rights or access to housing or welfare support (Blagg et al., 2005).

Question 33

What is Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ)?

Answer 33

The therapeutic jurisprudence movement was developed by David Wexler and Bruce Winnick, both lawyers and law psychologists, in the late 1980s. It has been defined as the empirical study of the effects of the law and the legal system on behaviour, emotions and mental health of people interacting with the system. Although this may seem self-evident today, in the 1980s there wasn’t much consideration around how the legal system affected people. There simply wasn’t much scientific interest in the impacts of being a victim, a witness or even a juror on a trial that might have themes considered hard to deal with.

Therapeutic jurisprudence suggests that the law can be seen to function as a therapist or therapeutic agent, with legal rules procedure and legal actors producing therapeutic or anti-therapeutic consequences. Hence, one of the goals of therapeutic jurisprudence is attempting to identify anti-therapeutic consequences and minimise these. For example, recognising that certain aspects of the law and legal system, such as a trial with a lot of emotional content, e.g. vivid descriptions or disturbing evidence, may have a negative impact on the mental health of the people involved, like jurors or witnesses.

The TJ model suggests that the following elements be taken into account when deciding on a legal course of action:

• the psychological/therapeutic needs of the individual
• the individual autonomy of legal actors
• the integrity of the fact-finding process (note the lack of the term adversarial)
• community safety
• efficiency
• economy.

Therapeutic jurisprudence has resulted in the establishment of numerous alternative courts, including problem-solving courts and drug courts. A problem-solving court is aimed at identifying those who are continually facing court and being sentenced. The goal is to identify the chronic problem(s) at the core of this situation and address these problems, whereas a drug court is developed especially for offenders whose crimes are based on addiction. Sentences are often linked to mandated drug treatment programs.

Question 34

What is Restorative justice (RJ)

Answer 34

The restorative justice (RJ) movement was developed in the 1970s, and is heavily based on encouraging the positive impacts of victim/offender reconciliation. The three main principles of restorative justice are outlined in the following table.

RJ guiding principles
1) Redefining crime: Crime is defined primarily as a conflict between individuals that results in injuries to victims, communities, and offenders, rather than being viewed as a violation against the state.

2) Reparation:
The overarching goal of the criminal justice process should be to create peace in communities by reconciling the parties and repairing the injuries.

3) Participation:
The criminal justice process should facilitate active participation by victims, community members, and the offender.

Example: Sentencing circles
Although RJ initiatives may be implemented across the legal system, the majority of initiatives involve a post-conviction orientation and relate to Indigenous communities, e.g. healing circles, sentencing circles. Inside a sentencing circle there are a number of themes emerging, all focusing on the things that would be most effective to assist an offender to restore themselves into the community. These types of sentences often try to encourage Indigenous healing themes, and focus on teaching an individual about respect for different aspects of life, such as respect for oneself (spirit and body), for elders, for the community, for the land and for the spiritual guide, e.g. the Creator.