Final Flashcards
Profiling
Drawing inferences about a criminal’s personality, behaviour, motivation, and demographics based on the crime scene
Criminal profiling
Describing behavioural, cognitive, lifestyle, etc about an unknown person responsible for a series of crimes
Geographical profiling
Analysis if geographical locations associated with spatial movements of a single serial offender
- offender’s residence, base of operations, and where next crime occurs
Suspect-based profiling
Using information on previous offenders to inform traits of a current similar offender
- racial profiling
Psychological profiling
Gathering info on someone who is believed to be dangerous
2 types of procedures used in psychological profiling
Threat assessment
Risk assessment
Psychological autopsy
Procedure done following death to determine mental state prior to death
2 types of psychological autopsy
Suicide psychological autopsy
Equivocal death psychological autopsy
What does the typical serial killer look like?
White males of average intelligence and has similar personality traits of general public
What is the difference in selecting victims between male and female serial killers?
Males prefer easy access and one gender over another
Females usually have a relationship with the victim, victims are powerless
What are the 4 serial killer typologies?
Visionary type: delusions drive to kill a group of individuals
Mission-oriented: one group of people must be eliminated
Hedonistic: for thrill
Power-control: life-or-death control over victim
Difference between organized and disorganized murderers?
Organized plan and stalk
Disorganized are impulsive, select at random, act on sudden rage
What is the main issue with criminal profiling?
The inference process differs between profilers and it is not understood how the process should work
What is cross-situational consistency in terms of criminal profiling?
Basic personality traits are stable over time, but the situation impacts how we react and may skew apparent traits
What are the main aspects of a typical police interview and the problems with it?
Open-ended report, direct questioning, additional info
- lack of rapport
- witness often interrupted
What are 3 main aspects of the cognitive interview?
- social dynamics
- cognitions
- communication
What 2 main features makes up the social dynamics of the cognitive interview?
Rapport
Active witness participation
What are the 5 phases of the cognitive interview?
1: greet and rapport
2: context reinstatement & free report
3: focused retrieval
4: questioning
5: closure
What are percentages on the effectiveness of the cognitive interview?
25-50% more correct info recalled
What are the limitations of the cognitive interview?
- high level of training
- takes time to administer
- some aspects are hard to implement
- some aspects favoured over others
What is the self-administered interview (SAI)?
A written interview that mimics the CI, but is given independently
What are benefits of the SAI?
- standardized
- obtain evidence from more witnesses
- reduce police resources
- help maintain memory
Limitations of the SAI
- paper format may not work for everyone
- victims may require emotional support during interview
- witnesses may not like it
What is an example of the SAI used?
Norway mass murder bombings
What are 2 key challenges when interviewing children?
- involved in difficult-to-prove, but serious crimes
- accusation towards someone the child is familiar with
What are 3 common reasons why children might not disclose crimes against them?
- embarrassment
- unsure if a crime had been committed or not
- fear of negative consequences (themselves or others)
How does accuracy and amount of detail differ between adults and children when they give a free narrative?
Accuracy: children = adults
Amount of detail: adults > children
What is formal reticence?
Minimally detailed responses to a question
What does formal reticence in children show?
Reduced cognitive ability and experience of children
What ages are more susceptible to leading questions, which ages are least susceptible?
Young children > older children > adults
What are 3 reasons why children are more susceptible to leading questions?
- greater susceptibility when memory is weaker, children have weak memories
- children are worse at source monitoring
- believe that adults have more knowledge, go along with them
What is an omission error vs a commission error?
Omission error: failing to report
Commission error: saying something happened when it didn’t
What is the result of free-recall and recognition style questions when interviewing children?
Free-recall: more omission errors
Recognition: more commission errors
What are some important components of an interview built for a child?
Rapport
Support
Ensure child understands the interview
Open-ended and probed questions
Interview closure
What is the narrative elaboration for interviewing children?
A type of free recall where children use cards to prompt their memory
What are the 2 types of prompts that the NICHD protocol utilizes?
- time (what happened next)
- cue about a previously reported detail
What are the 4 components of the StepWise interview?
Build rapport
Introduce topic of concern
Probing and clarification
Closure
Are anatomical dolls useful when interviewing children?
Not really, should only be used for elaboration on verbal reports of abuse
Why are body diagrams used when interviewing children?
To clarify previous answers
What are the goals of the Reid technique? 2
- break down denials & resistance
- increase desire to confess