Forensic Flashcards
defining crime
dynamic construct dependent on historical, social, cultural and political context
any behaviour that is unlawful and punished by the state
harmful to an individual/group/society
cultural issues in defining crime
definition varies cross-culturally
social construct
socially acceptable
minority influence
age and issue with crime
age of criminal responsibility varies from country to country
uk=10
Bulger case-2 10 year olds abducted, abused and killed a 2 year old
historical issues in defining crime
laws change over tine
what is socially acceptable changes
homosexuality
child abuse
circumstance and issues with defining crime
Actus reus
Mens rea
M’Naghten rule
Actus reus
a voluntary act that constitutes a crime
the person is in control
Mens rea
the intention to do the crime
M’Naghten rule
not knowing right from wrong
M’Naghten shot and killed prime ministers secretary believing that the prime minister was conspiring against him
measuring crime
official stats
government records of the total number of crimes reported to the police
produced annually
only some crimes get through the crime funnel and reported to the police
measuring crime
strengths of official stats
allows crime prevention strategies/policing initiatives
make historical comparisons to look at trends in crime
general trends reported from stats tend to be in agreement with trend increase/decrease
measuring crime
weaknesses of official stats
unreliable-underestimate true extent of crime
not all crimes get reported
policing priorities may distort official figures
measuring crime
victim surveys
British crime survey, England and Wales
sample of 50,000 households randomly selected
measuring crime
strengths of victim surveys
provides more information on the dark figure of crime
more consistent then official stats- 2006/07 official suggested 2% decrease where survey showed 3% increase
good sample size
measuring crime
weaknesses of victim surveys
uses retrospective data of the last year
doesn’t record victimless crime
sample drawn only from those with postal address-bias sample
measuring crime
offender surveys
conducted every year 2003-2006 in England and Wales
aimed to increase knowledge about young people and criminal behaviour
as well as measuring self-reported offending it looked at indications of re-offending, drug and alcohol use, role of co-offending and relationship between offender and victim
measuring crime
strengths of offender surveys
provide insight into hoe many people are responsible for certain offences
asking offenders about the offences can give a picture of reasons for their behaviour
best chance on raising the dark figure as they know what crime might occur and when
measuring crime
weaknesses of offender surveys
self-report impacts reliability
lack of accuracy in answers
unreliable responses: offenders may want to conceal some of the more serious crimes committed
historical explanation
lombroso
hisoritcal explanation
lombroso
criminals are separate species shape of face and head determine criminals based on homeless criminals used postmortoms atavistic atavistic form
lombroso
atavistic
the reappearance of a characteristic after several generations of absence
lombroso
atavistic form
certain individuals are born with a criminal personality which is a throwback to primitive forms
historic explanation
turvey
18 different characteristics
innate make up causes criminals
lombroso assumption
historical explanation
different features are related to different crimes
thin lips-muder
big nose-robber
hairy-sex offender
lomboro research
50000 bodies
383 italian criminals 21% has 1 atavistic trait and 43% had 5
strengths of lombroso historical explanation
can be studied scientifically
started research into criminals
weaknesses of lombroso historical explanation
androcentric-women are less evolved
not a representative sample-italian males
not reliable-subject
somatotypes
sheldon
endomorphic
mesomorphic
ectmorphic
somatotypes
endomorphic
short and fat
deceptive/violent
somatotypes
mesomorphic
tall and muscular
violent crimes
somatotypes
tall and skinny
petty thieves
strengths of somatotypes
supportive research Glueck and Glueck
Cortes and Gatti
supportive research on somatotypes
Glueck and Glueck
60% of delinquent sample were mesomorph and 31% of non-delinquent sample were mesomorph
supportive research on somatotypes
cortes and Gatti
57% of 100 delinquents were mesomorph compared with 19% of controls
weaknesses of somatotypes
assumes correlation was linked to causality (become mesomorph in prison/ select crime because of body type)
subjective
feldman
weaknesses of somatotypes
feldman
relationship can be explained by expectations
mesomorphs may catch police attention more/ influence sentencing
neural explanation of crime
the neurochemistry of criminals is different to those of non-criminals
effects levels of serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine
neural explanation
noradrenaline
fight or flight
higher levels linked to violence and aggression
neural explanation
serotonin
regulates mood and impulse control
low levels=high impulsivity
neural explanation
dopamine
linked to addiction/substance use, makes crime more like;y
more dopamine in the limbic system means more pleasure is experiences
substance abuse-when stop taking drugs dopamine goes away
more likely to find different levels in offenders due to drug use
higher levels=thrill seek-more crime
neural explanation research
higley et al
positive correlation between testosterone and aggression
negative relationship between serotonin and impulsivity and extreme aggression
neural explanation research
Brunner
examined the effects of MAOA gene of 5 men in the same family
this gene is linked to aggression and applied to violent crime
urine sample
aggression and low IQ
gene doesn’t occur in women
mirror neurons
people with anti-social personality disorder can experience empathy but not as often as the normal population
mirror neurons research
Keysers et al
only when criminals were asked to empathises with a character in a film did their empathy reaction activate
strength of neural explanation
practical applications
scientific-reliable
quantitative data
weaknesses of neural explanation
can’t establish direct cause and effect
animal research
reductionist
level of moral reasoning
cognitive
the process by which an individual draws upon their own value system to determine whether an action is right or wrong
research of level of moral reasoning
Kohlberg et al
using his moral dilemma technique found a group of violent youths were significantly lower in their moral development then non-violent youths
controlled for social background
cognitive distortions
irrational/bias ways of thinking the mean we view ourselves, others and the world inaccurately and usually negatively
hostile attribution bias
minimisation
cognitive distortions
hostile attribution
tendency to judge ambiguous situations/actions of others as aggressive/ threatening when in reality they aren’t
cognitive distortions
minimisation
a type of deception that involves downplaying the significance of an event or emotion
kohlbergs model and criminality
pre-conventional (up to 9)
conventional (most adults/adulescents)
post-conventional (10-15% of over 20s)
kohlberg’s research into model and criminality
58 boys from Chicago
working/ middle class
2 hour interviews with 10 dilemmas some followed every 3 years until 30
later studied children in UK, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and Yucatan
younger boys stages 1&2
older stages 3&4
no support fro stage 6
kohlbergs model and criminality
pre-conventional
punishment and obedience- right and wrong defined by punishment
instrumental- relativist- right and wrong defined by reward (concern for other motivated by selfishness)
kohlbergs model and criminality
conventional
interpersonal concordance- being god is what pleases others, adopts conformist attitude to morality. right and wrong determined by majority
law and order- being good means doing duty to society, obey laws without question and respect authority (most adults don’t pass this stage)
kohlbergs model and criminality
post-conventional
social contract- right and wrong determined by personal values, these can be over-ridden by democratically agreed laws. when laws infringe own sense of justice we choose to ignore them
universal ethical principle- live in accordance with deeply held moral principles which are seen as more important then laws of land
twin studies
genetic explanation
lange
13 identical twins
17 non-identical twins
1 twin in each pair had time in prison
10/13 identical twins and 2/17 twins when one went to prison so did the other
twin studies
genetic explanation
support of lange
christiansen
raine
research on candidate genes
Brunner
5 male family members
more violent outbursts among MAOA issues
research on candidate genes
tihonen et al
900 offenders
abnormalities on 2 genes that may be associated with violence and crime
MAOA and CDH13
13x more likely to be violent
diathesis stress model
genetic explanation
hereditary vs environment
epigenetic
epigenetic
diathesis stress model
genes can be turned on/off as a result of environment
family studies
genetic explanation
farrington
400 families
males
london
aged 8-33 interviewed and aged 10-40 crime records
6% of families accounted for 50% of crimes
75% of convicted fathers and mothers had a convicted child
longitudinal
androcentric
strengths of genetic explanation
mednick study
Italy 2007-sentence reduced due to aggression genes
mobley case
strengths of genetic explanations
mednick study
13000 danish adoptees
neither biological parents has convictions=13.5%
one biological parent had been convicted=20%
both biological parents=24.5%
strength of genetic explanations
mobley
shot pizza takeaway manager
25 years old
4 generations of violent outbursts
weaknesses of genetic explanation
can’t exclude nature from nurture
adoptive studies-stress of adoption
small sample sizes
strengths of cognitive explanations
research support- schohenberg and arshe
kohlberg- cross cultural
weaknesses of cognitive explanation
individual differences
reductionist
strengths of cognitive explanations
schohenberg and arshe
criminals were more likely to interpret pictures as expressing aggression
brain physiology
Limbic system
primitive brain
emotion control
brain physiology
Raine’s brain
11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the pro-frontal cortex of people with APD compared with controls
brain physiology
Kent et al
fMRI scanning to ascertain any abnormalities
emotion-based tasks
criminal non-psychopaths and non-criminal control
criminal psychopaths showed much less activity in the limbic system
psychopaths seem to use their frontal lobe to a greater degree in those situations suggesting an element of planning and control
evaluation of kent et al (brain physiology)
socially sensitive research
scientific-reliable-objective
increased validity(control group)-change due to IV
psychological explanation
Eysenck personality theory
behaviour can be represented along 2 dimensions of introvert/extrovert and neuroticism/stability
the psychoticism was later added
psychological explanations
extrovert dimension
related to the level of stimulation we see and is based on the ascending reticular activating system
ARAS
psychological explanation
neuroticism dimension
related to emotionality and is based upon the autonomic nervous system
ANS responds to emotional-producing stimuli, including stress
psychological explantation
characteristics of extrovert
become board quickly
less responsive to pain
seeks change and excitement
poor at tasks which require concentration
psychological explanation
characteristics of introvert
doesn't seek excitement prefers calm and quiet dislikes the unexpected prefers order good at tasks requiring concentration
psychological explanation
characteristics of stable
even tempered
emotionally stable
easy going
psychological explanation
characteristics of neurotic
restless
excitable
anxious
psychological explanation
psychoticism
related to the strength of the superego
hormonal system
personality traits related to a persons relationships/ attitudes to others
related to high level of testosterone
psychological explanation
characteristics of psychoticism
egocentric aggressive manipulative suspicious coldness impulsivity hostile unsympathetic
psychological explanation
Eysencks criminal personality
neurotic-extrovert
also score highly on measures of psychoticism
psychological explanation
role of socialisation
development of criminal behaviour is due to selfishness and lack of deferred gratification
those with high E and N had nervous systems that made them hard to condition and so wouldn’t learn to resist anti-social behaviour
psychological explanation
measuring the criminal personality
Eysenck’s personality inventory
strengths of Eysenck’s theory
supportive research Eysenck
biological reductionist
EPI-quantitative
weaknesses of Eysenck
contradictory research- Farrington et al
EPI-self report
cultural bias
evaluation of Eysenck
Eysenck’s research
2070 male participants compared with 2422 male controls
prisoners scored higher then controls
evaluation of Eysenck
farrington el al’s research
offenders scored high on P but not E and N
little difference of EEG measures between introverts and extroverts
