forensic psychology

Question 1

what is forensic psychology

Answer 1

the application of psychological knowledge and theories to all aspects of the criminal and civil justice systems including the processes and people

the criminal investigation
pre-trial
trial
post-trial

Question 2

History of Forensic psychology

Answer 2

James Cattell (1885) - appleseeds question
- witnesses shouldn’t be expected to recall great levels of detail

Alfred Binet (1900) - asked children
- highly misleading questions resulted in poor accuracy

Varendock (1911)
- expert witness
- found children memories inaccurate & suggestible

Question 3

what is the admissibility criteria of expert testimony

Answer 3

experts must have special knowledge above & beyond average juror and assistance will assist jurors

danger: jurors will pay to much attention to expert witness

Question 4

recall memory

Answer 4

reporting details of previously witnessed event/person
- tell me what happened

Question 5

Recognition memory

Answer 5

Reporting whether what is currently being viewed is the same as what has previously been viewed
- identification evidence

Question 6

estimator variables

Answer 6

variables present at the time of the crime & cannot be changed
- dark lighting
- affect perception
- own race bias - difficulty identifying people of another race
- memory best at optimal arousal
- weapon focus effect

Question 7

system variables

Answer 7

variables that can be manipulated after the fact and impact accuracy of witnesses
- leading questions
- delay between event and questions (forgetting curve)

Question 8

what is the misinformation effect

Answer 8

exposure to incorrect information about an event after it has occurred often causes people to incorporate this misinformation into their own memories
- leading questions
- (affected by system variables)
- car crash study (leading questions, emotional wording)

factors affecting
- age
- suggestibility (characteristic)
- source of misinformation

Question 9

what is false memory research?

Answer 9

• gave students 4 narratives of their childhood experiences , one was false (lost in the shops at 6)
• 25% said they were after suggestive questioning
• done with edited photos and 50% said occured

Question 10

what are arguments for/against false/repressed memory debate?

Answer 10

For
- memories were repressed due to trauma

Against
- Loftus believed therapists implanted false memories of sexual abuse in patients
- people don’t think abuse is traumatic as child but realise it later on

Question 11

ID inaccuracy Surveyed justice officials

Answer 11

US justice officials reported that over 70% thought erroneous confications occured in less than 1% of cases
- if ture 7,500 wrongful convictions

Question 12

ID inaccuracy DNA exoneration cases

Answer 12

advances in DNA evidence has proved innocence of convicted inmates
- 72% of these cases based on mistaken ID

Question 13

ID inaccuracy empirical studies

Answer 13

field studies (high ecological, low experiment control)
- 41% correct
- 35% false
- no difference with those trained in ID

lab studies (low ecological, high experiment control)
- false ID correlated with high witness confidence

Question 14

showup lineup

Answer 14

one person containing only the suspect
- high rate false ID

Question 15

composition of lineups

Answer 15

foils match verbal description from witness but vary from suspect in ways not mentioned by witness

Question 16

format of lineups

Answer 16

live - expensive difficult to arrange
photos - larger database
mugshot - used in early stages

same person can’t appear in multiple line ups due to unconscious transference

Question 17

instructions of lineup

Answer 17

witness told perpetrator may or may not be in lineup
double blind procedure

Question 18

simultaneous lineup vs sequential lineup

Answer 18

simultaneous
- all lineup members at the same time
- relative judgement

sequential
- presented one at a time (yes/no given before move on)
- fewer false ID & fewer correct ID
- absolute judgment

Question 19

what is profiling?

Answer 19

identifying the major personality & behavioural characteristics or an individual based upon analysis of the crimes they have committed
- uses demographics, statistics, personality
- used in cases of serial homicide & rape

Question 20

deductive criminal profiling

Answer 20

profiling the background characteristics of an unknown offender based on evidence left at crime scene

relies on logical reasoning… but underlying logic can sometimes be faults

Question 21

inductive criminal profiling

Answer 21

profiling the background characteristics of an unknown offender based on what we know about other solved cases

relies on a determination of how likely offenders are similar to each other

Question 22

FBI approach

Answer 22

• interviewed 36 convicted sexually motivated murderers
• categorised into organised and disorganised
• deductive crime scene and way crime was committed reveals characteristics
• binary model, cannot account for those with mix of both traits

Question 23

Statistical approach

Answer 23

• data collected from solved crimes and analysed using statistics
• each crime has different probabilities based on different characteristics
• only as good as data given (small sample size)

Question 24

geographic profiling

Answer 24

• analysis of crime scene locations for serial crime
• assumes offenders don’t travel far yet don’t go to close
• doesn’t work for burglary
• often quite accurate

Question 25

deception

Answer 25

a successful or unsuccessful deliberate attempt without forewarning, to create in another belief which the communicator considers to be untrure

Question 26

what are polygraphs?

Answer 26

• measures physiological change not lies
• assumption telling a lie is more stressful than telling the truth
• not admissible in Aus court

Question 27

Relevant/Irrelevant polygraph

Answer 27

• asks questions relevant to the crime and irrelevant to the crime
• assumes guilty people will respond more strongly when lying about the relevant questions
• innocent people know relevant questions and will worry about their responses (creating stress)
• lot’s of false positives, no longer used

Question 28

Control question test

Answer 28

• uses irrelevant, relevant and control questions
• include control questions an innocent person would find stressful to answer
• phase 1: yes no questions previously discussed with all three types ask suspect to lie for some control questions to create a baseline
• phase 2: simulation test (often card trick) used to trick suspect into believing that the polygraph can detect lies
• phase 3: ask three types of questions over & over
• phase 4: score & quantify (global or numerical)
• false positives

Question 29

guilty knowledge test

Answer 29

• asks questions only guilty would know the answer to
• asks multiple choice questions (1 answer correct) assumes guilty will react strongly to correct information
• innocent will respond same to all because they don’t know the answer
• innocent person will likely have higher accuracy due to chance
• false negatives
• need sufficient info that public does not know

Question 30

nine steps to interrogation

Answer 30

1 postivie confronation
* direct presentation of real or fake evidence
* repeated accusations

2 theme development
* developed to justify the crime
* minimisation - emotional, not your fault
* macimisation - nonemotional, intimidating

3 handling denials
* stop suspects repeated denials due to unfounded assumptions (more they deny harder to get a confession)

4 overcoming objections
* showing understanding and returning to theme (2)

5 retaining syspects attenion
* moving physically closer

6 handling suspects passive mood
* creates a remorseful mood
* focuses on possible reasons for crime

7 creating an opportunity to confess
* give opportunity to provide explanation for the crime

8 oral confession
* development of inital confession
* brief questions asked

9 converting oral confession into written one

Question 31

concerns with nine step approach

Answer 31

• officers enter with belief suspect is guilty
• unethical trickery and deceit
• boomerang effect
• police may think its ok to bluff in other circumstances
• may lead to false confessions

Question 32

voluntary false confessions

Answer 32

without prompting by police
- desire for notoriety
- attempt to protect real offender

Question 33

Coerced-compliant false confessions

Answer 33

• in response to a desire to escape further interrogation, gain reward or escape punishment
• confessor knows they are innocent & most common

Question 34

Coerced-internalised confessions

Answer 34

• results from highly suggestive interrogations
• confessor comes to believe that they did commit the crime

Question 35

Alt key test in laboratory for false confessions

Answer 35

• more compliance with false evidence
• more internalised told to type fast (reduced memory)

replicated study with consequences if didn’t sign
- 82% signed
- 42% internalised
- 58% compliant

Question 36

PEACE model for interrogation

Answer 36

planning & preparation
- know all the facts
engage & explain
- encourage suspects perspective & inform of rights
account
- ask questions & mentions inconsistencies
closure
- give suspect summary
evaluation
- conversation management to secure confession

Question 37

peremptory challenges

Answer 37

allowed to reject (3 in australia) people without a reason

Question 38

challenge for cause

Answer 38

unlimited number by both parties, to throw out based on a reason

Question 39

stages involved in jury verdict (with psychological research)

Answer 39

1 listening to evidence
- note taking & asking questions

2 disregarding inadmissible evidence
- instruction draws attention making it hard to forget

3 judges instructions
- jurors understand less than 50%
- mixed findings for proving written copy to jurors

4 Juror decision making
- evidence organized into a coherent whole (active interpretation)

5 jury deliberation
- leniency bias (towards acquittal)
- group polarisation following discussion
- minority influence not likely