Forensic Psychology Flashcards
What is Profiling?
The idea you can make assumption about characteristics of an offender by analysing the offence they commit
What is the Top-down approach?
An approach with a focus on extreme crime such as rape and murder
It is where profilers start with a pre-established typology at a crime scene to organise offenders into one of two categories, organised/disorganised.
What is the basic premises for offender profiling in the top-down approach?
- That information left at the scene of a crime tells us about the type of offender
- This behaviour will be consistent with their everyday behaviour
- This helps to narrow down potential suspects
What are the four stages of the top-down approach?
- Data Assimilation
- Crime Scene Classification
- Crime Reconstruction
- Profile Generation
What is Data Assimilation?
Investigators gather together information from multiple sources e.g. crime scene photos, police reports, pathologists’ reports.
What is Crime Scene Classification?
Profilers decode whether the crime scene represents an organised or disorganised offender
What is Crime reconstruction?
Hypotheses are generated about what happened during the crime e.g. victim behaviour, crime sequence
What is Profile generation?
Profilers construct a “sketch” of the offender including demographic and physical characteristics, behavioural habits.
According to Hazelwood and Douglas (1980) what are the characteristics of an organised offence?
- Planned
- Show’s self control
- Lack of evidence at the scene
- Targeted victim and tries to control the victim
- Weapon hidden
According to Hazelwood and Douglas (1980) what are the characteristics of an organised offender?
- Above average IQ
- Socially and Sexually Competent
- Married/cohabiting
- Anger or depression at the time of the offence
- Skilled occupation
According to Hazelwood and Douglas (1980) what are the post offence behaviours of an organised offender?
- Returns to the crime scene
- Volunteers information
According to Hazelwood and Douglas (1980) what are the characteristics of a disorganised offence?
- Unplanned/spontaneous
- Likely to leave evidence at the scene
- Victim randomly selected
- Minimum use of constraint
- Disorganised behaviour
According to Hazelwood and Douglas (1980) what are the characteristics of a disorganised offender?
- Lives alone, near the crime scene
- Socially and sexually inadequate
- Physically or sexually abused in childhood
- Frightened/confused at the time of the offence
- Low intelligence/no occupation
According to Hazelwood and Douglas (1980) what are the post offence behaviours of a disorganised offender?
- Returns to the crime scene to relive the offence
- Keep diary
- Keep news articles of the incident
What is the Research for Top-down Approach?
- FBI investigators initially carried out structured interviews with 36 serial sex murderers, including Ted Bundy and Charles Manson covering:
1) What led to the offending
2) What early warning signs there were
3) What encouraged or inhibited offences etc. - From interview responses, plus a thorough analysis of the details of their crimes by Behavioural Science Unit they categorised offenders of serious crimes into organised and disorganised offenders
Advantage of Top Down Approach AO3
Copson (1995)
- Copson (1995) interviewed 184 police officers and 82% officers interviewed said it was useful and 90% said they would use it again
Advantage of Top Down Approach AO3
FBI
- FBI’s systematic approach has been enormously influential -> Adopted by law enforcement agencies all over the world, who have adapted and enhanced it
Advantage of Top Down Approach AO3
Clarke and Morely (1988)
- Challenges the stereotypes that investigators may hold about offenders and which may mislead investigations
e.g
Clarke and Morley (1988) interviewed 41 convicted rapists responsible for over 800 offences and found out, contrary to the stereotype of an inadequate loner, they were typically very average men, living in normal family circumstances, often intelligent and in skilled employment
Advantage of Top Down Approach AO3
Ainsworth (2001)
- Ainsworth (2001) suggests that offender typologies are potentially very useful in allowing offences to be linked and facilitating predictions about the timeframe of the next attack and how the series of offences is likely to develop
Disadvantage of Top Down Approach AO3
Wilson et al (1997)
- A typological approach to profiling assumes that offenders are one thing or the other and that this is stable over time
- Wilson et al (1997) suggested that neither assumptions is correct: most offenders show both organised and disorganised features in their crimes and they may shift from one to the other between crimes
Disadvantage of Top Down Approach AO3
Subjective
- It is up to the profiler to decide which aspects of the crime scene evidence are important in determining the profile
- Consequently, different profilers may reach different conclusions from the same evidence
Disadvantage of Top Down Approach AO3
Lack of Validity
- The sample of 36 offenders is very small and the methods and motives of the very rare types of offender interviewed may not generalise to tother offenders
Disadvantage of Top Down Approach AO3
Ainsworth (2001)
Ainsworth (2001) points out that there have been few serious attempts to establish the validity of the FBIs offender types using scientifically verifiable methods
What is the Bottom-up approach?
- An approach which starts with raw data about the crime and makes it way up to a conclusion about the criminal
- Assumes that offenders leave a “psychological fingerprint” of unique behaviour (offenders will behave consistently across a series of crimes)
- Identified consistencies within the behaviour of offenders and identifiable differences between offenders
Who developed the bottom-up approach?
David Canter (1990) in Britain
What are the two key elements of the bottom-up approach?
- Investigative psychology
- Geographical profiling
What is Geographical profiling?
- Looks at patterns in the location and timing of offences to make judgements about links between crimes and suggestions about where offenders live and work
What is Canter and Larkin (1993)’s theory in Geographical profiling?
- Circle theory proposes that offenders commit crimes within an imagined circle
What did Canter and Larkin (1993) identify?
Two types of offenders:
- Marauder
- Commuter
What is a Marauder?
- An offender whose home is within the area the crimes were committed
- Most common
What is a commuter?
- An offender who travels to another area to commit a crime, usually over large areas
- Crossing cultural and psychological boundaries and involves complex hunting strategies
Example of Geographical Profiling:
Canter (2003), developed a computerised system called Dragnet, which used information about the location of offences to predict where and offender is likely to live
What is investigative psychology?
- The implementation of psychological theory with statistical procedures to analyse crime scene evidence
- Helps establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur
This will form a statistical database of co-existing behaviours across crime scenes that can be used as a baseline of comparison for future crimes
- Specific details of these future crimes can be matched against the database to reveal important details about the offender, including their family background or any personal history for example
- Using this database can also help identify whether crimes are linked
Example of Investigative Psychology
- David Canter was approached by the police to help in an investigation into a series of rapes and murders in London in the mid 1980s.
- Using information on the crimes supplied by the police, Canter applied psychological principles
to suggest where the offender was living (in the area of the first three attacks), the type of job he did
(semi-skilled labour, possibly connected to the railways), the sort of social life he had (a loner with
only one or two close male friends) and his history of offending. - Canter’s profile allowed the police to review their list of suspects and prioritise John Duffy for further investigation. He was placed under observation and subsequently arrested, charged, tried and
convicted. - John Duffy carried out 24 sexual attacks and 3 murders of women in North London
- Canter analysed the geographical details and the evidence drew up a surprisingly accurate profile
BUT this didn’t lead directly to Duffy’s arrest
The contribution to the case was to help the police narrow down their list of thousands of suspects
and to target their subsequent investigations more effectively.
Advantage of Bottom - Up Approach
Copson (1975)
- Copson stated that 75% found it useful at narrowing down suspects
Advantage of Bottom - Up Approach
Rossmo
Rossmo said that Bottom-Up approach helps to target individuals that otherwise might not have been identified
Advantage of Bottom - Up Approach
Holistic
More holistic than Top-Down approach (draws on a variety of psychological
methods)
Advantage of Bottom - Up Approach
Statistical
Increased validity
Statistical basis makes this more reliable
Can be applied to a wide range of offences
Disadvantage of Bottom - Up Approach
Copson (1975)
Surveyed 48 UK police forces
75% said profilers advice had been useful
Only 3% said it actually helped to catch the correct offender
Disadvantage of Bottom - Up Approach
Canter and Larkin
- Canter & Larkin found in 45 sexual assaults, 91% were marauders - this may suggest that this is too generic and may apply to too many people
- Simplifying an imagined circle is also problematic and may not be as scientific as
suggested
What is Atavistic Form and what does it suggest?
A historical approach used to explain criminal behaviour, based on biological factors
Suggests that some people are born with a criminal personality and that criminals can be identified by the way they look
Who Proposed the Atavistic Form?
Proposed by Lombroso (1890s)
What is the Key Study of the Atavistic Form?
Lombroso (1876)
Describe Lombroso (1876)
Aim: to identify distinguishing physical features among male criminals, which set
them apart as offenders
Method: examined the features and measurements of nearly 4000 criminals & skulls
of 400 dead criminals
Results: 40% of those examined had atavistic features
Conclusion: These characteristics indicated that such people were more primitive in
an evolutionary sense - such individuals were not responsible for their actions as it
was down to their innate, inherited physiology
What are the general atavistic characteristics?
Narrowing brow
Prominent jaw
High cheekbones
Facial asymmetry
Curly hair
Long ears
What are the specific atavistic characteristics of murderers?
Bloodshot eyes
Curly hair
Long ears
What are the specific atavistic characteristics of sexual deviants?
Glinting eyes
Fleshy lips
Projecting ears
What are the specific atavistic characteristics of fraudsters?
Thin
Reedy
What are the general atavistic characteristics for female offenders?
Shorter
More Wrinkled
Darker hair
Smaller skulls
Research Support of Atavistic form: Kurtzberg (1968)
Found that prisoners behaviour had improved following facial surgery
Those who had surgery - recidivism rate of 42%
Those who did not have surgery - recidivism rate of 70%
Those who had facial surgery tended to do better on release from prison than those
who did not
Research Support of Atavistic form: Kretschmer (1921)
Tall and thin - petty thieves
Tall and muscular - crimes of violence
Short and fat - crimes of deception & sometimes violence
More than one type - crimes against mortality (e.g. prostituion)
Advantages of Atavistic evaluation
Lombroso was the first person to bring science and biology of a person to the study of crime
Use of evidence to support theory - proposed from his own observations of criminals
This led to investigating further biological explanations such as genes and structure of the brain.
Limitations of Atavistic evaluation
Unscientific approach
Correlation does not mean causation
Emphasised the criminal stereotype
Lack of control during Lombroso’s experiment - didn’t pay the same attention
to criminals and those outside of prison
Determinism - is there no free will on whether an individual commits an offence?
Limitations of Atavistic
DeLisi (2012) AO3
DeLisi (2012) branded this theory as racist - because an individual has those
features it does not make them a criminal e.g. African Americans are more likely
to be criminals because they have curly hair?
Limitations of Atavistic
Goring (1913) AO3
Goring (1913) tested the atavistic form using 3000 criminals and compared them
to 3000 non-criminals
He found no difference between the groups in terms of facial characteristics
What is the Genetic explanation in forensics?
- Propose that one or more genes predispose individuals to criminal behaviour
What is the MAOA?
An enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters in the synapse
What is the job of the MAOA-gene?
To send signals from the cell to produce the MAOA enzyme
Why is the MAOA important?
- As it metabolises neurotransmitters (e.g. serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline) in the brain after a nerve impulse, it breaks them down to be recycled or excreted
What is MAOA-L?
A low expression variant of the MAOA-Gene found in some humans
What does it mean if a person has the MAOA-L gene?
- It means there will be less MAOA produced
What does the production of less MAOA do?
- Affects neurotransmitter levels (including serotonin and dopamine) which affects brain activity in important parts of the brain like the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex
Han Brunner et al (1993) Genetic explanation
- Studied 28 males from a large Dutch family who were repeatedly involved in impulsively aggressive violent criminal behaviour
- It was found that these men had abnormally low levels of MAOA in their brains and the low activity version of the MAOA gene
- This research supports the role of MAOA in aggression as when this gene is not functioning correctly, individuals display agressive behaviour
Cases et al (1995) Genetic explanation
- Genetically engineered mice with low MAOA levels.
- They found the mice had abnormal serotonin levels and behaviour. As adult mice they demonstrated increased levels of aggression and were aggressive during mating.
- Mice and humans are physiologically different and so, although there seems to be a genetic basis for aggression in mice, it doesn’t mean that such findings can be generalised to humans.
Briefly summarise how the MAOA-L variant leads to offending?
MAOA-L variant -> Can’t break down the chemicals as well -> Large quantities of these chemicals in the brain -> Impulsiveness and loss of control-leading to offending
Christiansen (1977) Genetic Explanation
- Looked at over 3500 twin pairs in Denmark:
- Both Males and Females: Concordance rate of MZ twins (identical) were more than double DZ twins (non-identical)
- The males had higher concordance rates for both MZ and DZ twins due to only being to obtain the X-chromosome from your mother rather than a mix of both parents
- Christiansen found higher concordance rates of criminal behaviour among MZ twin pairs compared to DZ twin pairs
- This suggests that there is an element of heritability to criminal behaviour
- However, the concordance rates are relatively low, suggesting that genes are not enough when it comes to offending
Grove (1990) Genetic Explanation
- Investigated the genetic contribution to offending behaviour, using twins who have been separated shortly after birth and grew up in different environments.
- 32 MZ twin pairs that grew up separately for his study. The twins were assessed though tests and interviews in terms of alcohol problems, drug problems and symptoms related to antisocial behaviour in childhood and adulthood
- Grove found significant positive correlations between genetic influences and symptoms of childhood antisocial behaviour (0.28) and adulthood antisocial behaviour (0.41). These results indicate similarity in terms of antisocial behaviour among the twins.
- However, the correlations are low to moderate, even though the twins shared 100% of the same genes; this again indicates a significant contribution of environmental factors as well.
How does the Diathesis-Stress Model explain criminality?
- Modern understanding of genetic influence no longer proposes that one or even a few genes alone will determine behaviour
- Someone may have biological tendencies towards crimes, but they will need some sort of environmental trigger to actually become a criminal
Briefly summarise the Neural Explanation?
- Differences in neurotransmitter levels e.g. higher levels of noradrenaline have been linked to violence and aggression
- Low levels of serotonin have been linked to greater impulsivity
- Mainly focuses on individuals with antisocial personality disorder
Explain who Raine is and his discovery of the link between criminals and APD?
- Raine is a psychologist who conducted research using PET scanning and found abnormalities in some parts of the brain in violent criminals
- Most criminals in these studies had APD
- Raine discovered that that these individuals have reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the part of the brain that regulates emotional behaviour
- They find it difficult to control their impulses and do not suffer from guilt or remorse
Explain Raine et al (2000)
- The volume of the prefrontal grey and white matter in the brains of 21 people with APD and 21 without APD was measured using an MRI scan.
- All 42 participants had their autonomic activity measured through the measuring of their heart rate and skin conductance while they were put into a stressful situation through videotaping them talking about their faults.
- A reduced amount of grey matter (11%) was found in the pre-frontal area of the APD group in comparison to the control group.
- The APD group also showed a reduced autonomic response during the stressful situation
Explain Raine (2004) (Prefrontal Cortex)
- Cited 71 brain imaging studies showing that murderers, psychopaths and violent individuals have reduced functioning in the prefrontal cortex
- This is the area involved in regulating emotions, planning, personality, decision making and controlling moral behaviour
- Low activity in this area is associated with impulsiveness and loss of control
- Given that the frontal lobe is associated with planning behaviour and emotional regulation, this suggests acausalrelationshipbetween brain damage and criminal behaviour
Explain Raine et al (1997) (Limbic System)
- Investigated whether there was any difference in the brain activity of murderers and non-murderers
- Sample was 41 violent murderers and 41 non murderers
- Using PET scanning techniques, Raine found differences in brain activity in the prefrontal cortex and areas of the limbic system (amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus etc)
Explain how the genetic and neural explanations suffer from biological behaviour
- The theory that offending and criminal behaviour is genetically predisposed isbiologically deterministic and may be in an issue when prosecuting offenders
- Identifying possible biologicalprecursors would mean that a person cannot be heldresponsiblefor their behaviour, because they have no control over their biology and the manifestation of those genetics
- Only in extreme circumstances (e.g., a severe mental disorder) is a person judged to lack responsibility for a crime, but the real world application of this theory poses a problem for law and thejusticesystem
AO3 Suggesting the complexity of APD
- Farrington et al. (2006)found that men who scored highly on psychopathy (APD), also experienced various risk factors during childhood, including being raised by a convicted parent, and being physically neglected
- Rauch et al. (2006)furthered these findings, suggesting that the early trauma may have caused the reduced activity in the frontal lobe, in turn causing APD and some of the other neural differences associated with this
- These findings make the evidential link between criminality and APD morecomplexthan originally stated
Genetic and Neural explanations - role of nature vs nature AO3
- Mednick et al. (1984)found support for the diathesis-stress model of criminality from studying 13,000 Danish adoptees with the following results:
- 13.5% of adoptees had convictions when neither biological or adoptive parents did
- 20% of adoptees had convictions when only the biological parents did
- 24.5% of adoptees had convictions when both the biological and adoptive parents had convictions
- The steady rise in rates of convictions shown in this study suggest thatbiologicalpredispositions should be considered alongsideenvironmental Influences in understanding criminality
What is Eysenck’s theory of personality?
Within this theory it says that our personality is innate and has a
biological basis
Personality is genetic - we inherit a type of nervous system that
predisposes us to offending
Halfway house between psychological approach and biological influences (AQA labels psychological)