forensic psychology Flashcards
how would you define crime encorporating its issues
- Crime is considered as any illegal act which is punishable by incarceration or another type of
punishment, after consideration by a judge and jury in a legal trial. However, there exist historical and cultural issues with defining ‘crime’
what are historical issues with defining crime
Historical issues show that what was considered a crime at one point in history, may not be considered a crime according to modern standards e.g. homosexuality only being illegalised in
the UK in 1967, through the Sexual Offences Act of 1967.
what are the cultural issues with defining crime
Similarly, cultural issues in crime face this same problem. For example, smacking a child in one
culture may be seen as acceptable or even encouraged as a form of ‘tough love’, whereas this
is not the case in the UK - smacking a child so that a mark is left is now punishable by law,
according to the 2004 Child’s Protection Act.
what are the three main ways of measuring crime
Official Statistics, Victim Surveys and Offender Surveys
what are official statistics
- Official Statistics describe the number of crimes reported to and recorded by the police, which
have been processed and published by the Home Office on an annual basis
what are victim surveys
Victim surveys involve 50,000 randomly selected households to self-report the number and types of crimes which have been committed against them during the past year, and is published
by the Crime Survey for England and Wales annually.
describe offender surveys
- Lastly, offender surveys target a randomly-selected cohort of criminals, who give details of the
types and frequency of crimes they have committed across a set time period (e.g. during the
last year), as recorded by The Offender Crime and Justice Survey. This is particularly useful for
governmental organisations as a view of the patterns and risk factors for crime at a national
scale, and so can be used to inform crime prevention/management strategies.
what is a problem with crime reportataion eg dark figure and case study
— A particular problem associated with official statistics is its susceptibility to concealing the
‘dark figure’ of crime i.e. where 75% of crime goes unreported. This may be due to a lack of standardisation of police recording policies in relation to crime, as well as the victim fearing
revenge/retribution or feeling untrustworthy of the police. The effects of these in discrepancies was demonstrated by Farrington and Dowds (1985) who found that sudden increases in incidence
rates of theft could be explained by a change in police recording policies, where thefts under £10
were recorded. This therefore suggests that official statistics may be an inaccurate representation
of crime!
give a positive analysis for victim surveys that oppose the dark figure of crime
+ Victim surveys have the advantage, over official statistics, that the ‘dark figure’ of crime is less likely to be concealed or evident due to the self-report technique, where individuals may feel that there are less repercussions for their actions.
now say a negative of victim surveys
— However, victim surveys suffer from the serious methodological problems associated with selfreport techniques and, specifically, the idea of ‘telescoping’, where the victim may mistakenly
believe that a crime had been committed against them significantly more recently than it actually
had been, due to the trauma and distress associated with it. Therefore, victim surveys may be no
more accurate than official statistics.
say a positive of offender surveys
+ Offender surveys have been particularly useful in informing crime prevention and management
strategies due to showing the patterns and risk factors of offending behaviour. Therefore, this
demonstrates a real-life practical application.
what is a negative of offender surveys
— On the other hand, the data collected from Offender Surveys may be distorted or biased
because it has been collected from offenders. These offenders may want to over-exaggerate their
crimes to give themselves a feeling of accomplishment and grandeur, or under-exaggerate their crimes to diminish responsibility. This means that too much reliance cannot be placed upon the
honesty and integrity of offenders in self-report measures
what is the atavistic form
Atavistic form is a theory formulated by Lombroso, asserting that certain physical forms and characteristics in individuals are associated with a predisposition to criminal behaviour. Lombroso believed that these characteristics reflected a more primitive or less evolved state, rendering individuals ill-suited to conforming to the rules of modern society. This biological approach attributed criminal activity to genetic throwbacks, suggesting a link between specific physical traits and a propensity for offending.”
