Forensic Psychology Flashcards
Top-Down Offender Profiling (Process)
Assimilation, Classification (typology), Reconstruction, Profile generation
Bottom-Up Offender Profiling
Must: Canter - Interpersonal Coherence
Should:
Carter - used specific location targetting to catch railway killer (Duffy)
Canter & Larkin and Carter & Lundrigan - effectiveness smallest space analysis (circle hypothesis).
Copson - Only 3% led to offender, not useful in practise.
Britton and the case of Rachel Nickell - wrongful arrest, judge criticised the police’s tactics.
Top-Down Offender Profiling
Must: FBI created, in-depth interviews w/ 36 serial sex offenders.
Should:
Alison - Naïve to see personality (typology) as static.
Atavistic form
Must: Lombroso “genetic throwbacks”. Analysed 2000+ criminals, 40% atavistic.
Should: Goring - 3000 criminals vs 3000 non-criminals (control), found no distinct difference in physical characteristics BUT did in low IQ.
Biological - neural and genetic
Genetic:
Lange (twin) - MZ 77% - 12% DZ for incarceration.
Crowe (adoption) - bio vs non-bio criminal, 50% vs 5% risk
Brunner (candidate genes) - family w/ aggression & criminal history = all males having MAOA gene.
Neural:
Raine (brain structures) - reduced activity in PFC (processing emotions, control, reason) in murderers, violent individuals, and APD.
Brunner (neurotransmitter) - MAOA affects serotonin.
Keysers (mirror neurons) - only when asked to emphasise did APD have ‘switched on’.
Psychodynamic explanations for offending
Must:
Blackburn - Dysfunctional superego
Bowlby - 44 Thieves MD.
Additional:
Englander - Displacement as a defence mechanism.
Goreta - case study on offender found desire to be punished (overdeveloped SE).
Kochanska - children w harsh parenting found do NOT express guilt or need for punishment.
Lewis - MD not true, interviewed 500 MDs and none were criminals.
Eysenck’s criminal personality
Must: Eysenck - in NEP, 2000+ male criminals > 2000 non-criminals (aged 16-69)
Should:
Farrington - Conflicting evidence - NE < P
Digman - 5 factor model (+agreeableness and conscientiousness).
Additional: Mischel - No fixed understanding of “true self” from scores.
Cognitive explanations for offending
Must: Kohlberg - Levels of moral reasoning (through hypothetical moral dilemmas)
Additional:
Palmer & Holin - Offenders found less mature in moral reasoning.
Schonenberg - shown “emotionally ambiguous” faces, offenders rated more aggressively vs control group.
Kennedy & Grubin - Sex offenders minimalise (but do not confine just to sex crimes),
Differential Association Theory
Must: Sutherland - DAT calculus from environmental influences.
Additional: Exceptions like Mike Tyson’s brother.
Custodial Sentencing
Must: Zimbardo - psychological effects (on “emotionally stable” males)
Additional:
Fazel - 3x higher suicide rates vs normal population.
Ministry of Justice (2019)
- 25% adult offenders reoffend within 1 year.
Behaviour Modification
Should: Hobbs & Holt - Tokens for young delinquents vs no tokens (control group), found significant difference in positive behaviour for token group.
Additional: Allyon - Similar findings for adults.
Anger Management (adapts CBT to be multi-disciplinary)
Should:
National Anger Management Package - 7 sessions in 3 weeks + 1 session a month later.
Novaco - Cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal (anger) which preceeds aggressive acts (offense).
Additional: Blackburn - Not effective long-term, argues that there is little evidence on recidivism.
Restorative Justice
Should: Restorative Justice Council (RJC) - sets standards.
Additional:
Latimer - meta-analysis finding positive victim and offender satisfaction.
Every £1 invested in RJ saves £8 in reoffending rates…
