forensic psychology

Question 1

what is the atavistic form?

Answer 1

Lombroso
Suggested that criminals were genetic throwbacks who were biologically different from non-criminals
Offenders were seen as lacking evolutionary developments, find it impossible to adjust to the demands of civilised society and would inevitably turn to crime.
Criminal behaviour as a natural tendency.

Question 2

what are the atavistic characteristics?

Answer 2

physiological markers
Cranial characteristics – narrow sloping brows, sharp jaw, high cheekbones, facial asymmetry.
Other markers were dark skin (racism) and existence of extra toes, nipples and fingers.

Question 3

what was Lombroso’s study?

Answer 3

Examined facial and cranial features of convicts of both living and dead
Proposed that the atavistic form was associated with physical anomalies which were key indicators of criminality
Examined 400 dead and 4000 living convicts
40% of criminal acts are committed by people with atavistic characteristics

Question 4

what was the genetic explanation for offending behaviour?

Answer 4

Explanations for crime suggests that would-be offenders inherit a gene or combination of genes that predispose them to commit crime.

Question 5

what evidence is there to support the genetic explanation?

Answer 5

Adoption studies Crowe –
Found that adopted children who had a biological parent with a criminal record had a 50% risk of having a criminal record by 18.
Whereas adopted children whose mother didn’t have a criminal record only had a 5% risk
Candidate genes Tiihonen Genetic analysis 900 offenders
Revealed abnormalities on two genes that may be associated with violent crime
MAOA, controls dopamine and serotonin in the brain
Linked to aggressive behaviour
CDH13, linked to substance abuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Finnish sample
Individuals with this high risk combination were 13x more likely to have a history of violent behaviour.
Research has not be replicated, early advances

Question 6

what is the neural explanation for offending behaviour?

Answer 6

Neural differences in the brains of criminals and non-criminals
Investigated individuals diagnosed with APD.
APD is associated with reduced emotional responses, lack of empathy for the feelings of others and it characterises many convicted criminals.

Question 7

what evidence is there to support the neural explanation?

Answer 7

Prefrontal cortex – RAINE
Conducted many studies
Reported that there are several brain-imaging studies
demonstrating individuals with antisocial personalities
there is reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex
part of the brain that regulates emotion
11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex
Compared to the control group

Mirror neurons
Research suggests that criminals with APD can experience empathy
Keysers found that criminals when asked to empathise
their empathy reaction did react
Suggests that APD individuals do have empathy
but may have a neural switch that can be turned on and off
whereas a normal brain, empathy switch is permanently on

Question 8

what is Eysenck’s theory of offending behaviour?

Answer 8

Personality traits are biological
Come about through the type of nervous system we inherit
All personality types, include criminal personality are innate.
criminal personality, neurotic-extravert, scores highly of psychoticism

Question 9

what are the characteristics of an extravert

Answer 9

have an underactive nervous system, therefore constantly seek excitement and simulation. Do not condition easily and do not learn from their mistakes.
Introverts – overstimulated, therefore tend to seek to avoid any stimulation and do not engage in risky behaviours.

Question 10

what are the characteristics of neuroticism?

Answer 10

Neuroticism – tend to be jumpy, nervous and over-anxious, general instability is difficult to predict behaviour. Flight or fight system.

Question 11

what are the characteristics of psychoticism?

Answer 11

Psychoticism – those with higher levels of testosterone are more likely to engage with criminal behaviour, characterised as cold, unemotional and prone to aggression.

Question 12

what is the role of socialisation?

Answer 12

Personality is linked to criminal behaviour by socialisation processes. Criminal behaviour as developmentally immature, it is selfish and concerned with immediate gratification. They are impatient and cannot wait for things.
Process of socialisation – children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially orientated.
Eysenck believed people with high E and N had nervous system them difficult to condition.
Results, they would not learn easily to respond to antisocial impulses with anxiety.
Therefore more likely to act antisocially in situations where the opportunity presented itself.

Question 13

how did Eysenck measure criminal personality?

Answer 13

Eysenck developed the Eysenck Personality Inventory, EPI
Form of a psychological test

Question 14

what are cognitive distortions?

Answer 14

errors or biases in people’s information processing system characterised by faulty thinking

Question 15

what is HAB?

Answer 15

hostile attribution bias
people misinterpret actions of others such as assuming others are being confrontational when they are not. offender may misread non-aggressive cues.

Question 16

what evidence is there to support HAB?

Answer 16

55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expression
Compared with non-aggressive matched control group
Violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry or hostile
Dodge and Frame:
Showed children a video clip of an ambiguous provocation
Children who had been identified as aggressive or rejected prior to the study interpreted the violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile

Question 17

what is minimalisation?

Answer 17

attempt to deny or downplay the seriousness of an offence and has elsewhere been referred to as he application of euphemistic label for behaviour

Question 18

what evidence is there to support minimalisation?

Answer 18

Barbaree – found among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and 40% minimised the harm that they had caused to the victim.
Pollock and Hashmall – reported that 35% of a sample of child molesters argued that the crime they had committed was non-sexual and 36% stated that the victim had consented.

Question 19

what is Kohlberg’s moral reasoning?

Answer 19

Apply moral reasoning to criminal behaviour.
The higher the stage, the more sophisticated the reasoning is. Heinz dilemma.
Many studies have suggested that criminals tend to show a lower level of moral reasoning.

Question 20

what did Kohlberg find with his development of moral reasoning?

Answer 20

found that group of violent youths were significantly lower in their moral development than non-violent groups – even after controlling for social background.

Question 21

where are criminals offenders most likely going to be in the moral reasoning stages?

Answer 21

pre-conventional stages 1 and 2
the need to avoid punishment and gain rewards, less mature, child like reasoning

Question 22

what is DAT?

Answer 22

Theory proposes that individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for criminal behaviours through association and interaction with different people.
Sutherland – set the task of developing a set of scientific principles that could explain all types of offending.

Question 23

what are pro-criminal attitudes?

Answer 23

Person is socialised into a group they will be exposed to values and attitudes towards the law. Some of these values will be pro-crime and some anti-crime
Sutherland argues that if the number of pro-criminal attitudes outweighs the number of anti-criminal attitudes, they will go on to offend.
Differential association suggests that it should be possible to mathematically predict how likely it is that an individual will commit crime if we have knowledge of the frequency they have been exposed to deviant and non-deviant norms and values.

Question 24

how does a criminal learn acts according to DAT?

Answer 24

The would-be offender may also learn particular techniques for committing crime. These might include how to break into a house.
Also offering an explanation of how crime may breed amongst specific social groups and in communities. Also why convicts released from prison go on to reoffend.
Assume that whilst inside prison inmates will learn specific techniques of offending from other, more experienced criminals that they may be eager to put into practice upon their release.
Learning occurs through observational learning and imitation or direct tuition from criminal peers.

Question 25

what was the Farrington study?

Answer 25

Cambridge study in delinquent development
Longitudinal study of the development of offending and antisocial behaviour in 411 makes
Children aged 8 in 1961.
All living in a working class, deprived, inner city area of London
Findings describe their criminal careers up to 50 years old
Both officially recorded convictions and self-reported convictions
41% were convicted at least one offence between 10 and 50yrs.
Average conviction career lasted from age 19-28yrs, 5 convictions
Risk factors at age 8-10 for late offending were measures of family criminality, daring or risk-taking, low school attainment, poverty and poor parenting.
7% were defined as chronic offenders because they accounted for about half of all officially recorded offence in the study

Question 26

what is the psychodynamic explanation?

Answer 26

Superego – formed at the end of the phallic stage, when children resolve the Oedipus and Electra complex

Question 27

what did Blackburn argue about the superego?

Answer 27

Blackburn argued that if the superego is somehow deficient or inadequate then criminal behaviour is inevitable because the id is given free rein and not properly controlled.

Weak superego – if the same-sex parent is absent during the phallic stage, child cannot internalise a full-formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification

Deviant superego – if the superego that the child internalises has immoral or deviant values this would lead the offending behaviour.

Overharsh superego – excessively punitive or harsh superego means that the individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety, this drives the individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego’s overwhelming need for punishment.

Question 28

what was the maternal deprivation theory, link to offending behaviour?

Answer 28

dependent upon the child forming a warm, continuous relationship with a mother-figure.
Maternal bond was seen as unique, superior to the child’s wellbeing and development.
Failure to establish such a bond during the first few years means that the child will experience a number of damaging and irreversible consequences in later life.
Affectionless psychopathy – lack of guilt, empathy, feelings for others.
Maternally deprived individuals are likely to engage in acts of delinquency and cannot develop close relationship, lack the necessary early experience to do so.

Question 29

what was the 44 juvenile thieves study?

Answer 29

Bowlby
44 juvenile thieves and 44 control, who were referred to Bowlby for therapy
Interviews with the thieves, control and family members
14/44 thieves – affectionless psychopaths
12/14 had prolonged separation for more than 2 years
2/44 control group had experienced prolonged separation of 2 years
Concluded that the effects of maternal deprivation had caused affectionless and delinquent behaviour among the thieves.

Question 30

what is the aim of custodial sentencing?

Answer 30

deterrence
incapacitation
rehabilitations
retribution

Question 31

what are the psychological effects of custodial sentencing?

Answer 31

stress/depression
institutionalisation
prisonisation

Question 32

what is recidivism?

Answer 32

rates of reoffending
57% of offenders will reoffend within a year of their release
Norway’s reoffending rates are the lowest in Europe, greater emphasis on rehabilitation and skill development

Question 33

what is behaviour modification?

Answer 33

that all behaviour is learned therefore can be unlearned
aim of reinforcing obedient behaviour in offenders and punishing disobedience

Question 34

what is token economy in behaviour modification?

Answer 34

operant conditioning, reinforcing desirable behaviour with a token that can be exchanged for a reward
tokens are secondary reinforcers because they drive their value from their association within a reward

Question 35

what is the process of behaviour modification?

Answer 35

desirable behaviour is identified
broken down into small steps - increments and a baseline measure is established
behaviours to be reinforced are decided before
those in contact with offenders must follow the same regime of selective reinforcement
whole programme can be over seen by officials

Question 36

what did Hobbs and Holt find in their study for BM?

Answer 36

introduced token economy programme with a group of young delinquent across three behaviour units
observed a significant difference in positive behaviour compared to non-token economy group

Question 37

what did Novaco suggest about anger and anger management?

Answer 37

Novaco suggested that cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal which generally precedes aggressive acts
anger is quick to surface in situations that perceived as anxiety-inducing or threatening

Question 38

what is anger management?

Answer 38

is a form of CBT
individual is taught how to recognise when they are losing control
encouraged to develop techniques which bring about conflict-resolution without the need for violence

Question 39

what is the process that anger management programme use?

Answer 39

cognitive preparation
skill acquisition
application practice

Question 40

what is cognitive preparation?

Answer 40

requires the offender to reflect on the past, consider the pattern of anger. Identify the triggers and irrational beliefs. Redefining the situation as non-threatening

Question 41

what is skill acquisition?

Answer 41

offenders are introduced to a range of techniques and skills to help them in anger-provoking situations more rationally. Such as positive self-talk, training in how to communicate, methods of relaxation

Question 42

what is application practice?

Answer 42

offenders are given the opportunity to practice their skills in a monitored environment. Role play, therapist and offender re-enacting scenarios that may have escalated anger and violent acts in the past. Then the therapist uses positive reinforcement in the role play