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Psychology Paper 3 > Forensic Psychology > Flashcards

Forensic Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Offender profiling, top-down approach:
A strength is research support for an organised category…

A
  • Canter et al looked at 100 US serial killings
  • small space analysis was used to assess the co-occurrence of 39 aspects of the serial killings
  • this analysis revealed a subset of behaviours of many serial killings which match the FBI’s typology for organised offenders
  • suggests that a key component of the FBI typology approach has some validity
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2
Q

Offender profiling, top-down approach:
A strength is real life application/ can be adapted to other types of crime E.g. burglary…

A
  • Meketa reports that top-down profiling has recently been applied to burglary leading to an 85% rise in solved cases in 3 US states
  • the detection method adds 2 new categories- interpersonal (offender knows their victim, steals something of significance) and opportunistic (inexperienced young offender)
  • this suggests that top-down profiling has wider application than was originally assumed
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3
Q

Offender profiling, top-down approach:
A weakness is Godwin argues that in reality…

A
  • Most killers have multiple contrasting characteristics and don’t fit into one ‘type’
  • this suggests that the organised-disorganised typology is probably more of a continuum
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4
Q

Offender profiling, top-down approach:
A weakness is evidence for top-down profiling was flawed…

A
  • Canter et al argues that the FBI agents didn’t select a random or even a large sample, nor did it include different kinds of offender
  • there was no standard set of questions so each interview was different and not really comparable
  • suggests that top-down profiling doesn’t have a sound, scientific basis
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5
Q

Offender profiling, top-down approach:
Extra: personality…

A
  • the top-down approach is based on behavioural consistency- that serial offenders have characteristic ways of working (their modus operandi) so crime scene characteristics help identification
  • Mischel argued that people’s behaviour is much more driven by the situation they are in than by ‘personality’
  • suggests that a profiling method based on behavioural consistency may not always lead to successful identification of offender
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6
Q

Offender profiling, bottom-up approach:
A strength for geographical profiling is research support…

A
  • Lundrigan and Canter collated information from 120 murder cases in the US
  • Smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency (a centre of gravity) in the behaviour of killers
  • offenders leave home base in different directions when dumping a body but create a circular effect, especially in the case of marauders
  • this supports the view that geographical information can be used to identify offenders
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7
Q

Offender profiling, bottom-up approach:
A strength is evidence supports investigative psychology…
However…

A
  • Canter and Heritage conducted an analysis of 66 sexual assault cases using smallest space analysis
  • several behaviours were identified in most cases (E.g. using impersonal language). Each individual displayed a pattern of such behaviours, helps establish whether 2 or more offences were committed by the same person (‘case linkage’)
  • supports one of the basic principles of investigative psychology (and the bottom up approach) that people are consistent in their behaviour
    however
  • database is made up of only solved crimes which are likely to be those that were straight forward to link together which makes it a circular argument
  • suggest investigate psychology may tell us little about crimes that have few links between them and so remain unsolved
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8
Q

Offender profiling, bottom-up approach:
A strength is Copson surveyed 48 police departments and found…
However…

A
  • found that the advice provided by the profiler was judged to be ‘useful’ in 83% of cases
  • which suggests it’s a valid approach/investigative tool
    however
    Doesn’t objectively prove it’s effective (just opinion, not proof)
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9
Q

Offender profiling, bottom-up approach:
A weakness is the same Copson study revealed…

A
  • only 3% of cases led to accurate identification of offender
  • Kocsis et al found chemistry students produced more accurate profiles than detectives
  • Rachel Nickel case offers a stark reminder of how profiling can be misused (real life consequences)
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10
Q

Offender profiling, bottom-up approach:
A weakness is geographical profiling may not be sufficient in its own…

A
  • recording of crime is not always accurate, can vary between police forces and an estimated 75% of crimes aren’t even reported to the police
  • even if crime data is correct, other factors matter E.g. timing of the offence and age and experience of the offenders
  • suggests that geographical information alone may not always lead to the successful capture of an offender
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11
Q

Biological explanations, Lombroso’s historical approach:
A strength is Lombroso’s theory changed criminology

A
  • Lombroso (the ‘father of modern criminology’) shifted the emphasis in crime research away from moralistic to scientific.
  • Also, in describing how particular types of people are likely to commit particular types of crime, the theory heralded offender profiling
  • suggests Lombroso made a major contribution to the science of criminology
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12
Q

Biological explanations, Lombroso’s historical approach:
S/W: the atavistic form suggests that crime has a biological cause, it’s genetically determined

A
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13
Q

Biological explanations, Lombroso’s historical approach:
A weakness is scientific racism…

A
  • DeLisi questioned whether Lombroso’s legacy is entirely positive
  • many of the features that Lombroso identifies as atavistic (curly hair, dark skin) are most likely to be found among people of African descent (basically suggesting that Africans ere more likely to be offenders), a view that fitted the 19th century attitudes (to prevent some groups from breeding)
  • suggests the theory might be more subjective than objective, influenced by racist prejudices
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14
Q

Biological explanations, Lombroso’s historical approach:
A weakness is Lombroso’s methods were poorly controlled…

A
  • Lombroso didn’t compare his offender sample with a control group and so failed to control confounding variables
  • E.g. modern research shows that social conditions (E.g. poverty) are associated with offending behaviour, which would explain some of Lombroso’s links (E.g. would explain why offenders were more likely to be unemployed)
  • suggests Lombroso’s research doesn’t meet modern scientific standards
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15
Q

Biological explanations, Lombroso’s historical approach:
A weakness is evidence contradicts the link between atavism and crime

A
  • Goring compared 3000 offenders and 3000 non-offenders and found no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial and cranial characteristics
  • he did suggest though that many people who commit crime have lower-than-average intelligence (offering limited support for atavistic theory)
  • this challenges the idea that offenders can be physically distinguished from the rest of the population, therefore they’re unlikely to be a subspecies
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16
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Explain twin and adoption studies as part of the genetic explanation

A
  • Christiansen studied over 3500 twin pairs in Denmark, finding a concordance for offender behaviour of 35% for MZ males and 13% for DZ males (slightly lower rate for females).
  • Crowe found that adopted children who had a biological mother with a criminal record has a 50% chance of having a criminal record by age of 18. Whereas adopted children whose biological mother didn’t have a criminal record only had a 5% risk/chance.
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17
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Explain a candidate gene study as part of the genetic explanation

A
  • A genetic analysis of about 800 offenders by Tiihonen et al suggested 2 genes that may be associated with violent crime:
    -MAOA gene regulates serotonin and linked to aggressive behaviour (also regulates dopamine)
  • CDH13 gene linked to substance abuse and ADHD
  • the study found that 5-10% of all severe violent crime in Finland is attributable to the MAOA and CDH13 genotypes
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18
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Explain a study on people with APD as part of the neural explanation

A

Raine et al found reduced activity and an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex of people with APD compared to controls
(Prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that regulates emotional behaviour so less activity in the prefrontal cortex means less emotional regulation)

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19
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Explain what Keysers found…

A
  • Keysers found that only when offenders were asked to empathise did they show an empathy reaction (controlled by mirror neurons in the brain- will become activated)
  • suggests APD individuals do experience empathy but may have a neural ‘switch’ that turns on and off
  • in a normal-functioning brain the empathy switch is permanently on
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20
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Genetic explanation:
A strength is support for the diathesis stress model of offending

A
  • Mednick et al studied 13,000 Danish adoptees having at least 1 court conviction.
  • conviction rates:
    -13.5% (biological or adoptive parents had no convictions)
  • 20% (one biological parent)
  • 24.5% (both adoptive and biological parents)
  • data suggests that both genetic inheritance and environment influence criminality, supporting the diathesis-stress model of crime
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21
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Genetic explanation:
A weakness of twin studies is assuming equal environments

A
  • often assumed that environmental factors are the same for MZ and DZ twins because they experience similar environments
  • however, as MZ twins look identical, people (especially parents) tend to treat them more similarly which, in turn, affects their behaviour
  • therefore, treated more similarly than DZ’s suggesting conclusions lack validity
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22
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Genetic explanation:
A weakness is adoption studies…

A

Many adoptions occur when children are older and many adoptees maintain contact with biological family, so still environmental influences

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23
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Neural explanation:
A strength is support for link between crime and frontal lobes…

A
  • Kandel and Freed researched people with frontal lobe damage, including the prefrontal cortex
  • they found evidence of impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and inability to learn from their mistakes
  • supports the idea that structural abnormalities in the brain are a causal factor in offending behaviour
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24
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
Neural explanation:
A weakness is the link between neural differences and APD is complex

A
  • Farrington et al studied adult males with high APD scores
  • they were raised by a convicted parent and physically neglected
  • these early experiences may have caused the APD and associated neural differences E.g. reduced activity in the frontal lobe due to trauma
  • this suggests that the relationship between neural differences, APD and offending is complex and there may be intervening variables
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25
Q

Biological explanations, genetic and neural explanation:
A weakness is biological determinism…

A
  • The biological approach suggests offending behaviour is determined by factors which cannot be controlled so no responsibility
  • however, justice system based on individual responsibility
  • the identification of possible biological precursors to crime complicates this principle
  • suggests we should ‘excuse’ some people but ultimately this isn’t possible because many could claim no responsibility
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26
Q

Psychological explanations, Eysenck’s theory:
A strength is evidence supporting Eynseck’s theory

A
  • Eysenck and Eysenck compared 2070 male prisoner scores on the EPQ with 2422 male controls on measures of E, N and P (across all age groups that were sampled)
  • prisoners recorded higher average scores than controls
  • this agrees with the predictions of the theory that offenders rate higher than average across the 3 dimensions Eysenck identified
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27
Q

Psychological explanations, Eysenck’s theory:
A strength is useful

A
  • Eysenck’s theory offers a way to measure personality through the use of a psychological test, the EPQ
  • means we can see how the criminal personality differs from the rest of the population across different dimensions
28
Q

Psychological explanations, Eysenck’s theory:
A weakness is contradicting research…

A
  • Farrington et al conducted a meta-analysis and reported that offenders tended to score high on measures of P but not for E and N
  • also inconsistent evidence of different cortical arousal in extraverts and introverts
  • some of the central assumptions of the criminal personality have been challenged
29
Q

Psychological explanations, Eysenck’s theory:
A weakness is the view that all offending behaviour is explained by personality (it’s reductionist)…

A
  • Moffitt distinguished between offending behaviour that only occurs in adolescence (adolescence limited) and that which continues into adulthood (life-course-persistent)
  • she considers persistence in offending behaviour to be a reciprocal process between individual personality traits and environmental reactions to those traits
  • this is a more complex picture than Eysenck suggested, that offending behaviour is an interaction between personality and the environment
30
Q

Psychological explanations, Eysenck’s theory:
A weakness is cultural factors aren’t taken into account

A
  • Batrol and Holanchock studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in New York maximum security prison, dividing them into 6 groups based on offending history and offences
  • all 6 groups were less extravert than non offenders control group
  • Batrol and Holanchock suggested this was because the sample was a different cultural group from that investigated by Eysenck
  • this questions the generalisability of the criminal personality- it may be a culturally relative concept
31
Q

Psychological explanations, Eysenck’s theory:
A weakness is critics have suggested that personality type may not be reducible to a ‘score’ in this way…

A
  • this suggestion is that personality- if indeed such a thing exists- is too complex and dynamic to be quantified and this would also apply to a personality deemed criminal
32
Q

Psychological explanations, cognitive:
Cognitive distortions:
Minimalisation is particularly likely in sex offenders, explain a study which shows this

A
  • Barbaree found 54% rapist denied they have committed an offence at all and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused the victim
33
Q

Psychological explanations, cognitive:
Levels of moral reasoning:
A strength is evidence supports the role of moral reasoning

A
  • Palmer and Hollin compared moral reasoning of offenders and non-offenders on a SRM-SF scale (11 moral dilemmas)
  • offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than non-offenders (E.g. not taking things that belong to someone else)
  • this is consistent with Kohlberg’s theory and suggests his theory of criminality has validity
34
Q

Psychological explanations, cognitive:
Levels of moral reasoning:
A weakness is moral reasoning may depend on the type of offence…

A
  • Thornton and Reid found that people whose crimes were for financial gain (E.g. robbery) were more likely to show pre-conventional than if impulsive crime (E.g. assault)
  • pre-conventional moral reasoning tends to be associated with crimes in which offenders believe they have a good chance of evading punishment
  • suggests that Kohlberg’s theory may not apply to all forms of crime
35
Q

Psychological explanations, cognitive:
Levels of moral reasoning:
Extra: thinking versus behaviour

A
  • moral thinking not same as moral behaviour
  • not everyone who has criminal thoughts will act on them
36
Q

Psychological explanations, cognitive:
Cognitive distortions:
A strength is application to therapy…

A
  • in CBT, offenders are helped to ‘face up’ to what they have done and have a less distorted view of their actions
  • studies (E.g. Harkins et al 2010) suggest that reduced denial and minimalisation In therapy is associated with less reoffending
  • suggests that theory of cognitive distortions has practical value
37
Q

Psychological explanations, cognitive:
Cognitive distortions:
A weakness is cognitive theories don’t help in predicting future behaviour/not a cause and effect relationship

A
  • just because someone tends to have distorted thinking doesn’t inevitably mean they will become an offender nor does it necessarily explain the original base for offending
  • only some crimes (reactive) can be explained by hostile attribution bias (not premeditated)
38
Q

Psychological explanations, cognitive:
Cognitive distortions:
A weakness is cognitive distortions depend on type of offence

A
  • Howitt and Sheldon found that non-contact sex offenders (accessed sexual images on the internet) used more cognitive distortions than contact sex offenders (physically abused children)
  • those who had a previous history of offending were also more likely to use distortions as justification for their behaviour
  • suggests that cognitive distortions aren’t used in the same way by all offenders
39
Q

Psychological explanation, differential association theory:
A strength is the shift of focus…

A
  • Sutherland moved emphasis away from early biological explanations (E.g. Lombroso) and from theories of offending as the product of individual weakness of immorality
  • differential association theory draws attention to deviant social circumstances and environments as being more to blame than deviant people
  • this approach offers a more realistic solution to offending instead of eugenics (the biological solution) or punishment (the morality solution)
  • many practical applications E.g. not putting first time offenders in same prison as experimental offenders
40
Q

Psychological explanation, differential association theory:
A strength is the theory has wide reach

A
  • whilst some crime (E.g. burglary) are clustered in inner-city working-class communities, other crimes are clustered in more affluent groups
  • Sutherland was particularly interested in so-called ‘white-collar’ or corporate offences and how this may be a feature of middle-class groups who share deviant norms
  • this just shows that it’s not just the ‘lower’ classes who commit offences and that differential association can be used to explain all offences
41
Q

Psychological explanation, differential association theory:
A weakness is Sutherland took great care to point out that offending should be considered on an individual case-by-case basis. But…

A
  • the theory tends to suggest that exposure to pro-crime values is sufficient to produce offending in those who are exposed to it
  • this ignores the fact that people may choose not to offend despite such influences, as not everyone who’s exposed to pro-crime attitudes goes on to offend
  • could potentially lead to self fulfilling prophecies or social sensitivity through stereotyping and labelling
42
Q

Psychological explanation, differential association theory:
A weakness is difficulty testing the theory’s predictions…

A
  • Sutherland promised a scientific and mathematical framework for predicting offending behaviour but the concepts can’t be operationalised
  • it’s unclear how we can measure the numbers of pro- or anti- crime attitudes a person is exposed to
  • so how can we know at what point offending would be triggered
  • means the theory doesn’t have scientific credibility
43
Q

Psychological explanation, psychodynamic:
A strength is research support for the link to Superego…
However…

A
  • Goreta conducted a Freudian-style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment.
  • in all those assessed, disturbances in the Superego formation were diagnosed
  • each offender experienced the need for punishment manifesting itself as a desire to commit acts of wrongdoing and offend (possibly due to over-harsh superego)
  • this evidence seems to support the role of psychic conflicts and an over-harsh superego as a basis for offending
    however
  • If this theory were correct we would expect harsh, punitive parents to raise children who often experience guilt but evidence suggests such children rarely express guilt
  • calls into question the relationship between strong, punitive internal parent and excessive feelings of guilt within the child
44
Q

Psychological explanation, psychodynamic:
A strength is psychodynamic explanations were some of the first to link early experiences in childhood to moral behaviour and offending…

A
  • something that’s now regarded as common sense in contemporary criminology
  • psychodynamic explanations also drew attention to the emotional basis of behaviour, a factor that is largely ignored by other explanations (E.g. cognitive theories)
  • this has practical applications in that parenting classes could be used to develop superego and in the case of adoption to ensure a same sex parent is appropriately chosen
45
Q

Psychological explanation, psychodynamic:
A weakness is many unconscious concepts

A
  • not open to empirical testing
  • arguments E.g. inadequate superego can only be judged at face value rather than scientific worth
  • superego is unscientific as an explanation of offending behaviour
46
Q

Psychological explanation, psychodynamic:
A weakness is Freudian theory is gender biased…

A
  • psychodynamic theory assumes girls develop a weaker superego than boys
  • they don’t experience castration anxiety, so have less need to identify with their mothers
  • however, there are 20x more men than women in prison and Hoffman found no gener differences in children’s moral behaviour
  • suggests there is alpha bias at the heart of Freud’s theory and means it may not be appropriate as an explanation of offending behaviour
47
Q

Psychological explanation, psychodynamic:
A weakness is Bowlby’s theory is based on association…

A
  • Lewis analysed 500 interviews with young people
  • found maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending and the ability to form close relationships in adolescence
  • even if there is a link there are countless other reasons for it E.g. maternal deprivation may be due to growing up in poverty
  • suggests that maternal deprivation may be one of the reasons for later offending behaviour but not only reason
48
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, custodial sentencing:
As part of institutionalisation as a psychological effect of custodial sentencing, what did Pakes and Pakes suggest?

A
  • prison may have made things worse for offenders as 1/3 of prisoners lose their house whilst in prison , 2/3 lose their job and about 40% lose contact with their family
49
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, custodial sentencing:
The US, Australia and Denmark record recidivism rates over (1). In Norway rates may be as low as (2)
3- Why is is Norways rates significant?
4- More likely to reoffend if?

A

1- 60%
2- 20%
3- As in Norway there is less emphasis on incarceration and greater emphasis on rehabilitation and skills development
4- sentence is less than 12 months

50
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, custodial sentencing:
A strength is prison provides training and treatment…

A
  • The Vera Institute of Justice claims that offenders who take part in college education programmes are 43% less likely to reoffend following release
  • this will improve employment opportunities on release, which reduces the likelihood of reoffending
  • suggests prison may be a worth while experience assuming offenders are able to access these programmes
51
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, custodial sentencing:
A strength is Gillis and Nafekh researched the relationship between employment status and community outcomes for two groups of offenders (employed while on conditional release and a matched comparison group of offenders who were employed)
They found…

A
  • Employed men and women were more likely to remain on conditional release until end of their sentences and less likely to return to prison
  • providing a strength to the aim of rehabilitation (upskilling) preventing cycle of in and out of prison due to not being able to get jobs etc
  • prevents recidivism
52
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, custodial sentencing:
A weakness is negative effects of custodial sentencing…
However…

A
  • Batrol said prison is ‘brutal, demeaning and generally devastating’
  • suicide rates in prisons (England and Wales) 9x higher than general population
  • The Prison Reform Trust found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychosis (E.g. Sz)
  • supports view that oppressive prison regimes may be detrimental to psychological health which could impact on rehabilitation
    however
  • many offenders have had pre-existing psychological differences before prison which may explain their offending behaviour in the first place
  • suggests there may be confounding variables that influence the link between prison and its psychological effects
53
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, custodial sentencing:
A weakness is prison may be a school for crime

A
  • incarceration with long-term offenders may give younger inmates in particular opportunity to learn the ‘tricks of the trade’ from more experienced prisoners
    -offenders may also acquire criminal contacts whilst in prison that they may follow up on when they’re released
  • This form of ‘education’ may undermine attempts to rehabilitate prisoners and consequently may make reoffending more likely
54
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, behaviour modification:
A strength is research support..

A
  • Hobb and Holt studied young offenders, those taking part in a token economy programme showed more positive behaviours
  • Field et al found some young offenders didn’t respond but did if rewards were more immediate, frequent and positive
  • this suggests that token economy systems do work
55
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, behaviour modification:
A strength is easy to implement

A
  • behaviour modification doesn’t need a specialist professional involved, whereas this is true for other forms of treatment (E.g. anger management)
  • token economy systems can be designed and implemented by virtually anyone
  • they are cost-effective and easy to follow once methods have been established
  • this suggests that behaviour modification techniques can be established in most prisons and accessed by most prisoners
56
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, behaviour modification:
A weakness is Basset and Blanchard found any benefits were lost if staff…

A
  • applied the techniques inconsistently due to lack of staff training or because of high staff turnover (an issue in many Uk prisons)
  • suggests behaviour modification schemes may not be as straightforward to implement as they first appear (as must ensure full and consistent staff participation if they are to work)
57
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, behaviour modification:
A weakness is unethical…

A
  • critics have described behaviour modification as manipulative and dehumanising
  • (participation in scheme is obligatory rather than optional) and human rights campaigners argue that withdrawal of privileges (E.g. exercise and contact with loved ones in the form of withdrawal of tokens) is unethical
58
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, behaviour modification:
A weakness is little rehabilitative value…

A
  • some treatments (E.g. anger management) are longer lasting as they involve understanding causes of and taking responsibility for own behaviour
  • in contrast, offenders can play along with token economy system to access rewards but this produces little change in their overall character
  • may explain why once the token economy is discontinued, an offender may quickly regress back to their former behaviour
59
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, anger management:
A strength is benefits outlast behaviour modification…

A
  • unlike behaviour modification, anger management tackles the causes of offending, i.e. the cognitive processes that trigger anger and ultimately offending behaviour
  • this may give offenders new insight into the cause of their criminality, allowing them to self-discover ways of managing themselves outside of prison
  • this suggests that anger management is more likely than behaviour modification to lead to permanent behavioural change
60
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, anger management:
A weakness is it’s expensive…

A
  • AM programmes require highly-trained specialists who are used to dealing with violent offenders
  • many prisons may not have the resources
  • in addition, change takes time and commitment and this is ultimately likely to add to the expense of delivering effective programmes
  • suggests that effective AM programmes are probably not going to work in most prisons
61
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, anger management:
A weakness is success depends on individual factors…

A
  • Howells et al found that participation in an AM programme had little overall impact when compared to a control group who received no treatment
  • however, progress was made with offenders who showed intense levels of anger before the programme and offenders who were motivated to change (‘treatment readiness’)
  • suggests that AM may only benefit offenders who fit a certain profile
62
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, anger management:
A strength is research support…

A
  • Ireland compared the progress of 2 groups of offenders: one which took part in an anger management programme and the other non-treatment control group
  • after treatment group completed 12 sessions (outcomes assessed using 3 measures: an interview, a behavioural checklist completed by prison officers and a self-report questionnaire)
  • found 92% of experimental group showed an improvement on at least 1 measure, 48% showed an improvement on checklist and the self-report
  • there was no such improvement within control group
63
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, anger management:
A weakness is Blackburn suggested whilst anger management may have an effect on offenders in the short term, little evidence it…

A
  • reduces recidivism in long term and it may not help cope with triggers in real-world situations (may be due to reliance on role play which lacks mundane realism)
  • suggests in end anger management may not reduce offending
64
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, restorative justice:
A strength is supports the needs of survivors…

A
  • Restorative justice council reported the results of a 7-year project
  • 85% of survivors said they were satisfied with the process
  • 78% would recommend it
  • about 60% said the process made them feel better about the incident
    -2% said it made them feel worse
  • suggests RJ is a worthwhile experience and helps survivors of crime cope with the aftermath of the incident
65
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, restorative justice:
A strength is RJ leads to a decrease in offending…

A
  • in a meta-analysis, Strang et al found offenders who experienced RJ were less likely to reoffend
  • though reduction was larger in cases of violent crime than property crime
  • Bain found lowered recidivism with adult offenders who had one-to-one contact with their survivor (rather than community contact)
  • suggests RJ has a positive impact on reoffending, maybe more so for some types of offence than other and some approaches
66
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, restorative justice:
A weakness is offenders may abuse the system…

A
  • the success of RJ hinges on an offender genuinely feeling regret for their actions
  • Van Gijseghem suggests that offenders may use RJ to avoid punishment, play down their faults or even take pride in their relationship with the survivor
  • this would explain why not all offenders ultimately benefit from RJ and go on to reoffend
67
Q

Dealing with offending behaviour, restorative justice:
A weakness is Wood and Suzuki argue RJ programmes aren’t always as survivor-focused as reported in satisfaction surveys…

A
  • survivors of crime may be used to help rehabilitate offenders, rather than being helped themselves
  • this suggests that the needs of the survivor may be seen as secondary to the need to rehabilitate offenders
    (Controversial?)

Psychology Paper 3 (3 decks)

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