Forensic Psychology Flashcards
1
Q
What is offender profiling?
A
An investigative tool employed by the police when solving crimes, the main aim of which is to narrow the list of likely suspects.
2
Q
What is the top-down approach?
A
Profilers start with a pre-established typology and work down to lower levels in order to assign offenders to one of two categories, based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene.
3
Q
What are the two categories of offenders?
A
Organised and disorganised.
4
Q
What is an organised offender?
A
An offender who shows evidence of planning, targets a specific victim and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher-than-average intelligence.
5
Q
What is a disorganised offender?
A
An offender who shows little evidence of planning, leaves clues and tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower-than-average intelligence.
6
Q
Where did the top down approach originate?
A
Originated in the US, as a result of work carried out by the FBI.
FBI drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated murders including Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.
7
Q
Why is it actually called the top down approach?
A
Because it starts at the top (the actual crime e.g murder) and works down through the crime scene to decide on a category that fits the offender best.
8
Q
What are the four main stages of the FBI top down profiling?
A
1-Data Assimilation
2-Crime Scene Classification
3- Crime reconstruction
4- Profile generation.
9
Q
What happens during data assimilation?
A
The profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs/pathology, reports).
10
Q
What happens during crime scene classification?
A
As either organised or disorganised.
11
Q
What happens during crime reconstruction?
A
Hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim, etc.
12
Q
What happens during profile generation?
A
Hypotheses related to the likely offender, e.g demographic background, physical characteristics, behaviour etc.
13
Q
What piece of research supported there being a distinct organised category of offender?
A
David Canter 2004: conducted an analysis of 100 US murders each committed by a different serial killer. Used smallest space analysis.
It appears there is a subset of features of many serial killing which matched the FBI’s typology for organised offenders.
14
Q
What is an issue with the organised and disorganised typology?
A
Maurice Godwin (2002) argues many crimes can be classified as both organised and disorganised and that they are not mutually exclusive.
15
Q
What is a strength of the top down approach in regards to crime application?
A
Critics argued it only applies to a number of crimes e.g sexually motivated murders. However, Meketa reports that is has now been applied to burglary leading to an 85% rise in solved cases in three US states.
16
Q
Why has there been limitations regarding the sample used for which the top down typology is based upon?
A
Developed using interviews of 36 murders, 25 of which were serial killers and 11 being single or double killings. Argued that the sample is poor due to being small and also not being randomly selected.
17
Q
What is offender profiling?
A
A behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigations accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown offenders.
18
Q
What is the bottom up approach?
A
Profilers work up from evidence collected from the crime scene to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics, motivations and social background of the offender.
19
Q
How does bottom up profiling differ from top down offender profiling?
A
Top down is based on typologies whereas the bottom up is data driven and emerges as the investigator engages in more deeper scrutiny of the research.
20
Q
What are the two methods used by the bottom-up approach?
A
Investigative psychology and geographic profiling.
21
Q
What is investigative psychology?
A
Attempt to apply statistical procedures alongside psychological theory.
This is in order to develop a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison.
22
Q
What are three important components of investigative psychology?
A
Interpersonal coherence
Significance of time and place
Forensic Awareness
23
Q
What is interpersonal coherence in investigative psychology?
A
The way that an offender behaves at the scene, including how they interact with the victim may reflect their behaviour in more everyday situations.
Might tell the police something about the offender.
24
Q
What is the significance of time and place in regards to investigative psychology?
A
Might indicate where the offender lives.
25
What is the significance of forensic awareness in regards to investigative psychology?
Describes those individuals who have been subject of police interrogation before, their behaviour may denote how mindful they are of covering their tracks.
26
What is geographical profiling?
A form of bottom up profiling based on the principle of spatial consistency - that an offenders operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the geographical location of their previous crimes.
27
In regards to geographical profiling what is the least effort principle?
If an offender has an option between 2 criminally attractive places they will choose the one closest to them to carry out their crime
28
In regards to geographical profiling what is distance decay?
The number of crimes will reduce the further away from the offenders base until they become confident. However offenders leave a buffer zone around their house to decrease chances of being recognised.
29
What is the circle of gravity theory?
Criminals have limited mindsets and the crimes they commit radiate out from their homes creating a circle.
The majority of the time, if a circle is drawn that encompasses all of a series of linked crimes with the furthest crimes on the rim of the circle, the offender will be based somewhere within the circle.
30
What is a maurader?
Operate in close proximity to their home
31
What is a commuter?
Likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence.
32
How does Canter & Heritage (1990) provide support for the bottom up approach?
Conducted an analysis of 66 sexual assault cases.
Several behaviours were identified as common in different samples of behaviour, such as the use of impersonal language and lack of reaction to victim. Each individual displayed a characteristic pattern of such behaviours and this can help establish whether two or more offences were committed by the same person (case linkage).
33
What are the police departments views on the bottom up approach and why does this support it?
Copson (1995) surveyed 48 police departments and found that the advice provided by the profiler was judged to be ‘useful’ in 83% of cases, which suggests it is a valid investigative tool
34
Why might the bottom up approach be better than the top down approach?
bottom-up approach can be applied to a much wider range of crimes. For example, most burglaries are similar in method and so a top-down approach won’t reveal much about the offender’s profile. However, geographical profiling only requires the locations of the crimes, and so this bottom-up approach can be applied to basically every type of crime
35
How might the dark figure of crime relate to the bottom up approach?
As with investigative psychology, the success of geographical profiling may be reliant on the quality of data that the police can provide. Unfortunately, recording of crime is not always accurate, can vary between police forces and an estimated 75% of crimes are not even reported to the police in the first place
36
Is there any evidence to suggest the bottom-up approach isn't accurate?
Copson (1995) study revealed that in only 3% of cases did it lead to the accurate identification of the offender! The Rachel Nickell case offers a stark reminder of how profiling can be misused.
37
What is the atavistic form?
A biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are a genetic throwback or primitive subspecies.
38
What are some of the characteristics of Lombroso's atavistic form?
Narrow sloping brow, strong prominent jaw, ears of unusual size, facial asymmetry, insensitivity to pain, unemployment
39
What did Lombroso say about why people commit crime?
People are born with a criminal personality (innate).
They are a throwback to a more primitive ancestor.
40
What did Lombroso base his theory off?
was based on research that examined the features and measurements of nearly 4000 criminals, as well as the skulls of 400 dead criminals.
41
Did Lombroso believe the people are responsible for committing crime?
No, he believed it was not the fault of the criminal as they were born this way- as a primitive evolutionary throwback
42
Why has Lombroso been coined the father of modern criminology?
Credited as shifting the emphasis in crime research away from a moralistic discourse (where offenders were judged as being wicked and weak-minded) towards a more scientific and credible position (of evolutionary influences and genetics where individuals are not to blame)
43
What may Lombroso have also contributed towards?
Offender profiling
44
Why has Lombroso been criticised for being scientifically racist?
Attention has been drawn to the racist undertones within Lombroso’s work. Many of the features that Lombroso identified as atavistic (curly hair, dark skin) are most likely to be found among people of African descent.
45
How did Goring (2003) dispute Lombroso?
comparing 3000 offenders and 3000 non-offenders finding there was no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial and cranial characteristics (though he did suggest that many people who commit crime have lower-than-average intelligence).
46
Why is the fact Lombroso couldn't control variables with his own research on criminals brains and skulls?
no control group or accounting for confounding variables that might have equally explained higher crime rates in certain groups of people.
For example, research has demonstrated links between crime and social conditions such as poverty and poor educational outcomes (Hay and Forrest, 2009) – links that would often explain why offenders were more likely, for example, to be unemployed.
47
Why is cause and effect an issue with Lombroso?
Even if there are criminals who have some of the atavistic features that Lombroso suggested, this does not mean this is the cause of their offending. Facial and cranial differences may be influenced by other factors, such as poverty or poor diet, rather than inherited.
48
How would the genetic explanation explain criminal behaviour?
Suggest some people may inherit a gene that is passed down from family members and may make them more likely to engage in criminal behaviour
49
What genes are said to be involved in criminal behaviour?
MAOA & CDH13
50
Name two biological regions associated with neural explanations
Frontal cortex, Mirror Neurons (can also have hypothalamus)
51
What is APD?
Antisocial Personality Disorder
52
What are the three assumptions of the genetic explanations?
1- Criminal tendencies can be inherited.
2-Investigation of the person’s genetic material, brain or body will reveal criminal tendencies.
3-Stressors in the environment can trigger genetics (diathesis stress model) but people are pre-disposed to crime
53
What did Christiansen (1977) find?
3500 pairs twin pairs in Denmark born between 1880-1910 with "offender behaviour" checked against Danish Polish records.
Findings:
MALE:
MONO- 35% DYZO- 13%
FEMALE
MONO-21% DYZO-8%
54
What did Raymond Crowe (1972) find?
Adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record had 50% risk of having a criminal record by the age of 18, whereas adopted children whose biological mother didn't have a criminal record only had a 5% risk.
55
What is the responsibility of the MAOA gene?
MAOA Regulates dopamine and serotonin which (as well as mood) can play a role in impulsive aggression.
Low variants (MAOA-L) results in low activity of this enzyme
56
What is the responsibility of the CHD13 gene?
is linked to substance abuse and ADHD.
About 5-10% of all severe violent crime in Finland is attributable to MAOA and CDH13
57
how can the diathesis stress model be applied to criminal behaviour
Frazzetto et al. (2007) found a higher level of antisocial aggression and the MAOA-L variant in men but was only the case in those who had experienced significant trauma (e.g. sexual or physical abuse) before age 15. Those with the gene variant but no trauma did not display the same levels of aggression.
58
How does the pre-frontal cortex (neural) link to criminal behaviour?
Adrian Raine has conducted many studies of the APD brain- individuals with antisocial personalities have reduced activity in prefrontal cortex that regulates emotional behaviour.
Raine also found 11% reduction in volume of grey matter in prefrontal cortex of people with APD compared to controls.
59
How does mirror neurons (neural) link to criminal behaviour?
Offenders with APD can experience empathy but do so more sporadically than the rest of us.
Did so when asked of them (Keysers 2011) suggests APD individuals not without empathy but may have a neural switch.
60
What was the procedure of Raine's 1997 research?
41 murderers (NGRI) compared with a control group of 41 non-murderers. Matched pairs design. Were instructed to be medication free for two weeks prior to scanning.
61
What was the findings of Raine's 1997 research?
Reduced brain activity in certain areas may be one of the many predispositions toward violence. The areas identified as having abnormal activity are associated with lack of fear, lower self-control, increased aggression, impulsive behaviour and problems controlling and expressing emotions. All of these could lead to an increased risk of committing acts of extreme violence.
62
What research supported the pre-frontal cortex explanation of neural?
Kandel & Freed (1989) found people with frontal lobe damage tended to show impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and an inability to learn from their mistakes.
63
Why are there issues with twin studies and adoption studies with genetics?
Identical twins may also be treated the same (as well as the same genetics) more so than DZ twins. Additionally, many adoptions may taken place at an older childhood age. Why does this complicate the theory?
64
Farrington et al (2006) found...?
Studied a group of adult males who scored high on psychopathy (APD). These individuals had experienced various risk factors during childhood, such as being raised by a convicted parent and being physically neglected. It could be that these early childhood experiences caused APD and also some of the neural differences associated with it such as reduced activity in the frontal lobe due to trauma (Rauch et al, 2006). This suggests that the relationship between neural differences, APD and offending is complex and there may be other intervening variables that have an impact other than biology.
65
What is an issue with biological explanations of criminality?
Biological determinism: The biological approach suggests that offending behaviour is determined by genetic/neural factors which cannot be controlled by the person. So, a person should not be held responsible for a crime. How does this conflict with our justice system?
66
What is the criminal personality according to Eysenck?
High Extravert/Neurotic/Psychotic Scores.
67
How did Eysenck measure the criminal personality?
Eysenck Criminal Personality Inventory
68
According to Eysenck, how does personality have an innate, biological basis?
Personality traits are biological in origin through the type of nervous system we inherit
69
How did Eysenck bring in the role of socialisation to the criminal personality?
Children are taught to delay gratification but those with high N and E scores are difficult to condition so as a result are more likely to be anti-social
70
What is extraversion?
Under active nervous system, seek excitement, need lots of external stimulation.
71
What is neuroticism?
High reactivity in SNS, difficult to predict, changeable emotions, unstable.
72
What is psychoticism?
High levels of testosterone, unemotional, cold, aggressive
73
What did Eysenck and Eysenck (1977) find?
Compared 2070 male prisoners' scores on the (EPQ) with 2422 male controls. On measures of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism - across all the 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 three dimensions Eysenck identified.
74
Farrington et al. (1982)
meta-analysis of relevant studies and reported that offenders tended to score high on measures of psychoticism, but not for extraversion and neuroticism.
75
Why might Eysenck not take cultural factors into account?
Bartol and Holanchock (1979) studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in a maximum security prison in New York. The researchers divided these offenders into six groups based on their offending history and the nature of their offences. It was found that all six groups were less extravert than a non-offender control group whereas Eysenck would expect them to be more extravert
76
What is an issue with the EPQ?
Personality type may not be reducible to a score in this way.
Personality is too complex and dynamic to be quantified.
77
What is a cognitive distortion?
Faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that that mean we perceive ourselves/the world inaccurately and unusually negatively.
78
What are two examples of cognitive distortions?
Hostile attribution and minimalisation.
79
What is hostile attribution bias?
Offenders may misread non-aggressive cues (such as being "looked" at) and this may trigger a disproportionate, often violent response.
80
Michael Schonenberg and Aiste Justye (2004)...
Presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions.
When compared with a non-aggressive matched control group, the violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile.
81
Where does hostile attribution originate?
Roots of this behaviour may be apparent in childhood. Kenneth Dodge and Cynthia (2014) showed children a video clip of "ambiguous provocation".
Children identified as "aggressive" and "rejected" prior to this study interpreted situation as more hostile.
82
What is minimalisation?
An attempt to deny/downplay the seriousness of an offence.
Common strategy when dealing with feelings of guilt.
83
Barbaree (1991)
found those who commit sexual offences are more prone to minimalisation as out of 26 incarcerated rapists 54% denied committing an offence and 40% minimised the harm they caused.
84
Why might there be practical applications to cognitive distortions?
CBT aims to challenge irrational thinking.
Offenders encouraged to "face up" to what they have done to establish a less distorted view of their actions.
85
What is a limitation of cognitive distortions in regards to predicting future offending?
cognitive theories do not help in predicting future offender behaviour - 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.
86
What type of crime might cognitive distortions only account for?
Pre-meditated
87
How can levels of moral reasoning link to crime?
Lower levels of moral reasoning (the way we think about and justify crime/obedience) may mean some individuals are more likely to commit crimes
88
Who created the Heinz Dilemma?
Kohlberg
89
Give a brief verbal summary of the Heinz Dilemma
Woman dying from illness, husband couldn't afford medicine. Doctor who discovered it charging 10x the cost of making it. Various scenarios asked as to what Heinz (husband) should do.
90
Kohlberg investigated LOMR giving various moral dilemmas- what was the sample he used to investigate?
A longitudinal study of 75 american males from age 10-16 until age 22-28
Compared the males from the USA to those from Canada, the UK, Mexico, Turkey and Taiwan.
91
What are some examples of the moral dilemmas given in Kohlbergs research?
“Is it better to save the life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people?”and at ages 13, 16, 20 and 24: “Should the doctor ‘mercy kill’ a fatally ill woman requesting death because of her pain?”
92
What is the first level of Kohlberg's Moral Stages and what age?
Pre-conventional (up to age 9)
93
What two stages occur during the pre-conventional stage?
Punishment and obedience.
Instrumental-Relativist.
94
Within the pre-conventional stage of LOMR what happens during punishment and obedience?
Right and wrong defined by what you are punished for.
95
Within the pre-conventional stage of LOMR what happens during the Instrumental-Relativist?
Similar as punishment and obedience but right and wrong is now determined by what we are rewarded for and by doing what others want.
Motivated by selfishness.
96
What is the second level of Kohlberg's Moral Stages and what age?
Conventional (most adolescents and adults)
97
What two stages occur during the conventional level of moral reasoning?
interpersonal concordance and law and order
98
Within the conventional level of moral reasoning, what is interpersonal concordance?
Being good is whatever pleases others.
The child adopts a conformist attitude to morality.
Right and wrong determined by majority.
99
Within the conventional level of moral reasoning, what is law and order?
Being good now means doing your duty to society.
We obey laws without question and show a respect for authority.
100
What is the third level of Kohlberg's Moral Stages and what age?
Post conventional
0-15% of over 20s
101
What two stages occur during the Post conventional level of moral reasoning?
Social Contract
Universal Ethical Principle
102
What happens during the post conventional level: social contract?
Right and wrong determined by personal values.
These can be over ridden by democratically agreed laws.
When laws infringe our own sense of justice we tend to ignore them.
103
What happens during the post conventional level: universal ethical principle?
We live in accordance with deeply held moral principles, seen as more important than the laws of the land.
104
In Kohlberg's LOMR, where would we expect a criminal to be and why?
Pre-conventional- adopt an immature child-like way of thinking, may commit a crime if they think they can get away with it/reap the rewards.
105
Is there any research to support the idea that criminals are likely to be in the pre-conventional level of moral development?
Interview of incarcerated sex and non-sex offenders found none of the offenders possessed a high level of morality (Asher and Kenny, 2007)
106
What cultural variations were there of moral reasoning in Taiwanese Boys aged 10-13?
Tended to give ‘classic’ Stage-2 responses.
107
What cultural variations were there of moral reasoning in 16 year old Americans?
had rarely advanced to stage 6 and at age 13 stage 3 had not been used.
108
How did middle and lower class children differ on moral reasoning?
Middle-class children were found to be more advanced in moral judgement than matched lower-class children.
109
Why is Kohlberg's LOMR theory useful?
provides insight into the mechanics of the criminal mind - that offenders may be more childlike and egocentric when it comes to making moral judgements than the law-abiding majority.
110
What does egocentric mean, why might criminals be more egocentric?
Only seeing something from their own viewpoint- as they aren't seeing the victims perspective.
111
Does Kohlberg's LOMR theory apply to all crimes?
people who committed crimes for financial gain (e.g. robbery) were more likely to show pre-conventional moral reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes (e.g. assault).
112
Which psychologist looked at differential association theory for offending?
Sunderland
113
What 2 things may be learned in association to offending?
Attitudes and techniques
114
Which approaches might D.A.T link to?
Behaviourism and Social Learning Theory
115
What type of crime did Sutherland relate his theory to?
White collar crime
116
Sutherland argues people will commit more crime when?
More pro-crime attitudes than anti-crime attitudes.
117
Did Sunderland believe criminal behaviour was learned or innate?
Learned rather than inherited, through associations with intimate personal groups.
118
How did Sunderland believe criminality developed?
Through a process of socialisation.
119
Where does the word differential associations come from?
Everyones associations with people are different and so different attitudes with be learned for each individual.
120
What do the attitudes/techniques have to be for people to continue committing crime?
Reinforced
121
How does differential association link to behaviourism?
Learn through classical and operant conditioning.
If committing crime gets you a reward/praise may increase likelihood.
Can also work via negative reinforcement - berated for not committing crime.
122
How does social learning theory link to differential association theory?
Learning through observation (pro-crime or anti attitudes) and imitation.
Seeing models rewarded or punished.
May retain criminal techniques for later.
123
In Farrington et al (2006) what was the procedure/sample?
The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, longitudinal survey of the development of offending and antisocial behaviour in 411 males. The study began when the children were aged 8 in 1961 and all living in a deprived, inner-city area of South London.
124
In Farrington et al (2006) what was the findings?
41% were convicted of at least one offence between age 10 and age 50. The average conviction career lasted from age 19 to 28 and included five convictions. The most important childhood risk factors' at age 8-10 for later offending were measures of family criminality, daring or risk-taking, low school attainment, poverty and poor parenting.
125
What did Alarid et al (2000) do?
tested over 1100 newly convicted criminals finding that differential association theory served as a good general theory of crime and that it could explain offending behaviour, particularly in men.
126
What are some of the practical applications to differential association?
Not putting first time offenders in the same prison as experienced criminals, changing opinions on crime in particular social groups etc.
127
Why might Sunderlands theory have advantages over Lombrosos theory?
There are many practical applications such as not putting first time offenders in the same prison as experienced criminals, changing opinions on crime in particular social groups etc.
128
Why might differential association theory be correlational?
Could also be interpreted as supporting other explanations, such as biological theories. A particular combination of genes, or innate neural abnormality, that predisposes the person to offend may be inherited from family members or that people with a predisposition for offending seek out people with niche criminal values.
129
What are the three parts to the tripart personality?
Id (pleasure principle, born with this)
Ego (reality, learned in early life)
Superego (morality principle, guilt and pride learned in phallic stage from same sex parent)
130
What are the 3 types of inadequate superego? AND who researched them?
Deviant, overharsh, weak… researched by Blackburn (note: this wasn’t Freud’s!)
131
Which attachment theory links to this explanation?
Maternal deprivation
IWM, insecure attachments, Law of accumulated separation, critical period (2.5 years)
132
Which key attachment study links to this explanation?
Bowlby 44 thieves
14/44 had affectionless psychopathy
12/14 prolonged separation in first two years.
133
How is the weak superego developed?
Same sex parent absent during the phallic stage, a child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification.
This would make immoral or offending behaviour more likely.
134
How is the deviant superego developed?
If the superego that a child internalises has immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour.
135
How is the over-harsh superego developed?
An excessively punitive or overly harsh parenting style leads to a child with an over-harsh superego who is crippled by guilt and anxiety.
This may unconsciously drive individual to perform criminal acts to satisfy superegos need for punishment.
136
Why does having an inadequate superego (either harsh/weak/deviant) potentially lead to criminality?
The ID is given free "rein" and not properly controlled. The ego will likely not be able to balance the needs of the ID and superego which may lead to criminality.
137
How does emotion link to the role of the superego in crime?
Psychodynamic approach deals with emotional life of the individual (anxiety and guilt) in the development of offending behaviour.
138
What is the link between the psychodynamic theory and maternal deprivation?
Early childhood experiences shape adulthood.
Those who have separation in childhood, likely to have consequences in adulthood e.g affectionless psychopathy.
139
Goreta (1991) provides support for the superego contributing towards criminality- how?
conducted a Freudian-style analysis of ten offenders referred for psychiatric treatment finding disturbances in Superego formation in all 10 e.g. unconscious feelings of guilt and need for self punishment (over-harsh superego).
140
Why might this theory be accused of being alpha bias?
An implicit assumption within Freud's theory is that girls develop a weaker Superego than boys because identification with the same-sex parent is not as strong. This is because girls do not experience the intense emotion associated with castration anxiety, and therefore are under less pressure to identify with their mothers (than boys are with their fathers).
141
Lewis (1954)
analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people and found that maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending and the ability to form close relationships in adolescence.
142
Why might this theory be subject to psychic determinism?
can we hold criminals responsible for their actions? Social sensitivity - labelling and blame of parent.
143
(Kochanska et al. 2001).
Some evidence suggests parents who rely on harsher forms of discipline tend to raise children who are rebellious and rarely express feelings of guilt or self-criticism
144
§What are the 4 main aims of custodial sentencing?
Deterrence, incapacitation, retribution and rehabilitation.
145
What is custodial sentencing?
Involves a convicted offender spending time in prison or another closed institution such as a young offender's institute or psychiatric hospital.
146
What is recidivism?
Refers to re-offending.
Recidivism rates in ex-prisoners tell us to what extent prison acts as an effective deterrent.
147
What is the aim of deterrence?
Unpleasant prison experience is designed to put off the individual- or society at large from engaging in offending behaviour.
148
What is the aim of incapacitation?
The offender is taken out of society to prevent them from reoffending as a means of protecting the public. The need for incapacitation is likely to depend upon the severity of the offence and nature of the offender.
149
What is the aim of retribution?
Society is enacting revenge for the offence by making the offender suffer, and the level of suffering should be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence.
150
What is the aim of rehabilitation?
Offenders should leave prison better adjusted and ready to take their place back in society.
Prison should provide opportunities to develop skills and training or to access treatment programmes
151
What are the three main psychological effects of custodial sentencing?
STRESS AND DEPRESSION
INSTITUTIONALISATION
PRISONISATION
152
How is stress and depression affected by custodial sentencing?
Suicide rates are considerably higher in prison than in the general population, as are incidents of self harm.
Stress of prison experience increases risk of developing psychological disorders following release.
153
Why is institutionalisation a psychological effect of custodial sentencing?
Having adapted to the norms and routines of prison life, inmates may become so accustomed to these that they are no longer able to function on the outside.
154
Why is prisonisation a psychological effect of custodial sentencing?
Refers to the ways in which prisoners are socialised into adopting an inmate code
Behaviour that may be considered unacceptable in the outside world may be encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of institution.
155
What has the rate of recidivism been in recent years?
45%
156
What are the rates of reoffending in US, Australia and Denmark?
In excess of 60%
157
What are the rates of reoffending in Norway?
20%
158
(Shirley 2019)?
Claims that offenders who take part in college education programmes are 43% less likely to reoffend following release, and that prisons who offer these programmes report fewer incidents of violence.
159
A weakness of custodial sentencing is...
Prison Reform Trust (2014) found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychosis (e.g. schizophrenia) so oppressive prison regimes may be detrimental to psychological health which could impact on rehabilitation (not including those experience psychosis prior to incarceration).
160
A weakness of custodial sentencing in regards to the prison environment
Bartol (1995) has suggested that, for many offenders, imprisonment can be "brutal, demeaning and generally devastating”.
161
What at is behaviour modification?
An application of the behaviourist approach to treatment.
Based on principle of operant conditioning.
162
How can behaviourist principles be applied to offending?
Believes all behaviour is learned (including criminal behaviour) and so can be unlearned.
Behaviour modification focus on reinforcing obedient behaviours in offenders and punishing disobedient.
163
What are the two components to token economy?
Primary and secondary reinforcers
164
What is token economy based on?
Operant conditioning- given a token (reward) each time they complete a desirable behaviour.
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What is the difference in token economy between a primary and a secondary reinforcer?
Secondary reinforcer- the token that is given in exchange for the primary reinforcer- the actual reward they may want e.g a sweet treat.
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Why is it important to operationalise token economies?
Breaking the behaviour down into component parts so the behaviour is objective and measurable- this will prevent inconsistency in the token economy system.
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How does the scoring system work in a token economy?
Staff/prisoners made aware of scoring system and how much each behaviour is "worth".
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Why is it important for staff to be trained in a token economy system?
To standardise procedures so that all prison staff are rewarding the same behaviours in the same way.
Staff must also record when they have awarded token so the progress of prisoners can be assessed.
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What might be a weakness of token economy?
Participation in the scheme is obligatory rather than optional, human rights campaigners argue that withdrawal of 'privileges', such as exercise (in the form of withdrawal of tokens), is unethical.
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What did Blackburn (1993) say about the long term effects of token economy?
has 'little rehabilitative value and any positive changes in behaviour that may occur whilst an offender is in prison may quickly be lost when they are released.
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What did Hobbs and Holt (1976) find when comparing a token economy group to a non-token economy group of inmates?
significant difference in positive behaviour compared to the non-token economy group.
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Why might token economy be easier than say, anger management programmes?
There is no need for a specialist professional to be involved as there would be for other forms of treatment such as anger management (see next spread).
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What can happen if staff apply token economies inconsistently?
benefits were lost if staff applied the techniques inconsistently- this was due to factors such as lack of appropriate staff training or high staff turnover.
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What is anger management a form of?
CBT (reducing the irrational thoughts (cognitive restructuring) towards incidents e.g thinking someone is looking at you a certain way.
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What are the three stages of anger management?
Cognitive preparation, skills acquisition, application practice.
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What is cognitive preparation in anger management?
Offender reflects on past experiences, considering the typical patterns of anger. Learns to identify things that may trigger anger. The way an offender views a situation is irrational and it is the therapist role to bring attention to this.
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What are the three methods of skills that a therapist may introduce?
Cognitive, Behavioural or Psychological.
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What is an example of a cognitive skill that a therapist might introduce for anger management?
positive self talk and calmness
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What is an example of a behavioural skill that a therapist might introduce for anger management?
assertiveness training (in how to communicate effectively) should eventually become automatic.
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What is an example of a psychological skill that a therapist might introduce for anger management?
deal with physical response to anger such as relaxation training or meditation.
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Once the skills acquisition process is done in anger management, what happens during the application process?
Offender given the opportunity to practice their new skills within a controlled environment. E.G Offender and therapist may role play scenarios.
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During the application process of anger management- if the offender shows the skills they have developed what should the therapist do?
Provide positive reinforcement
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Has there been positive outcomes with young offenders using anger management?
Keen studied the progress made with young offenders aged between 17 and 21 who took part in nationally recognised anger management programme.
Offenders reported increased awareness of their anger management difficulties and increased capacity to exercise self control
184
Procedure of Jane Ireland (2004)?
compared the progress of two groups of offenders: one of which took part in an anger management programme adapted from the National Anger Management Package) and the other, a non-treatment control.
assessed using three measures: an interview, a behaviour checklist completed by prison officers and a self-report questionnaire.
185
Findings of Jane Ireland 2004?
The researchers found that 92% of the experimental group showed an improvement on at least one measure, 48% showed an improvement on the checklist and the self-report. There were no such improvements within the control group.
186
What is a strength of anger management?
The anger management approach suggests there is a straightforward causal relationship between anger and offending. Anger is assumed to be an important antecedent to offending in that it produces the emotional state necessary to commit crime.
187
Why might anger management be better than behaviour modification?
behaviour modification deal with only surface behaviour and not the processes that drive such behaviour. Experience of anger management may give offenders new insight into the cause of their criminality and allow them to self-discover ways of managing themselves outside of the prison setting.
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What is a limitation of anger management in terms of practicality?
Anger management programmes are expensive to run as they require the services of highly-trained specialists who are used to dealing with violent offenders. For this reason, many prisons may not have the resources to fund such programmes
189
Wagdy Loza and Amel Loza-Fanous (1999)?
found no differences in levels of anger between offenders classed as violent and those classed as non-violent. Further, they suggested anger management programmes may be misguided as they provide offenders with a justification for their behaviour.
190
How does recidivism relate to anger management?
Ronald Blackburn (1993) who points out that, whilst anger management may have a noticeable effect on the conduct of offenders in the short term, there is very little evidence that it reduces recidivism in the long term.
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Who established the standards for restorative justice?
The Restorative Justice Council
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An offender seeing the hurt they have caused is an example of what process?
rehabilitation/reparation
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How did restorative justice change the emphasis?
Switch the emphasis from the needs of the state (to enforce law/punish) to the needs of the individual victim (to feel compensated in some way).
194
What two things do restorative justice focus on?
The victim of the crime and their recovery.
The offender and their recovery/rehabilitation process.
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What are some key features of restorative justice programmes?
Trained mediator supervises the meeting
Non courtroom setting
Can be face-to-face or remotely
Focus is on positive outcomes for survivor and offender
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What does the victim get the opportunity to do during restorative justice?
Confront the offender and explain how the incident affected them.
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What does the offender get the opportunity to do during restorative justice?
The offender is able to comprehend the crime as well as the emotional distress it caused
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Who else may have a role in restorative justice other than offender and victim?
Neighbours, family, friends etc- may all wish to explain effects of the crime.
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How is sentencing and restitution linked to restorative justice?
Restorative justice may occur pre-trial and may be considered during sentencing.
Could also function alongside a prison sentence or as an alternative to prison.
200
How might an offender pay restitution to the victim?
Restitution is often seen as monetary payment by offender to survivor.
Offender may pay some financial restitution- or for example may fix the damaged property themselves.
201
Who is the restorative justice council?
An independent body whose role is to establish clear standards for the use of restorative justice and to support survivors and specialist professionals in the field.
202
What are some statistics on restorative justice that support its effectiveness?
5% of survivors reported satisfaction with the process of meeting their offender face-to-face.
78% would recommend it to other people experiencing a similar situation.
About 60% of survivors felt the process had made them feel better about the incident - enabling them to feel closure and to 'move on.
Only 2% said it had made them feel worse.
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What did Heather Strang et al. (2013) find in her meta analysis?
Compared offenders who experienced RJ schemes with those who just experienced custodial sentencing.
The RJ group was significantly less likely to reoffend. This reduction was larger in offenders convicted of violent crime than crimes against property.
204
What argument did William Wood and Masahiro Suzuki (2016 make about restorative justice?
Not as survivor-focused as often reported in satisfaction surveys. researchers say that restorative justice processes can become distorted, such as when survivors of crime are 'used' as a way of helping to rehabilitate offenders, rather than being helped themselves.
205
Why is the offenders intention important and a potential issue in restorative justice?
The offender has to want to be involved for the right reasons rather than for other reasons such as a reduction in sentence etc.
