Forensic Psychology Flashcards
what does profiling usually involve?
careful scrutiny of a crime scene and analysis to generate hypotheses about the probable characteristics of the offender
what is the top down approach also known as?
the american approach
when and where did profiling orignate from?
FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit in the 1970s
how did the FBI develop profiling?
the BSU drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually-motivated murderes including Ted Bundy and Charles Mason - concluded that the data could be catagorised into organised and disorganised crimes/murders
what does modus operandi mean?
a signiture
what is a signiture?
a particular set of social and psychological characteristics that relate to the individual
what are the characteristics of organised offenders?
show evidence of pre planning the crime
victim targetted
high degree of control
may operate with surgical percision
little evidence left
tend to have above average IQ
skilled, proffessional occupation
socially and sexually competent
usually married, maybe children
what are the characteristics of disorganised offenders?
little evidence of planning
may be spontaneous
crime scene tends to reflect impulsive nature of the attack
body usually left at scene
little control
tend to have lower than average IQ
unskilled work or unemployed
often have history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
tend to live alone
often live relatively close to crime scene
what are the characteristics of an organised crime scene?
planned
victim targeted
control including restraints
aggression before death
body hidden or moved
weapon and evidence absent
what are the chracteristics of a disorganised crime?
spontaneous
victim usually known by the offender
little control
sexual acts before death
body not hidden/left at the crime scene
evidence present
what are the 4 stages of constructing an FBI profile?
- Data Assimilation
- Crime Scene Classification
- Crime Reconstruction
- Profile Generation
what is Data Assimilation?
reviewing evidence
what is Crime Scene Classification?
deciding whether crime is organised or disorganised
what is Crime reconstruction?
hyptheses in terms of sequence of events, behavious of the victim etc
what are the strengths of the top down approach?
research support = some validity
David Canter et al (2004)
can be adapted to other crimes, e.g., burglary
Tina Meketa (2017)
what did David Canter et al (2004) do regarding the top-down approach?
conducted analysis of 100 different US murders each committed by a different serial killer
used ‘smallest space analysis’ technique that indentifies correlations across different samples of behaviour. used to assess to co-occurance of 39 aspects of serial killings (torture, restraints, attempt to conceal body etc)
revealed that there does seem to be a subset of features of many serial killings which matched FBI’s typology
what did Tina Meketa (2017) do regarding the top-down approach?
reported that top-down profiling led to an 85%increase in unsolved burglary’s across 3 different US states
added 2 new categories alongside organised & disorganised : interpersonal and opportunistic
suggests that top down profiling has wider application than originally assumed
what is the interpersonal category?
offender usually knows their victim and steals something of significance
what is the opportunistic category?
offender is young and inexperienced
what are the limitations of the top-down approach?
variety of combinations of both organised and disorganised offenders can occur at ay given murder scene
Maurice Godwin (2002)
flawed evidence
based on the principle of behavioural consistency that serial offenders have characteristic ways of working
Walter Mischel (1968)
what did Maurice Godwin (2002) do regarding the top-down approach?
argues that is is difficult to classify killers as one type
a killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics such as high intelligence and sexual competence but commits a spontaneous muder leaving the victims body
typology is probably more of a continuum
what flawed evidence limitates the top-down approach?
original sample consisted of 25 serial killers and 11 single or double murderers
24 classified as organised, 12 disorganised
Canter et al argued the sample was poor - FBI agents did not select a random or even a large sample and did not include different kinds of offenders
no standard set of questions were asked - not really comparable
what did Walter Mischel (1968) do regarding the top-down approach?
he was a situational psychologist
argued that people’s behaviour is much more driven by the situation they are in than by a thing called ‘personality’
behavioural patterns seen at a crime scene may tell us little about that individual behaves in everyday life
what is the bottom-up approach also known as?
the British approach
who developed the bottom-up approach?
David Canter
what are the 2 parts of bottom-up profiling?
investigative psychology
geographical profiling
what is the aim of the bottom-up approach?
to generate a picture of the offender and their likely characteristics, routine behaviour and social background through systematic analysis
what is investigative psychology?
an attempt to apply statistical procedures, alongside psychological theory to the analysis of crime scene evidence
what is the aim of investigative psychology?
to establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur across crime scenes
why is investigative psychology important to a profile?
because it develops a statistical database and specific details of an offence can then be matched against the database to reveal important details about the offender (e.g. personal history, family background etc)
may also determine whether a series of offenses are linked
what is central to the bottom-up approach?
Interpersonal coherence
what is interpersonal coherence?
the way an offender behaves at a scene and it may reflect their behaviour in more everyday situations
whats an example of interpersonal coherence?
some rapists want to maintain maximum control and humiliate their victims, others are more apologetic
This might tell the police something about how the offender relates to woman more generally (Dwyer 2001)
what does forensic awareness describe?
those individuals who have been the subject of police interrogation before, their behaviour may denote how mindful they are of ‘covering their tracks’
what does information does geographical profiling use?
the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home or operational base of an offender - crime mapping
what assumption does geographical profiling use?
that serial offenders will restrict their ‘work’ to geographical areas they are familiar with
who developed Canter’s circle theory?
Canter and Larkin (1993)
what are the 2 ways we can describe an offender from Canter’s circle theory?
the marauder and the commuter
what is the marauder?
operates close in close proximity to their home base
what is the commuter?
likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence
what insight does geographical profiling offer the investigative team?
into the nature of an offence
what are the similarities between the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach?
both are used to narrow the field of suspects
both assume that there is a pattern in an offenders behaviour which is not always the case
both have captured the public’s imagination
what is the strength of investigative psychology?
evidence support `
David Canter and Rupert Heritage (1990)
people are consistent in their behaviour
what did David Canter and Rupert Heritage (1990) do regarding the bottom-up approach?
conducted analysis of 66 sexual assault cases
data identified as common in different samples of behaviour, such as impersonal language and lack of reaction to the victim
each individual displayed a characteristic pattern of such behaviours and this can help establish whether 2 or more offences were committed by the same person - ‘case linkage’
what is the limitation of investigative psychology?
case linkage depends on the database and this will only consist of historical crimes that have been solved
the fact they were solved may be because it is straightforward
may tell us little about crimes that have few links and remain unsolved
what are the strengths of geographical profiling?
evidence support
Samantha Lundrigan and David Canter (2001)
can be used to identify and offender
what did Samantha Lundrigan and David Canter (2001) do regarding the bottom-up approach?
collated information from 120 murder cases involving serial killers in the US
smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of the killers
the location of each bodys disposal site created a ‘centre of gravity’
when offenders start from their home base they may go in a different direction each time they dispose of a body, but in the end they make a circular effect around the home base
offenders base was in the centre
more noticeable with offenders who travelled short distances
what is a limitations of geographical profiling?
may not be sufficient on its own
may be reliant on the quality of data provided by the police
recording of crime is not always accurate and can vary between police forces
estimated of 75% of crimes arent reported ‘dark figure of crime’
may not always lead to successful capture of an offender
what are the biological explanations to offending?
historical approach
nueral
genetics
when and who developed the historical approach?
1876
Cesare Lombroso
what did Lombroso write?
L’Uomo Delinquente (‘the criminal man’)
what did Lombroso suggest?
criminals were ‘genetic throwbacks’ - a primitive subspecies who were biologically different from non-criminals
who theory did Lombroso develop?
the atvatistic form
what did Lombroso suggest that led to people offending?
they lacked evolutionary development and their savage and untamed nature meant they would find it impossible to adjust to the demands of civilised society and would inevitably turn to crime
offending behaviour was innate and therefore offenders were not to blame
what features were part of the atavistic form?
cranial: narrow sloping brow, strong prominent jaw, high cheekbones and facial asymmetry
other: dark skin and extra toes, nipples or fingers
what were the features of the atavistic form that weren’t from birth of the offender?
insensitivity to pain, use of slang, tattoos and unemployment
what were murderers describe to have?
bloodshot eyes, curly hair and long ears
what were sexual deviants described to have?
glinting eyes, swollen fleshy lips and projecting ears
what were fraudsters described to have?
thin and ‘reedy’ lips
how did Lombroso develop the atavistic form?
examined the facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts (living and dead)
383 dead convicts
3839 living ones
what did Lombroso conclude after examining Italian convicts?
40% of criminal acts are committed by people with atavistic characteristics
what is a strength of the historical approach?
Lombroso changed the face of the study of criminology
Lombroso coined the term criminology - Hollin 1989
he is credited as shifting the emphasis in crime research away from a moralistic discourse towards a more scientific approach
theory led the way for offender profiling
major contribution to the science of criminology
what are the limitations to the historical approach?
racist undertones - many features are found among those of African descent
highly subjective
Charles Goring (1913)
Lombroso’s methods were poorly controlled
Lombroso didn’t compare his sample with non-offenders
Hay & Forrest (2009)
doesn’t meet modern scientific standards
question of whether criminals are born or made
facial and cranial features may be influenced by other facters - e.g., poverty, diet
what did Charles Goring (1913) do regarding the historical approach?
set out to establish whther there was anything physically atypical about offenders
comparison between 3000 offenders and 3000 non-offenders
no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial and cranial characteristics
what did Hay & Forrest (2009) do regarding the historical approach?
research demonstrated links between crime and social conditions - explained why offenders were unemployed
what was involved in evidence for neural explanations to offending?
antisocial personality disorder
what is APD associated with?
reduced emotional responses, lack of empathy for others
who conducted may studies on the APD brain?
Adrian Raine
what did Adrian Raine find?
individuals with APD have reduced activity in their pre-frontal cortex
what does the pre-frontal cortex do?
regulates emotional behaviour
what did Raine et al (2000) find?
11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the pre-frontal cortex of people with APD compared to people without
how do people with APD experience empathy?
they do so sporadically
what did Christian Keysers (2011) find?
that offenders could only empathise when they were asked to
suggests that APD individuals are not without empathy but have a switch they turn on and off
what is the amygdala?
the integrative centre for emotions, emotional behaviour and motivation
what does Raine say are the four main predictors for becoming a violent offender?
poor functioning in frontal region of the brain
low resting heart rate
birth complications
mother smoked or drank during pregnancy
what has Raine discovered about people who have a reduced Amygdala?
4 times more likely to commit a violent act
what is the neuro-ethical dilemma?
whether we arrest people with neural factors of being an offender before they commit a crime
what are the strengths to neural explanations for behaviour?
link between crime and the frontal lobe?
Elizabeth Kandel and David Freed (1989)
what did Elizabeth Kandel and David Freed (1989) do regarding neural explanations to offending?
reviewed evidence of frontal lobe damage and antisocial behaviour
tended to show impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and inability to learn from mistakes
brain damage may be a casual factor in offending behaviour
what are the limitations to neural explanations for behaviour?
intervening variables
link between neural differences and APD may be complex
other factors may contribute to APD
David Farrington et al (2006)
Rauch et al (2006)
what did David Farrington et al (2006) do regarding neural explanations to offending?
studied a group of men who scored highly on PAD
they had experienced various risk factors during childhood
it could be that early childhood experiences cause APD and also some of the neural differences associated with it
what did Rauch et al (2006) do regarding neural explanations to offending?
discovered that reduced activity in the frontal lobe can be due to trauma
how is biological determinism used in the biological explanations of offending?
suggests that offending behaviour is determined by genetic/neural factors which cannot be controlled - therefore the person is not responsible for a crime
our justice system is based on the notion that we all have responsibility for our actions and only in extreme circumstances is an individual judges to lack responsibility
however, identification of possible biological precursors to crime complicates this principle
what is the genetic explanations for offending?
that would-be-offenders inherit a gene or combination of genes that predispose them to commit a crime
how is the importance of genes demonstrated by twin and adoption studies?
Karl Christiansen (1977)
Raymond Crowe (1972)
what did Karl Christiansen (1977) do regarding the importance of genes in twin studies?
studied over 3500 twin pairs in Denmark and found concordance rates for offender behaviour of 35% of identical twins (MZ) males and 13% for non-identical males (DZ) - involved all twins born between 1880 & 1910
offender behaviour was checked against Danish police records - data indicates that it is not just the behaviour that might be inherited but the underlying predisposing traits
what did Raymond Crowe (1972) do regarding the importance of genes in adoption studies?
found that adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record had a 50% risk of having a criminal record by 18 - adopted children whos biological mother didn’t have a criminal record only had a 5% risk
what did Jari Tiihonen et al (2015) suggest?
that, through genetic analysis of 800 Finnish offenders, 2 genes may be associated with violent crime
MAOA & CDH13
what is the MAOA gene?
regulates serotonin in the brain adn is linked to aggressive behaviour
what is the CDH13 gene?
linked to substance abuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
