Forensic Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Walker et al. (2006)

A

Only 42% of crimes reported in the British Crime Survey (BCS) were reported to the police.

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2
Q

Farrell and Pease (2007)

A

The number of crimes people can report to the BCS is limited to 5 per year.

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3
Q

Hales et al. (2007)

A

The offenders who answered the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) were apparently accurate in their answers.

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4
Q

Douglas et al. (2006)

A

Came up with the six main stages of the top-down approach to offender profiling.

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5
Q

Copson (1995)

A

82% of police officers said that the top-down method was operationally useful and 90% said they would use it again.
+
75% said that the bottom-up approach was useful but only 3% said it had helped identify the criminal.

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6
Q

Scherer and Jarvis (2014)

A

Top-down approach offers investigators different perspectives and prevents wrongful conviction.

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7
Q

Snook et al. (2008)

A

Top-down approach is flawed: ambiguous descriptions can fit any crime and offender, just like horoscopes (Barnum effect).

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8
Q

Jackson and Bekerian (1997)

A

Intelligent offenders will study psychological profiling and will use this knowledge to deliberately mislead authorities.

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9
Q

Alison et al. (2003)

A

1/2 of the police officers were given inaccurate profiles but more than 1/2 thought they had accurate profiles. Therefore police officers do not necessarily notice when they have poor profiles.

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10
Q

Turvey (1999)

A

There is a false separation between organised and disorganised offenders. Behaviour is in fact on a continuum.

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11
Q

Douglas et al. (1992)

A

A third category, “mixed offender”, should be added to the top-down approach.

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12
Q

Canter et al. (2004)

A

There is no clear distinction between organised and disorganised offender behaviour. Very few criminals are disorganised.

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13
Q

Davies et al. (1997)

A

Rapists who concealed fingerprints often had prior burglary convictions.

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14
Q

Salfati and Canter (1999)

A

Hundreds of cases are compared to check for any similarities or connections, making it easier to catch a perpetrator
+
‘Instrumental opportunistic’, ‘instrumental cognitive’ and ‘expressive impulsive’ themes were found.

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15
Q

Canter and Larkin (1993)

A

Most criminals have an awareness of the geography of their crimes. 91% were ‘marauders’ and only some were ‘commuters’ (some were neither).

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16
Q

Rossmo (1999)

A

Came up with Criminal geographic targeting (CGT). It does not specifically solve crimes but us useful for prioritising house-to-house searches.

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17
Q

Petherick (2006)

A

If the person’s home is not the centre of the crimes, police will have difficulty finding the perpetrator. Also, circles are overly simplistic.

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18
Q

Turvey (2011)

A

Vancouver PD (where Rossmo was based) stopped using geographical profiling and fired Rossmo because it wasn’t helpful.

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19
Q

Lombrosso (1876)

A

Atavistic traits indicate criminal personality and behaviour.

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20
Q

Lombrosso (1897)

A

There are ‘born criminals’, ‘insane criminals’, and ‘criminaloids’ (predisposed to criminality and triggered by the environment).

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21
Q

Kretschmer (1921)

A

There are somatotypes of criminals, based on body shape.

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22
Q

Carrabine et al. (2014)

A

Although incorrect, Lombrosso was the first to bring science to criminology and hold a more deterministic view of crime.
+
Restorative justice programmes are now the focus of criminology because of the failures of traditional incarceration.

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23
Q

Goring (1913)

A

There are no real differences between the physical characteristics of convicts and non-convicts. Convicts were just slightly smaller.

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24
Q

Lombrosso and Ferrero (1893)

A

Women are less evolved than men. When they have masculine characteristics they become criminals.

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25
Q

Glueck and Glueck (1970)

A

60% of criminals were mesomorphs/athletic.

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26
Q

Sheldon (1949)

A

Delinquents were more likely to be mesomorphs than non-delinquents.

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27
Q

Canter (2010)

A

The idea of criminal types has not gone away, it has just become more sophisticated.

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28
Q

Raine (1993)

A

Delinquent behaviour was 52% concordance rates for MZ twins and 21% for DZ twins.

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29
Q

Brunner et al. (1993)

A

Men in an aggressive Dutch family have a gene which leads to low levels of MAOA.

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30
Q

Tiihonen et al. (2015)

A

5 - 10% of Finish crime is down to low levels of MAOA activity and CDH13 gene activity.

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31
Q

Caspi et al. (2002)

A

12% of the low MAOA participants also experienced childhood maltreatment. This group was responsible for 44% of the violent convictions in the study.

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32
Q

Harmon (2012)

A

8.5% of the US population have a brain injury but so do 60% of US prisoners.

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33
Q

Raine et al. (2004)

A

Murderers and violent psychopaths have reduced functioning in the prefrontal cortex.

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34
Q

Raine et al. (1997)

A

Murderers found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) had abnormal asymmetries in the limbic system and the amygdala.

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35
Q

Seo et al. (2008)

A

Low levels of serotonin causes aggression, especially if dopamine is high.

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36
Q

Wright et al. (2015)

A

Increased noradrenaline activates the sympathetic nervous system and the fight-or-flight response; this leads to to aggression.

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37
Q

Crowe (1972)

A

Adopted children with criminals as biological parents are 50% more likely to be criminal by the age of 18.

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38
Q

Mednick et al. (1987)

A

15% of adoptees raised in criminal families became criminals compared to 20% of adoptees who were in normal families but had criminal biological parents.

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39
Q

Blonigen et al. (2005)

A

Found support for genetic basis to offending behaviour.

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40
Q

Findlay (2011)

A

Crime is not a ‘natural’ category of behaviour, it is a social construct and so a biological approach can never fully explain criminal behaviour.

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41
Q

Curran and Renetti (2001)

A

Research into neurochemical explanations of offending behaviour normally use animals and so cannot be generalised.

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42
Q

Eysenck (1967, 1978)

A

Theory of personality.

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43
Q

Eysenck (1982)

A

67% of personality (supposedly) is down to genetic/biological factors such as activity of nervous system.

44
Q

Zuckerman (1987)

A

+.52 correlation of neuroticism for MZ twins, with +.24 for DZ twins.
+.51 correlation for extraversion for MZ twins, with +.12 for DZ twins.

45
Q

Mischel and Peake (1982)

A

No correlation between measures of personality traits over a variety of situations. Personality is not fixed as Eysenk implied.

46
Q

Dunlop et al. (2012)

A

Extrovertion, psychoticism and lie scales were good predictors of delinquency.

47
Q

Van Dam et al. (2007)

A

Only a small group of young offenders had high scores on all three of Eysenk’s personality scale.

48
Q

Kohlberg (1969)

A

Theory of moral reasoning.

49
Q

Colby et al. (1983)

A

10% of adults reach post-conventional level of moral reasoning.

50
Q

Hollin et al. (2002)

A

Criminal are usually at the pre-conventional level of moral reasoning.

51
Q

Schönenberg and Aiste (2014)

A

When showed images of faces, offenders are more likely to view the expressions as aggressive (hostile attribution bias).

52
Q

Kennedy and Grubin (1992)

A

Sex offenders often downplay their crime, stating that the victims were also partly responsible.

53
Q

Maruna and Mann (2006)

A

It is normal, not criminal, to blame external forces for events and minimise one’s own fault.

54
Q

Heller et al. (2013)

A

Cognitive behavioural techniques to reduce cognitive distortions caused arrests to drop by 44%.

55
Q

Snarey (1985)

A

Post-conventional reasoning is less common in rural communities.

56
Q

Colby and Kohlberg (1987)

A

Stages of moral reasoning are universal.

57
Q

Gudjonsson and Sigurdsson (2007)

A

38% of convicts said they did not consider the consequences of their criminal acts, 36% were confident they would not get caught.
+
Desire for risk is a key factor in crime.

58
Q

Chen and Howitt (2007)

A

Taiwanese offenders showing more advanced moral reasoning were less likely to be involved in violent crimes.

59
Q

Krebs and Denton (2005)

A

Moral principles are only one factor of behaviour and can be overriden by practical considerations. Moral principles were also used to justify crimes after they were committed.

60
Q

Gilligan (1982)

A

Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning was based on male-only research.

61
Q

Sutherland (1939)

A

Differential association theory.

62
Q

Osborne and West (1979)

A

If a father had a criminal conviction, 40% of his sons had committed a crime by the age of 18, compared to 13% of the control.

63
Q

Akers et al. (1979)

A

Association, imitation and reinforcement (differential association theory) account for 68% of the variance in cannabis use and 55% of alcohol use.

64
Q

Cox et al. (2014)

A

Differential association theory is difficult to test because learned and inherited factors are hard to separate.

65
Q

Newburn (2002)

A

40% of crimes are committed by people under 21.

66
Q

Bowlby (1944)

A

44 thieves study.

67
Q

Bowlby (1951, 1953)

A

Maternal deprivation can cause ‘affectionless psychopathy’.

68
Q

Farrington et al. (2009)

A
Best predictors, at the age of 8-10, for later criminality were:
Family history of crime
Risk-taking personality
Low school attainment 
Poverty
Poor parenting.
69
Q

Prison Reform Trust (PRT) (2014)

A

1/2 of adults (2/3 of under 18s) are reconvicted within 1 year of release.

70
Q

Abramson et al. (1989)

A

Depression is prisons is caused be helplessness and hopelessness.

71
Q

Newton (1980)

A

Self-harm in prisons may be a way of becoming part of inmate culture.

72
Q

Calhoun (1962)

A

Overcrowding in rats leads to aggression, hypersexuality, stress and physical illness.

73
Q

Glover (2009)

A

Parents in prison may feel guilt and separation anxiety.

74
Q

Latessa and Lowenkamp (2006)

A

Putting low-risk offenders in with high-risk offenders increases the recidivism of the former.

75
Q

Pritkin (2009)

A

Imprisonment can lead to reduced self-esteem and empathy as well as anger towards to the system.

76
Q

Walker et al. (1981)

A

Length of sentence made no difference for habitual offenders.

77
Q

Klein et al. (1977)

A

Cautions are more effective deterrents than arrests and community rehabilitation lowers recidivism more than incarceration.

78
Q

Hobbs and Holt (1976)

A

Offender cottages study: token economy led to an average increase in social behaviours of 27%.

79
Q

Bassett and Blanchard (1977)

A

Consistency is key for a token economy.

80
Q

Tarbox et al. (2006)

A

Token economies are successful in schools and for dealing with autistics (but not so much for prisons).

81
Q

Burchard and Lane (1982)

A

In the 1970s nearly all states in the USA used token economies in their prisons.

82
Q

Milan and McKee (1976)

A

Token economies in prisons improved socially desirable behaviours and reduced criminal behaviours.

83
Q

Cullen and Seddon (1981)

A

In the UK, token economy is only used in young offenders’ institutions.

84
Q

Brewer (2000)

A

Token economy is effective in prisons in the short term.

85
Q

Moyes et al. (1985)

A

Token economy has little impact on recidivism.

86
Q

Stocks et al. (1987)

A

Token economy is successful in half-way houses for disabled adults.

87
Q

Cohen and Filipcjak (1971)

A

Young offenders were less likely to re-offend after one year if they had been part of a token economy.

88
Q

Rice et al. (1990)

A

Half of the males in a Canadian psychiatric hospital re-offended despite the use of token economy.

89
Q

Hall (1979)

A

Ethical issues surrounding token economy can be solved if prisoners and staff agree on procedures and goals, with periodical reviews.

90
Q

Nietzel (1979)

A

Punishment should not be part of the token economy and this is one of the main factors that led to their discontinuation.

91
Q

Novaco (1975, 1977, 2011, 2013)

A

Produced blueprints for anger management programmes (read pg 278).

92
Q

Ireland (2004)

A

Anger management therapy resulted in significant improvements compared to the control.

93
Q

Trimble et al. (2015)

A

Anger management therapy significantly reduced expression of anger and anger experienced.

94
Q

Taylor and Novaco (2006)

A

75% improvement rates for anger management programmes.

95
Q

Landenberger and Lipsey (2005)

A

Anger control element was the most important part of anger management therapy.

96
Q

Howells et al. (2005)

A

Meta analysis of anger management therapies showed they only had moderate benefits but anger is not necessary for aggression and violent crime.

97
Q

Law (1997)

A

Only one person improved after anger management therapy.

98
Q

Blacker et al. (2008)

A

Drama-based, more engaging anger management therapies have been successful as they rely less on verbal ability.

99
Q

Howells and Day (2003)

A

To prevent dropout in anger management therapies, ‘readiness for change’ should be assessed beforehand.

100
Q

McGuire (2008)

A

Anger management reduces recidivism one year after therapy.

101
Q

Loza and Loza-Fanous (1999)

A

There is no difference in anger between violent and non-violent criminals. Aggression does not always equal anger.
+
Anger management can be harmful because criminals can blame their anger rather than take responsibility.

102
Q

Wachtel and McCold (2003)

A

High control AND support are necessary to effectively deal with criminals. This involves restorative justice. All stakeholders need to be supported.

103
Q

Pranis et al. (2003)

A

In ‘peace circles’, a keeper is necessary to maintain the atmosphere of respect and articulate solutions.

104
Q

Wilson et al. (2007)

A

‘Circles of support’ are used to prevent exclusion of offenders from the community.

105
Q

Dignan (2005)

A

Victims feel a greater sense of satisfaction when cases go through the mainstream courts.

106
Q

Sherman and Strang (2007)

A

Face-to-face meeting with the victims reduced recidivism to as low as 11%.

107
Q

Zehr (2002)

A

Restorative justice can take place without the offender.
+
RJ is needed because the traditional penal system did not address the needs of the victims or promote offender accountability.