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Forensic Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Define the top down approach

A

An analysis of previous crimes create a profile of a likely offender. A profiler use this knowledge to narrow the field of possible suspects. Unlike the bottom up approach, the top down relief on the intuition and beliefs of the profiler rather than data

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2
Q

State the 6 main stages in the top down process

A
  1. Profiling Inputs
  2. Decision Process Models
  3. Crime Assessment
  4. Criminal Profile
  5. Crime Assessment 2
  6. Apprehension
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3
Q

What is meant by profiling inputs? (top down approach)

A

Includes a description of crime scene (photographs), background information of the victim (employment, relationships) and details of the crime itself (weapon, cause of death from autopsy)

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4
Q

What is meant by decision process models? (top down approach)

A

The profiler starts to make decisions about the data and organises it into meaningful patterns: murder type, time factors, location factors, primary intent and victim risk

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5
Q

What is meant by crime assessment? (top down approach)

A

Based on the data collected, the crime is classified as organised or disorganised

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6
Q

What is meant by criminal profile? (top down approach)

A

A profile is constructed of the offender which includes a hypothesis about the likely background, habits and beliefs of the offender. It is important to anticipate how this person will respond to various investigator efforts

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7
Q

What is meant by crime assessment 2? (top down approach)

A

A written report is given to the investigative agency and people who match the profile are evaluated. If new evidence is generated and/or no suspect is identified then the suspect goes back to step 2

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8
Q

What is meant by apprehension? (top down approach)

A

If a suspect is apprehended, the entire profile generating process is revised to make sure conclusions made were legitimate

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9
Q

What is an offender?

A

A person who has committed a crime

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10
Q

What is offender profiling?

A

A method of working out the characteristics of an offender by examining aspects of the crime and crime scene

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11
Q

State the 2 basic beliefs of offender profiling

A
  1. Congruence

2. Consistency

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12
Q

What is congruence? (offender profiling)

A

It is assumed that the way the crime is committed (modus operandi) is matched to the features of the criminal

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13
Q

What is consistency? (offender profiling)

A

Any distinctive behaviours left at one scene will often be found in other crimes committed by the offender

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14
Q

What is an organised offender?

A

This type of offender commits a planned crime and may engage in violent fantasies with the victim

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15
Q

State 5 characteristics of an organised offender

A
  1. Very intelligent
  2. Socially competent
  3. Often manipulates victim
  4. Destroyed weapon
  5. Leaves few cues
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16
Q

What is a disorganised offender?

A

The crime scene is left with many clues (fingerprints), it tends to be unplanned have a random selection of the victim

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17
Q

State 5 characteristics of a disorganised offender?

A
  1. Random selection of victim
  2. Likely to have left clues
  3. Lower intelligence
  4. Lower social/sexual competence
  5. Possible sexual/physical abuse in childhood
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18
Q

What are the basic beliefs of offender profiling?

A
  1. Congruence

2. Used on intuitive application of the profilers prior knowledge and experience

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19
Q

What is meant by congruence? (offender profiling)

A

It is assumed that the way the crime is committed (focus operandi) is matched to the features of the criminal

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20
Q

What is meant by the bottom up approach?

A

A data-driven approach where statistical techniques are used to produce predictions about the likely characteristics of an offender

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21
Q

What is meant by geographical profiling?

A

A form of bottom up profiling based on the pattern shown by the location of the crimes

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22
Q

What is meant by investigative psychology?

A

A form of bottom up profiling based upon psychological theory. This includes interpersonal coherence, forensics awareness and smallest space analysis

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23
Q

Investigative psychology includes 3 components: what are they?

A
  1. Interpersonal Coherence
  2. Forensic Awareness
  3. Smallest Space Analysis
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24
Q

What is interpersonal coherence?

A

There is a consistency between the way offenders interact with their victims and their behaviour and therefore there will be correlations with elements of the crime

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25
Q

What is forensic awareness?

A

Certain behaviours may reveal an awareness for the police and past experience; for example, Davies (1997) found that rapists who conceal fingerprints often have a previous conviction for burglary

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26
Q

What is smallest space analysis?

A

Data about many crime scenes and offender characteristics are correlated so that most common connections can be identified

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27
Q

What are the 3 types of crimes that can be found from investigative psychology?

A
  1. Instrumental opportunistic - accomplishing a goal or taking advantage of an opportunity
  2. Instrumental cognitive - particular concern about being detected thus crime is more planned
  3. Expressive Impulsive - uncontrolled, heat of moment, provoked crime
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28
Q

How does geographical profiling work?

A

It makes sense to assume that offenders are more likely to commit a crime near where they live or where they habitually travel (work) because it involves the least effort. Therefore, the location of a crime can be a prime clue for an investigation. It can be done using circle theory

29
Q

What is the circle theory? (Geographical Profiling)

A

Circle theory is a possible technique for geographical profiling with the assumption that offenders have a spatial mindset - they commit crimes within an ‘imagined circle’. This can be a marauder or commuter.
Marauder = commit crimes within a circle near their home
Commuter = travel to another area to commit crimes from which a circle can still be drawn

30
Q

What is criminal geographic targeting?

A

A computerised system developed by Kim Rossmo; this formula produces a 3D map displaying spatial data related to time, distance and movement between crime scenes. The different colours indicate likely closeness to a crime scene

31
Q

What is a general strength of the bottom up approach?

A

It operates on a scientific basis with use of objective statistics and computer analysis to increase accuracy and reliability

32
Q

What is a general weakness of the bottom up approach?

A

It could be argued that it lacks generalisability because the data is only related to offenders who have been caught and gives limited information of patterns of behaviour related to unsolved crimes

33
Q

Is investigative psychology useful?

A
  • Copson (1995) surveyed 48 UK police forces that use investigative profiling
  • 75% said the profilers advice had been useful
  • Only 3% said the advice had helped identify the actual offender
  • This suggests that offender profiling may not be useful in actually catching and conviction offenders but it may provide benefits that are still worthwhile for use
34
Q

Is circle theory successful?

A

Canter & Larkin (1993) studied 45 sexual assaults: 91% were identified as marauders - if almost all offenders are marauders, then classification doesn’t seem particularly useful

35
Q

Why did Rossmo (1999) argue favourably for geographical profiling?

A

Rossmo claims that while it may not solve crimes directly, it can be useful on prioritising house to house searches, or identifying a geographical area where DNA could be collected

36
Q

What are 3 weaknesses of geographical profiling?

A
  • Can’t distinguish between multiple offenders in the same area
  • Limited to spatial behaviour and disregards personality characteristics
  • Rossmo introduced GP to the Vancouver Police Department, in 2001 he was dismissed and they ceased using his methods as they did not feel it enhanced policing outcomes
37
Q

What final conclusions can we make about offender profiling?

A

Offender profiling can’t reliably identify an offender. It is mostly useful for assisting police in narrowing down the field of possibilities

38
Q

What is atavistic form?

A

An explanation for criminal behaviour suggesting that certain individuals are born with an innate criminal personality which is a throwback to earlier ancestors

39
Q

Who proposed the idea of atavistic form?

A

Cesare Lombroso wrote The Criminal Man in 1876 setting out his view that offenders possessed similar characteristics to lower primates and this could explain their criminality

40
Q

What does ‘atavistic’ actually mean?

A

Atavistic refers to the tendency to revert back to an ancestral type

41
Q

What atavistic traits did Lombroso recognise as being biologically criminal?

A
  • Asymmetry of the face
  • Excessive dimensions of jaw and cheekbones
  • Eye defects
  • Excessive length of arms, fingers and toes
42
Q

What is the basic assumption behind atavistic traits?

A

The basic assumption is that the innate physiological make up of a person causes them to become a criminal

43
Q

What is the empirical evidence for atavistic traits?

A

In one study of 383 convicted Italian criminals, he found that 21% had at least one atavistic trait and 43% had at least 5

44
Q

In 1897 Lombroso distinguished between 3 types of criminal. What are they?

A
  1. Born Criminals; the atavistic type
  2. Insane Criminals; suffer from mental illness
  3. Criminaloids; offenders whose mental characteristics predisposed them to criminal behaviour in a certain environment
45
Q

What does somatotype refer to?

A

Ones body shape

46
Q

Kretschmer (1921) came up with 4 criminal somatotypes based on his own studies of over 4,000 criminals. What are the 4 somatotypes?

A
  1. Leptosome/Asthenic - tall and thin; petty thieves
  2. Athletic - tall and muscular; crimes of violence
  3. Pyknic - short and fat; commit crimes of deception and sometimes violence
  4. Dysplastic/Mixed - crimes against morality (e.g, prostitution)
47
Q

What is a key criticism of Lombroso’s methodology?

A

The key failure was the lack of adequate controls. When he studied prisoners he didn’t pay the same kind of attention to non-prisoners. Had he done so, it is likely that he would’ve found as many non-prisoners with the same characteristics

48
Q

How was Lombroso androcentric?

A

Lombroso believed that women were less evolved than men. They were naturally jealous and insensitive to pain but they were also passive, low in intelligence and had a maternal instinct. All of which neutralised their negative traits and meant they were unlikely to become criminals

49
Q

What support did William Sheldon (1949) give for somatotypes?

A

Based on his own study of 200 young adults, he concluded that there were differences between delinquents and non delinquents in terms of body type. This supports the notion of innate criminal types identified by their physical features

50
Q

What are neural explanations of offending behaviour?

A

Neural explanations involve areas of the brain and the nervous system, and the action of neurotransmitters in the brain helping to control behaviour

51
Q

Are neural explanations down to nature or nurture?

A
  • 60% of criminals in US prisons have suffered a head injury
  • There may be differences in the structure of the brain such as differences in neurotransmitter levels
  • Therefore brain differences may be due to things that happened from the environment (nurture), but they could also be biological (nature)
52
Q

How is the prefrontal cortex related to offending behaviour? (neural explanations)

A

The prefrontal cortex is an area of the brain involved in regulating emotion and controlling general moral behaviour. Lowered activity in this area is associated with impulsiveness and loss control

53
Q

How is the limbic system related to offending behaviour? (neural explanations)

A

This is a set of subcortical structures such as the amygdala, which are linked to emotion and motivation. A distorted limbic system may reduce empathy and emotive responses therefore could lead to more harmful crimes like murder

54
Q

What is serotonin?

A

Serotonin inhibits the prefrontal cortex which regulates emotion and moral behaviour

55
Q

How is serotonin related to offending behaviour? (neural explanations)

A

Researchers suggest that low levels of serotonin may predispose individuals to impulsive aggression and criminal behaviour. Dopamine hyperactivity could also enhance this effect

56
Q

How is noradrenaline related to offending behaviour? (neural explanations)

A

High levels of noradrenaline are associated with activation of the sympathetic nervous system, and the fight or flight response, thus are linked to aggression.

57
Q

What did Raine (2004) show about the prefrontal cortex in relation to offending behaviour?

A

Raine (2004) cited 71 brain imaging studies showing that murderers, psychopaths and violent individuals have reduced functioning in the prefrontal cortex

58
Q

What did Raine (2004) show about the limbic system in relation to offending behaviour?

A

Raine (1997) studied murderers who were not found guilty by reason of insanity. Compared with matched controls, they found abnormal asymmetries in the limbic system of the murderers, especially the amygdala

59
Q

What did Wright et al (2015) show about noradrenaline in relation to offending behaviour?

A

Both very high and low levels of this neurotransmitter have been associated with aggression, violence and criminality

60
Q

Neural explanations are criticised for having a lack of causality. Why might this be?

A
  • There are concerns about whether neural abnormalities are directly causing offender behaviour or if they are just an intervening variable
  • Research only highlights a correlation between head injury and criminality
  • It is possible that it is a spurious relationship, for example, someone who grew up in a violent household might be more likely to suffer a head injury due to a preference for risk
61
Q

How do neural explanations for offender behaviour have real world applications?

A

If low levels of serotonin causes an increase in aggression, then prisons could arrange things to boost their serotonin (high serotonin foods in diet) which would help to prevent aggressive behaviour

62
Q

What is a key weakness of neural explanations of offender behaviour?

A

It is based research related to aggression rater that offending. This undermines the potential relevance of any conclusions for understanding offending behaviour

63
Q

What is the basic assumption of genetic explanations for offender behaviour?

A

The likelihood of behaving in a particular way is determined by a person’s genetic make up. Genes predispose individuals to criminal behaviour

64
Q

What is meant by epigenetics?

A

Refers to the material in each cell that acts like a switch to turn genes on or off

65
Q

What are the 2 main candidate genes for criminality?

A
  1. MAOA

2. Cadherin-13

66
Q

Why is Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA) a candidate gene for criminality?

A
  • MAOA breaks down neurotransmitters, having a less active MAOA means more neurotransmitters are available.
  • For example, increased levels of dopamine is associated with more impulsive and violent behaviour
  • It is also linked to the underactive prefrontal cortex, a key area of the brain that inhibits antisocial impulses
67
Q

Why is Cadherin13 (CDH13) a candidate gene for criminality?

A

CDH13 dysfunction may contribute to the excitatory/inhibitory imbalance found in neurodevelopment disorders, such as ADHD and autism. CDH13 has also been associated with the personality trait of extraversion and extremely violent behaviour

68
Q

What did Brunner (1993) to support the idea of MAOA as a candidate gene?

A
  • Studied 28 male members for a Dutch family who had histories of impulsive and violent criminal behaviour such as rape.
  • He analysed the DNA of these of men and found they shared a particular gene that led to abnormally low levels of MAOA
  • This supports the idea of MAOA making neurotransmitters more available increasing impulsive and violent behaviour

psychology. (11 decks)

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