Forensic Psychology Advanced Info

Question 1

AO1

What is offender profiling

Answer 1

-Investigative tool used by police and solving crimes
-based on offenders modus operandi (way their commit crime)
-is combined with info about crime scene and victim
-used for serial offenders
-used when other
forensic techniques haven’t worked

Question 2

AO1

What is the top down approach (typologies, who created it)

Answer 2

• American approach
• Created by FBI
• Based on in depth interviews of 36 sexually motivated serial killers, examples include ted Bundy
• Created two typologies: Organised and disorganised offenders
• Organised offenders: Little clues left behind, high intelligence, socially and sexually competent, plan the crime (transport them, kill them, bury them in different places)
• Disorganised: don’t plan crime, average IQ, unskilled work, live alone, leave clues at crime scene like blood, fingerprint.

Question 3

AO1

What are the stages of the offender profiling in top down approach

Answer 3

Six main stages (Douglas et al)

• Profiling inputs: Data collection, evidence, weapon, information about victims and
• Decision process models; Murder type, time and location
• Crime assessment: what type of offenders
• Criminal profile: hypothesis of background, habits, beliefs, physical characterises, behaviour strategy to catch offender
• Crime assessment: written report given to investigative agency like police
• criminal apprehended:

Question 4

AO3

Is the top down method useful?

Answer 4

• Police believe FBI methods are useful
• Copson et al asked 184 police officers and 82% said technique
• 90% said they would use it again
• this shows how effective this method is
• moreover, Scherer and jarvis: said we should look the potential contributions beyond identification
• for example approach offers investigators a different perspective and this may prevent wrongful conviction

Question 5

AO3

A limitation of the top down approach is that it is based on outdated personality models

Answer 5

• Typologies based on classification system
• assumes that offenders have the same pattern of behaviour and motivations
• Alison et al says that it is outdated and that is it driven by stable dispositional traits not changing circumstances
• likely to have poor validity

Question 6

AO3

Unable to distinguish between organised and disorganised offenders

Answer 6

• Turvey says that it’s more likely to be a continuum than than two distinct typologies
• supported by fact that descriptions are generalisations at best
• Douglas suggested that having a third typology called mixed offender may solve this issue
• Canter also analysed 39 aspects of serial killers in murders committed by 100 serial killers
• Canter found that there was no clear division between organised and disorganised killers
• also found subsets of organised crimes but none for disorganised
• suggests this method may be limited to certain crimes

Question 7

AO3

Potential harm caused by profilers

Answer 7

Snook et al argued

• the top down analysis is not based in science or theory
• why we believe profiles may be due to the barmnum affect which is when ambiguous descriptions can be made to fit any situations
• so if we had a list of 20 characteristics 10 will almost be correct, hence why they are right
• A consequence of this is that
• Jackson and Bekerin suggest smart offenders can read how profile are constructed and can deliberately mislead profilers by leaving misleading clues
• so should profiling techniques be made available to the public

Question 8

AO1

What is investigative psychology

Answer 8

• developed by David Canter

- suggest profiling should be based on psychological research and theory

Question 9

AO1

What are the three main features of the bottom up approach

Answer 9

Interpersonal coherence

• people are consistent in their behaviour so there are correlation with crime and daily life (for example if they are aggressive with victim, aggressive with others in real life)
• the way people interact with victim and crime scenes

Forensic awareness
-certain behaviours may reveal awareness of police techniques
Davies et al found rapists who conceal fingerprints often had conviction for burglary

Space analysis

• statical technique
• allows data from other crime scenes to be put together so common characteristics are identified
• acts as a baseline

Question 10

AO1

What is geographical profiling

Answer 10

• uses information about location of linked crimes to make inferences about the home or base of offender
• this is known as space mapping
• based on theory of spatial consistency (people commit crimes within a limited geographical area

Canters circle theory
-said most offenders have a spatial mindset
-Marauder: offenders home within geographical area were crimes are committed
Commuter: offender travels to geographical area and commits crimes
-police can use criminal geographic targeting developed by Rossmo to find out more about the offender

Question 11

AO3

An advantage of the bottom up approach it is scientific

Answer 11

• more scientific than top down approach because of use of stats techniques and computer analysis
• however some techniques will
• data collected tells us about offenders who’ve been caught not about patterns of behaviour related to unsolved crimes
• Moroever computer programming involves someone developing a formula, this can be wrong at times
• Although it has the potential to be scientific and systemic, in practise it is biased.

Question 12

AO3

What is the supporting evidence for geographical profiling

Answer 12

Lundrigan and Canter

• collected information on 120 murders involving serial killers
• Small space analysis revealed spatial consistency
• location of body disposal site created centre of gravity
• more noticeable effects for marauders
• suggest geographical information can be used to identify an offender

Question 13

AO3

Is circle theory successful

Answer 13

Canter and Larkin
-showed support for model by distinguishing between marauders and commuters when studying 45 sexual assaults
-But 91% were marauders (so is classification useful)
Petherick
-found number of flaws with model
-so if person home is not at the centre then police may look in the wrong place

Question 14

AO3

Case study

Answer 14

• Evidence has shown that bottom up profiling can work in identifying offenders (railway rapist)
• however some of it is flawed liek geographical profiling can’t distinguish between multiple offenders in same area as method is linked to spatial behaviour and not personality
• Moreover in the case if Rachel Nickell, a psychologist led the police to create a profile that led to arresting the wrong man
• they actual offender was ruled out because he was too tall
• so although the bottom up approach has real world applications the approach may cause more harm than good

Question 15

AO1

What is Eysenck theory of personality

Answer 15

Developed three dimensions
-Extroversion- introversion (extraverts are outgoing, have positive emotions but get bored easily)

• Neurotosism and stability (tendency to experience negative emotions such as anger anxiety)
• psychoticsm and normality (psychotics are egocentric, aggressive, impersonal, not concerned about other people)

To test this he created the Eysenck personality questionnaire

Question 16

AO1

What is the biological basis according to Eysenck

Answer 16

-suggest each trait has biological basis and claimed 67% variance for traits due to genetic factors

Extraversion: gave underactive nervous system, seek excitement, stimulation and likely to engage and risk taking behaviours. Don’t condition easily so don’t learn from mistakes

Neurotic: high levels of reactivity to sympathetic nervous system, respond quickly to situations of threat, tend to be nervous and jumpy, behaviour difficult to predict

Psychotic: have higher levels of test role, are unemotional and prone to aggression

Question 17

AO1

What is the criminal personality

Answer 17

Type is

Neurotic- extrovert- psychotic

Question 18

AO1

What is the role of socialisation in Eysenck

Answer 18

Linked offending behaviour to socialisation processes

• Process of socialisation is one where children are taught to be able to delay gratification and be more socially oriented
• Believed people with high E and N scores had nervous systems which made them more difficult to condition,
• If punished for wrongdoing then less likely to stop but it’s is hard to condition people with high E and N scores

Question 19

AO3

What research supports Eysencks theory

Answer 19

• Eysenck and Eysenck
• compared 2070 prisoners on scores on EPQ with 2422 controls
• across all mesures prisoners scored higher across all three dimensions

CP

• Farrington et al
• conducted meta analysis and reported offenders score higher on psychoticism but not extraversion and neuroticism
• Dam et al found a small number of males in juvenile facility had high scores on Eysencks variables
• Also inconsistent differences on EEG mesures between extravters and introverts
• central elements of criminal personality can be challenged

Question 20

AO3

Research on genetic behaviour (Eysenck)

Answer 20

Support from twin studies

• Zuckerman found a +.52 correlation for identical twins in terms of neuroticism compared to .24 for dizygotic twins
• However even though there is genetic evidence it is not as high as we though
• according to these studies there is 40% variance in traits and this may be inflated as twins more similarly
• Despite this there is genetic evidence to support Eysenck

Question 21

AO3

Personality may not be consistent (Eysenck)

Answer 21

• Theory believes personality is consistent
• A number of psychologist support a situational perspective suggesting it may be similar in some situations but not all
• Mischel and peake asked family and friends to rate 63 students in a variety of situations
• found no correlation between traits displayed
• shows how we don’t just have one personality we adapt and change due to situations

Question 22

AO3

Eysenck cultural factors

Answer 22

Does not take cultural factors into account

• Holanchock
• studied African American and Hispanic offenders
• divided them into six groups based on offending history and nature of offences
• found that all groups were less extrovert than non offending group
• questions whether criminal personality can be used in all cultural
• is it culturally relativist

Question 23

AO1

what is Kolhberg theory of moral development

Answer 23

• Proposed theory of moral reasoning
• Pre conventional level: rules obeyed to avoid punishment or for personal gain
• Conventional level: rules are obeyed for approval, rules are obeyed to maintain social order
• Post conventional: morality of contract and individual rights. Rules are challenge if they infringe on the right of others. Individuals have personal set of ethical principles

Question 24

AO1

What is the link to offending behaviour (Kolhberg)

Answer 24

• In a longitudinal study Kolhberg found that 10% of adults reach post conventional level
• criminals believe that breaking law is justified if the reward outweighs the cost and punishment can be avoided
• Chandler: individuals who reason at higher levels tend to sympathise more with the right of others and exhibit more conventional behaviours such as honesty

Question 25

AO1

What is cognitive distortions

Answer 25

Hostile attribution bias
-tendency to misinterpret the actions of others to assume their being conformational when they are not
-offenders mislead non agressive cues (such as being looked at) and this triggers a response
Dodge and frame suggest this may come about during childhood, children who were identified as aggressive or rejected tend to interpret a video clip as more hostile

Minimisation

• attempt to downplay the seriousness of an offence
• bandura labelled this the application of a euphemistic label
• people may do this to minimise feelings of guilt
• studies like Barabee found that 26 incarcerated rapist, 54% denied they had committed an offence and 40% minimised the harm they caused

Question 26

AO3

What is research support for Kolhberg theory

Answer 26

Studies conducted by Kolhberg and colby in different countries suggests that sequence of stages is universal
-snary said post conventional reasoning less common in rural communities
-moreover in terms of offending behaviour Sigurdsson used offending motivation questionnaire to assess 128 juvenile offenders
-38% did not consider the consequences of what they were doing and 36% were confident they would not get caught
Suggest Kolhberg pre conventional level of moral reasoning supports relationship between moral reasoning and behaviour

Question 27

AO3

What is a limitation of Kolhberg theory

Answer 27

Krebs and Denton

• moral principles are one factor in moral behaviour and can overridden by more practical factors
• such making personal financial gains and more practical factors
• Denton found when analysing real world decisions moral principles were use to justify behaviour after it happened

Question 28

AO3

Kolhberg research has gender bias

Answer 28

. Issue two: Gender bias

• focuses on male samples (Androcentrism)
• focuses on a male perspective than female
• beta bias: found women were less morally developed although most of the prison population is male
• Gilligan suggests women were considered less morally developed because Kolhberg looked at males ideas justice and not females idea of care

Question 29

AO3

What is the research support for hostile attribution bias

Answer 29

Schonenberg and Aistr
-emotionally ambiguous faces to 55 violent offenders in prisons compared to control group
-the pictures were of varying intensity of target emotion
-offenders were more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile
Moreover this is also supported by dodge and Fromm who found children that are labelled as aggressive or rejected tended to
-CP: could view this as subjective as one definition of a happy face may not be another persons definition of a happy face

Question 30

AO3

Cognitive distortion’s have real world application

Answer 30

It can be used as treatment

• Heller et al worked out a group of young men from disadvantaged groups in Chicago
• used cognitive behaviour te habites to reduce judgement and decision making errors
• Ppts who attend 13 1 hour sessions had 44% reduction in arrests

Question 31

AO1

What is differential association theory

Answer 31

-Proposes that individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for offending behaviours through association and interaction

Question 32

AO1

How does is offending behaviours learned (DAT)

Answer 32

Learning attitudes: when someone is brought into a group they are exposed to values and attitudes towards the law
-Sutherland says that if the number of pro criminal attitudes outweighs number of anti criminal activities will go into offend
Also
-they can learn techniques like how yo break into a car etc

Question 33

AO1

What did Sutherland propose to do

Answer 33

• DAS says that it should be mathematically possible to predict how likely an individual is to commit a crime
• to do with we need to petah the frequency and intensity and duration of exposure to devient and non devient norms and values

Question 34

AO1

How does socialisation happen in prison

Answer 34

• Suggests that inside prisons convict will learn specific technically of offending from other more experience offenders
• this learn may occur through observational learning and imitation or direct tuition from peers

Question 35

AO3

Created a shift in how crime is seen

Answer 35

• Moved away from Lombardo avastic theory and away from theories that explained offending as being the product of individual weakness or immorality
• draws attention to the fact that devint social circumstances are to blame
• also introduced idea of white collar crime
• more realistic to solution to problem of offending instead of eugenics Orr punishment

CP

• runs risk of stereotyping individuals
• ignores free will and that people have the choice to respond to attitudes of pro crime

Question 36

AO3

Supporting evidence for differential association theory

Answer 36

-Osborne and west
-found that if father had a criminal conviction then 40% of the sons committed a crime before they were 18 compared 13% with non crime la fathers
-CP: however in this case it can be argued that genetics can be used to explain this
-However Akers et al surveyed 2500 adolescents to investigate drinking and drug behaviour
—important influence was from peers
-said that differential association, reinforcement and imitation accounted for 68% of variance in marijuana and 55% of alcohol
-did the rest do it because of other reasons?

Question 37

AO3

Differential association can’t account for all kinds of crime

Answer 37

• Social learning influences confined to smaller crimes theft than violent impulsive crime like murder
• partial account of why people offend
• better explanations genetics, personality, attachment etc
• Despite this smaller crimes are more common
• ONS said there were 400 homicides but 400,000 burglaries
• Newburn argues that 40% of crimes are committed by young people
• therefore can’t say why young people are more likely to commit crimes (Eysenck desire for risk)

Question 38

AO3

Role of biological factors (differential association theory

Answer 38

• absence of biological factors is a limitation
• alternative reasoning may be the use of the diathesis stress model which combines social factors with vulnerability factors
• these can be innate, genetic, or early experiences
• this suggest that a social approach of explaining crime may be insufficient and that there are a variety of different reason

Question 39

AO1

What is the supergo

Answer 39

• forms at the end of the phalic stage when children resolve the Oedipus or Electra complex
• Superego Is known as the Morality principle and exerts influence by punishing ego through guilt for wrongdoing but rewarding it with pride for good behaviour

Question 40

AO1

What is the inadequate superego

Answer 40

• Ronald Blackman
• argued that if superego is some who deficient than offending behaviour is inevitable

1. Weak superego: if same gender parent is absent during phalic stage and there is no opportunity for identification. Offending behaviour more likely
2. Deviant superego: if superego tant has child internalises immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour (so person raised by criminal father may not associate guilt with wrongdoing)
3. Over harsh superego: harsh parenting style leads to a over harsh superego who is crippled by guilt and anxiety. This may unconsciously drive the person to perform crimes to satisfy superegos need for punishment

Question 41

AO1

What is the maternal deprivation theory

Answer 41

• Bowlby
• argued ability to form meaningful relationships in adulthood is dependant on warm continuous relationship with mother
• failure to establish this may led to affectionless psychopathy
• affectionless psychopathy is when you feel a lack of guilt and empathy for other
• this means that people are more likely to engage in criminal acts

44 thieves study

• 14 out 44 had affectionless psychopathy
• 12 out of 14 had experienced prolonged separation from mother
• he concluded that maternal deprivation can led to delinquent behaviour

Question 42

AO3 (offending behaviour)

Superego has research support

Answer 42

Goreta

• conducted Freudian style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment
• disturbances in superego diagnosed for all
• found it was a consequence of a harsh superego
• suggest that psychic conflicts and over harsh superego can be a basis for offending behaviour

CP
-Kochanska found that parents who rely on harsher forms of discipline raise children who are more rebellious and rarely express feelings of guilt and self criticism

Question 43

AO3 (psychodynamic approach to offending)

Freud and gender bias

Answer 43

• According to Freud because girl do not experience strong emotions with castration anxiety so they have a weaker superego
• If that was the case more women would be in prison, however in the UK 20x more men are in prison than women
• To support this further Hoffman hardly found evidence that girls were less moral than boys
• suggests alpha bias affects this theory
• so it may not be generalisable to other people

Question 44

AO3

Conflicting evidence for 44 thieves study

Answer 44

Lewis

• analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people
• found maternal deprivation was poor predicator for future offending
• even id there is a link between prolonged separation and offending it is casual
• there may be other factors such as genetic or social factors like poverty that may better explain offending behaviour in later life
• suggest there are other reasons alongside maternal deprivation that may explain offending behaviour in real life