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Psychology > Forensic Psychology L1 - 4 > Flashcards

Forensic Psychology L1 - 4 Flashcards

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1
Q

Why is offender profiling used?

A

To narrow down the list of likely suspects for a crime

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2
Q

What is offender profiling?

A

Characteristics of offender can be deduced from details of the offence and crime scene

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3
Q

What do profiling methods usually involve?

A

Careful scrutiny and analysis of evidence

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4
Q

Top-down approach:

A

1) Templates of organised and disorganised offender are pre-existing in profiler’s mind
2) Evidence from crime scene are then used to fit the offender into one of these categories

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5
Q

Features of organised offenders:

A
  • Planned crime in advance
  • Live in relationships
  • High level of control/little evidence left at crime scene
  • Often of average intelligence in a skilled occupation
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6
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of top-down profiling: (-5)

A
  • Only applies to crimes involving macabre practices eg murder
  • Too small and unrepresentative sample to base a typology system
  • Not valid to rely on self-report data from convicted serial killers –> Canter (2004)
  • Organised and disorganised distinction is too simplistic –> Holmes (1989)
  • No evidence for disorganised type –> Canter et al (2004)
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7
Q

Why is that common offences do not lend itself to top-down profiling?

A

The crime scene reveals little about offender

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7
Q

Why is top-down profiling too small and unrepresentative to base a typology system on?

A

The organised or disorganised distinction was developed based on interviews w/ 36 sexually motivated serial killers in USA

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7
Q

What did Holmes (1989) suggest about types of serial killers?

A
  • Visionary serial killer –> kill because God/devil directs them to
  • Mission serial killer –> kill to eradicate a grp of ‘undesirable’ ppl
  • Hedonistic serial killer –> kill for the thrill
  • Power serial killer –> kill to have complete control over victims
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7
Q

Canter et al (2004):

A
  • Analysed data from 100 murders in USA thought to be disorganised/organised killers
  • Evidence suggested for organised type but not for disorganised
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8
Q

What is the bottom-up approach and what is its aim?

A
  • Profile is data-driven and emerges as profiler engages in rigorous scrutiny of offence details
  • Generate pic of offender
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9
Q

Which theory is grounded in psychological theory?

A

Bottom-up approach

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10
Q

What is the aim of investigative psychology?

A

Establish a statistical database of behaviours which occur at crime scene and characteristics of offenders who carry these out

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11
Q

What are these characteristics used to do?

A

Matched against a database to help determine whether multiple offences are linked and likely to have been committed by the same person

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12
Q

Interpersonal coherence:

A

The way the offender behaves at the crime scene is similar to how they would in real life

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13
Q

What other variable is crucial to the crime?

A

Time and place

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14
Q

What does it mean if a criminal has forensic awareness?

A

They have made an attempt to ‘cover their tracks’

15
Q

Geographical profiling and the data it includes (3):

A

Study of spatial behaviour in relation to crime and offenders
- Local crime stats
- Crime scene
- Local transport

16
Q

What are the two models of offender behaviour anf who proposed this?

A

Canter and Larkin (1993):
- Marauder: An offender who operates from home
- Commuter: An offender who travels a distance away from home

17
Q

In both models of offenders, what does the spatial pattern of their crime scenes always form?

A

A circle around their home

18
Q

Are earlier crimes usually closer of further away from the offender’s home and why is this assumption made?

A
  • Closer
  • As an offender becomes more confident, they will travel further away
19
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of bottom-up approach: (+2, -3)

A

+ Bottom-up profiling is more scientific than top-down profiling –> more grounded in evidence
+ Can be applied to a variety of offences
- Significant failures
- Ineffective –> Copson (1995)
- Conflicting research evidence –> Kocsis (2002)

20
Q

What significant failure was there when using the bottom-up approach?

A
  • 1992 –> Rachel Nickell was stabbed 47 times and sexually assaulted in Wimbledon Common
  • 2008 –> Robert Napper was convicted after analysing evidence
  • However, he had been ruled out early on in the initial investigation because he was several inches taller than the profile had suggested
21
Q

Copson (1995):

A
  • Surveyed 48 police forces
  • Found advice provided by profiler was useful 83% of the time
  • But only in 3% of cases did it provide accuarte identification
22
Q

Kocsis et al (2002):

A

Chemistry students produced more accurate offender profile than experienced senior detectives, which suggests the bottom-up approach is more common sense than skill

23
Q

What book did Cesare Lombroso write in 1876 and what did he suggest in this? (3)

A
  • L’Huomo Delinquente
  • Criminals were genetic throwbacks: a primitive sub-species who were biologically different to non-criminals
  • They lacked evolutionary development
  • Their savage and untamed nature would inevitably turn them to crime
24
Q

How did Lombroso argue that the criminal sub-species could be identified? (6)

A

They had biologically determined atavistic characteristics:
- Narrow sloping brow
- Strong prominent jaw
- High cheekbones
- Facial asymmetry
- Dark skin
- Extra toes/nipples,fingers

25
Q

How are murderers described according to the atavistic form? (3)

A
  • Curly hair
  • Bloodshot eyes
  • Long ears
26
Q

How are murderers described according to the atavistic form? (3)

A
  • Swollen/fleshy lips
  • Projecting ears
  • Glinting eyes
27
Q

What are the lips of fraudsters described as according to the atavistic form?

A

Thin and ready

28
Q

What other characteristics do criminals have according to Lombroso? (3)

A
  • Tattoos
  • Insensitivity to pain
  • Use of criminal slang
29
Q

What key study did Lombroso conduct?

A
  • Examined cranial and facial features of 3839 Italian living and 383 dead criminals
  • Found 40% of criminal acts could be accounted for by the criminal sub-species
30
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of the atavistic form: (+1, -4)

A

+ Important shift away from theories based on feeble-mindedness and demonic possession –> greater focus towards biological approach
- Racist undertones towards those of African descent
- Conflicting research evidence –> Goring (1913)
- Findings were not compared to a control grp
- Cause and effect –> just because they have atavistic characteristics doesn’t mean that this caused their criminal behaviour

31
Q

Lange (1930):

A
  • Investigated 13 MZ and 17 DZ twins
  • At least one of twins had spent time in prison
  • 10/13 MZ and 2/17 DZ had both twins been in prison
32
Q

Candidate genes:

A

Genes responsible for causing specific behaviour

33
Q

Tilhonen et al (2014):

A
  • Genetic analysis on over 900 Finnish offenders
  • Found two genes associated w/ violent crime: MAOA, CDH13
  • MAOA: Controls dopamine and serotonin and has been linked to aggression
  • CDH13: Linked to substance abuse and ADD (attention deficit disorder)
  • Individuals were 13 times more likely to have a history of violent behaviour compared to control grp
34
Q

What does the diathesis stress model say about the influence of genetics on criminal behaviour?

A

They influence criminal behaviour but are moderated by the effects of the environment

35
Q

What characteristic do many convicted criminals have and what have investigations on these individuals shown?

A
  • APD (anti-social personality disorder)
  • Neural differences in brains of criminals
36
Q

What 2 characteristics do people with APD have?

A
  • Reduced emotional responses
  • Lack of empathy
37
Q

What neural differences were found in the brains of criminals and who conducted each?

A
  • Reduced activity in pre-frontal cortex
  • 11% reduction in volume of grey matter in pre-frontal cortex –> Raine et al (2000)
  • Experience empathy less often
38
Q

Why do APD sufferers experience empathy less often than normal people and who discovered this?

A
  • Keysers et al (2011)
  • Their empathy reactions only activated when they were asked to empathise
  • They have a neural switch that needs to be turned on to experience it, whereas in normal people, this is always switched on
39
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of genetic and neural explanation: (-6)

A
  • Concordance rates are quite low –> allows for other factors
  • Concordance rates may be due to shared experiences rather than genetics
  • ‘Offending behaviour’ as a term is too vague
  • Cause and effect –> are brain abnormalities genetic/signs of early abuse?
  • Biological reductionism –> other factors?
  • Biological determinism –> what about the law?

Psychology (32 decks)

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