Forensic Psychology [U11X]

Question 1

Lombroso’s Legacy

Answer 1

• Paradigm from moralistic discourse focus
• Introduced scientific theory to crime
• Suggested particular types commit crimes
• First form of offender profiling

Question 2

DeLisi on the atavistic form

Answer 2

• Racist undertones
• Atavistic features found in lower classes and those of African descent
• Fits eugenic ideologies of the 19th century
• Subjective biases decrease validity

Question 3

Goring on the atavistic form

Answer 3

• Contradictory evidence
• Compared 3000 offenders and non-offenders
• No evidence to support the atavistic form
• Did find a link between crime and low intelligence
• The offender cannot be physically distinguished
• Not a sub-species of man

Question 4

Mednick et al. on genetic explanations

Answer 4

• Studied 13,000 adoptees
• Conviction rate of adoptees without convicted parents (Bio or Adopt) was 13.5%
• 20% when either bio parent was convicted
• 25% when both sets of parents did
• Supports diathesis stress model

Question 5

Flaw with adoption studies

Answer 5

• Late adoptees exist
• Often maintain contact with bio parents
• Difficult to assess isolated impact of biology
• Suggests adoption studies are only useful with very early adoptions

Question 6

Flaw with twin studies

Answer 6

• Studies assume similar environments between MZ and DZ
• MZ will experience even more similar treatment by parents
• This impacts behaviour
• Results can be a product of similar treatment, not genes

Question 7

Kandel & Freed on neural explanations

Answer 7

• Research support
• Reviewed evidence of frontal lobe damage and antisocial behaviour
• Trends of impulsive behaviour, emotional instability and an inability to learn from mistakes
• Brain damage may be a causal factor

Question 8

Farrington et al. & Rauch et al.

Answer 8

• APD correlate is complex
• Other factors contribute to disorder and offending
• Found males with high psychopathy scores to have been neglected and have convicted parents (Farrington)
• These experiences could cause neural differences
• Trauma can reduce activity in the frontal lobe (Rauch et al.)

Question 9

Eysenck & Eysenck

Answer 9

• Compared EPQ scores
• 2017 male convicts and 2422 male non-offender controls
• In all age groups, offenders scored higher on E, N and P sections

Question 10

Farrington et al.

Answer 10

• Meta analysis
• Offenders scored high in P, but not E or N
• EEG evidence of cortical arousal differences between introverts / extroverts is inconsistent
• Biological basis is doubtful

Question 11

Bartol & Holanchock

Answer 11

• Studied Hispanic & African-American offenders
• 6 groups based on offences and offending history
• All groups scored lower on E than on non-offenders
• Due to culturally difference in samples
• Criminal personality is a culturally-relative concept

Question 12

Moffitt

Answer 12

• Too simplistic
• Personality is a poor predictor of length of offending behaviour
• Difference between adolescent-limited and life-course-persisting criminality
• Persistent is due to a reciprocal process between personality and environment
• More complex picture than Eysenck

Question 13

Palmer & Hollin

Answer 13

• Assessed moral reasoning in 126 convicted offenders and 332 non-offenders
• Done using the SRM-SF (11 moral questions. E.g. keeping a friend’s promise and not stealing)
• Offenders demonstrated less mature morals than control group

Question 14

Harkins et al. on CBT

Answer 14

• CBT challenges irrational thoughts
• Offenders encouraged to face up to their actions and accept a less distorted view of their actions
• Outlines areas of irrationality to be targeted
• Studies suggest reduced minimalisation and denial in therapy is associated with low recidivism (Harkins et al.)
• Distortion explanations have practical value

Question 15

Thornton and Reid & Howitt and Sheldon

Answer 15

• Financial crimes related to pre-conventional moral reasoning (T & R)
• Impulsive crimes not
• Morality only associated with crimes the offender believes they won’t be caught for
• Non-contact sex offenders used more cog. distortions than contact sex offenders (H & W)
• Criminal history correlated with high use of distortions

Question 16

Stereotyping of DAT

Answer 16

• Stereotypes the impoverished as unavoidable offenders
• Pro-crime value exposure is sufficient to make someone an offender
• Ignores the exception to the rules

Question 17

Explanative Power of DAT

Answer 17

• Accounts for offending in all of society
• Culture of burglary clustered in inner-city working class communities
• “White-Collar” crimes may be due to a deviant subculture/norms in middle classes
• High explanative power

Question 18

DAT as a paradigm shift

Answer 18

• Shifts focus away from Lombroso’s biological
• Deviant environments & circumstances instead of deviant people
• Offers a realistic solution to offending, rather than punishment

Question 19

Goreta on the superego

Answer 19

• Freudian analysis of 10 offenders
• All had disturbed superego formation
• All had unconscious guilt and a need for self-punishment
• This need manifests as a desire to commit wrongdoings

Question 20

Kochanska et al. on the superego

Answer 20

• Contradictory evidence
• Expect punitive parenting to make guilty children
• Harsh discipline results in rebellious children with low feelings of guilt & self-criticism (Kochanska)
• Theory is unsupported

Question 21

Hoffman on Gender Bias

Answer 21

• Women have weaker superego
• Females should be more prone to offending
• 20x more men in prison than women
• Females are more moral and slightly better at resisting temptation (Hoffman)
• Alpha bias at the heart of the theory

Question 22

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Question 23

Canter & Heritage on investigative psychology

Answer 23

• Analysed 66 sexual assault cases using smallest space analysis
• Several common behaviours, such as impersonal language and lack of a reaction
• Each individual had a characteristic pattern of these behaviours
• Supports idea of interpersonal coherence and identifying if crimes are committed by same person
• People are consistent, which backs IP

Question 24

Offender profiling as imperfect

Answer 24

• Can only narrow suspects, not identify an offender
• Danger to sticking to profile
• Wrong man arrested for Rachel Nickell’s murder (Stabbed 47 times and sexually assaulted)
• Should be treated with caution to avoid wrong convictions

Question 25

Lundrigan & Canter on Geographical Profiling

Answer 25

• Collated 120 US serial murder cases
• Smallest Space analysis revealed spatial consistency in the killers crimes
• Dump bodies in different directions, creating a centre of gravity and circle theory
• Base was at the pattern’s centre, reinforcing GP

Question 26

Geographical Profiling with poor quality data

Answer 26

• Reliant on police data quality
• 75% of crimes go unreported
• Low recording accuracy extends to low GP accuracy
• Timing, age and experience of crime/offender are equally as important (Ainsworth)
• Doesn’t consistently lead to accurate conviction

Question 27

Canter on offender categorisation

Answer 27

• Analysed 100 US murders by different serial killers
• Used smallest space analysis (Correlations between behaviour samples)
• Analysis used to assess 39 aspects of serial killings, like torture, restraint, cause of death
• Common subset of features matched FBI typologies for organised offender

Question 28

Godwin on typology overlap

Answer 28

• Types aren’t mutually exclusive
• Difficult to classify killers (Godwin)
• Possibility of a trait mix
• E.g. High IQ and sexual competence but impulsive crime
• Typologies may be better as a continuum, not categories