Forensic x Flashcards
What are the stages of profiling FBI ?
Data assimilation
Crime Classification
Crime reconstruction
Profile generation
What are the types of criminals ?
Organised , disorganised
Maurder , commuter.
What are the two main types of Bottom - up profiling?
Investigative psychology and Geographical profiling.
What are the three parts to investigative psychology ?
Interpersonal coherence
Forensic Awareness
Small Space Analysis
What is Geographical profiling ?
A form of bottom up profiling based on the location or locations of a series of crimes. It analyses the spatial relationships between different crime scenes and how they might reveal the offenders place of residence.
What is the atavistic form ?
Atavistic means the tendency to revert to an ancestral type. Lombroso said that offenders possess similar characteristic to lower primates and this could explain their criminality.An explanation for criminal behaviour suggesting that
certain individuals are born with a criminal personality
and this innate personality is a throwback to primate
forms – determined by their physiological makeup.
Who suggested that “criminals are genetic throwbacks with atavistic features”
Cesare Lombroso (An Italian physician)
What did Lombroso do and find and conclude?
I investigated the facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian
convicts both living and dead. After examining over 383 living
criminals, I concluded that 21% had one atavistic trait and 43%
had at least five! The majority of the crimes were accounted for
by atavistic characteristics.
What did William Sheldon believe ?
William Sheldon believed that
people could be classified into
three body shapes, which
correspond with three different
personality types.endomorphic (fat and soft) tend to be sociable and relaxed. ectomorphic (thin and fragile)
are introverted and restrained. mesomorphic (muscular and
hard) tend to be aggressive and
adventurous. Sheldon found that many
convicts were mesomorphic, and
they were least likely to be
ectomorphic.
What are somatotypes?
soma = body
types
What did Kretschmer do ?
Kretschmer (1921) studied 4,000 criminals and
suggested that criminals fall into four
somatotypes which have connotations with
various crimes: Leptosome – tall and thin. petty thieves Athletic – tall and muscular (crimes of violence) Pyknic – short and fat (crimes of deception and violence) Dsyplastic or mixed (More than one type of crime, or Crimes against morality (e.g. prostitution).
Why is the historical biological explanation for offending behaviour gender bias ?
GENDER BIAS: Lombroso had androcentric ideas about
women. He believed that women are:
Naturally jealous. Insensitive to Pain. Passive. Low in intelligence . But women have a maternal instinct which neutralises
negative traits making them less likely to be criminals.
Women who became criminals had masculine
characteristics which are fine in a man but creates a
monster in a woman…
why was the biological explanation for offending behaviour have scientific racism ?
Several critics such as DeLisi (2012) have drawn attention to the racial undertones within Lombroso’s
work.Curly hair .Dark skin. Both found in people of African Descent. Using words such as uncivilised and primitive, savage
lends support to Eugenic philosophers.
what are cognitive distortions ?
These are biases in the way people process
information as a result of faulty thinking.
What are the two kinds of Cognitive distortions ?
Hostile attribution bias
Minimalisation
Evaluation of twin studies ?
Poorly controlled.
No DNA testing to establish the
MZ or DZ gene. Simply based on
appearance.
Small sample sizes limiting
population validity.
Confounding variable….the twins
were reared in the same
environment.
Why is twin studies so important ?
The importance of genes is illustrated by twin studies.
Lange (1930) investigated 13 MZ and 17 DZ twins
where one twin had served time in prison.
10 of the MZ twin had a co-twin in prison
2 of the DZ twin had a co-twin in prison.
What is hostile attribution bias ?
Mis-reading the expressions and actions of others and interpreting these as having hostile intent.
This triggers a disproportionate, possibly violent response.
What is the research evidence behind cognitive distortions ?
Dodge and Frame (1982) Showed that boys who
were known as
‘aggressive’ did
overattribute intentions of
another boy as hostile
(where actual intention
was ambiguous).
Epps and Kendall (1995)
Compared aggressive and
non-aggressive adults and
found that the aggressive
adults were more likely to
consider an ambiguous
situation as hostile.
What did Dodge and Frame 1982 do ?
Dodge and Frame (1982)
Showed that boys who
were known as
‘aggressive’ did
overattribute intentions of
another boy as hostile
(where actual intention
was ambiguous)
What did Epps and Kendall 1995 do ?
Epps and Kendall (1995)
Compared aggressive and
non-aggressive adults and
found that the aggressive
adults were more likely to
consider an ambiguous
situation as hostile
What is minimisation ?
Downplaying the severity of the crimes one has committed.
A burglar may describe their behaviour as ‘supporting the
family’. A rapist may tell themselves that an encounter was
‘consensual’.
Minimalisation occurs after the offense and may be a strategy
used by the offender to manage their guilt.
What is the research evidence behind minimisation ?
Barbaree, 1991, in a small scale study of rapists and
child-molesters found:
Rapists:
54% denied they had committed an offense
42% minimised their responsibility and the harm they’d
caused the victims
Child molesters:
66% denied they had committed and offense
33% minimised their responsibility and the harm they’d
caused the victims
What did Barbaree 1991 do ?
Barbaree, 1991, in a small scale study of rapists and
child-molesters found:
Rapists:
54% denied they had committed an offense
42% minimised their responsibility and the harm they’d
caused the victims
Child molesters:
66% denied they had committed and offense
33% minimised their responsibility and the harm they’d
caused the victims.
What is the application of minimalisation :
Application is in CBT – strategies used challenge the
offenders minimalization with aim to reducing it.
What is Kohlberg’s developmental theory of morality ?
A cognitive developmental theory in which moral
understanding is said to progress through a series of
age related stages, becoming increasingly sophisticated
Theory developed by asking children (boys) to explain
their reasoning about how characters should act in
specially designed stories known as ‘moral dilemmas’
The moral dilemma technique was used by Kohlberg on a
sample of violent youths whom he found to be less
morally developed than their non-violent counterparts.
What are Kholberg’s stages of moral development ?
Level 1
Pre-morality
(up to 9)
Stage 1 Punishment & Obedience Orientation – Doing
what is right because of fear of punishment
Stage 2 Hedonistic Orientation – Doing what is right
for personal gain, perhaps a reward
Level 2
Conventional Morality
(9- adolescence)
Stage 3 Interpersonal Concordance Orientation –
Doing what is right according to the majority
Stage 4 Law & Order Orientation – Doing what is right
because it is your duty and helps society. Laws must
be obeyed for the common good.
Level 3
Post-conventional morality
(adolescence +)
Stage 5 Social Contract or Legalistic Orientation –
Doing what is morally right even if it is against the law
because the law is too restrictive.
Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principles Orientation –
Doing what is right because of our inner conscience
which has absorbed the principles of justice, equality
and sacredness of human life.
What is the supporting research for Kholberg’s theory ?
Offenders have lower levels of moral
reasoning:
Palmer and Hollin (1998) compared moral
reasoning using the Socio-Moral Reflection
Short-Form test (SMR-SF)* between:
210 female non-offenders
122 male non-offenders
126 convicted offenders
Consistent with Kohlberg’s theory, the
offending group showed lower levels of
moral reasoning compared to the
non-offending groups
- A test of 11 moral –dilemma based
questions
But is level of moral
reasoning is context
dependent?
Ashkar and Kenney (2007).
Compared the moral
reasoning abilities for a
small sample of juvenile
offenders (sexual and
non-sexual) in an Australian
prison.
In relation to their
offending, individuals
showed pre-conventional
moral reasoning. In
contexts not related to
their crimes, conventional
moral reasoning
dominated.
What is the application for Kholberg’s theory ?
Chandler (1973):
45 chronically delinquent 11-13 yr old males were assigned to 1 of 3
conditions:
an experimental program (which used drama and video-making to train
role-
taking)
a placebo condition
a non-treatment control condition.
After, subjects were given a test of perspective taking. Results showed that
only those in experimental group improved significantly in their abilities.
An 18 month follow-up study showed these improvements were associated
with significant reductions in delinquent behaviour.
how did Eysenck obtain his data for the his criminal personality theory ?
Eysenck and his wife
Sybil assessed 2070
male prisoners who
were compared to a
control group of 2422
males. On measures of
E, N and P, prisoners
recorded higher scores
than the control group
which accords with the
prediction of the
theory.
What was the contradictory evidence eysencks theory of criminal personality ?
Farrington et al (1982) reviewed
this study and found that offenders
tend to score highly on P measures,
but not on E and N.
There are also consistent
differences between the EEG
measures (used to measure cortical
arousal) between extraverts and
introverts, which cast doubt on the
physiological basis of Eysenck’s
theory.
The meta analysis study for dealing with offending behaviour and custodial sentencing ?
Smith et al (2002) carried out a meta-analysis of over 100 research
studies looking at the relationship between reoffending, length of
sentence and the use of prison vs. noncustodial sentences. They
found that the recidivism rate following imprisonment was no lower
than for non-custodial sentencing and that longer prison terms did
not lower the risk of reoffending.
The lowest rate of recidivism in Europe is in Norway. The prison
system is very different, much more open with a much greater
emphasis on rehabilitation and skill acquisition than in the UK.
What is token economy ?
Token economy is based on operant conditioning.
Its aim is to increase desirable behaviour and decrease undesirable
behaviour by the use of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement
and punishment.
How it works:
The desirable and undesirable behaviour have to be identified e.g.
fighting, provoking conflict with other prisoners and the staff.
The rewards for good behaviour have to be agreed with the prisoner
e.g. extra time in the gym, extra tobacco or phone call to family.
The prisoner is given a token every time he perform a desirable
behaviour e.g. walking away from a fight .
The tokens, secondary reinforcers, can be exchanged for primary
reinforcers, the rewards which were agreed.
Undesirable behaviour is punished e.g. extra time in the cell.
What are the three stages of anger management ?
Cognitive preparation: offenders identify situations that provoke
anger so they can recognise when an aggressive outburst is likely to
occur. During this stage thought patterns are challenged, e.g. an
individual becomes angry when they are criticised might think that
the person who criticises them implies that they are stupid and
worthless . This will be challenged and this individual will be
encouraged to reconsider his interpretation of the situation . The
offender is also prompted to consider the negative consequences of
anger on himself and others.
Skill acquisition: depending on the triggers identified in the first
stage, a range of skills can be taught e.g. assertiveness training,
relaxation techniques, social skills training….
Application practice: the offender practices the skills acquired in a
controlled environment using role play. This stage is to prepare the
offender to use the techniques learnt in a real environment.
What is restorative justice ?
a system of dealing with
criminal behaviour which focusses on the
rehabilitation of offenders through
reconciliation within victims. Offenders see
the impact of their crime and the process
empowers victims by giving them a “voice.”
What happened in Sherman and Shang’s 2007 study ?
Sherman & Strang’s (2007) meta-analysis concluded that in no
way can RJ be more harmful than the traditional justice system.
It is at least equally as effective as the traditional justice
system in all cases. In most cases (especially with more serious
offences and with adult offenders) it is significantly more
effective than the traditional justice system at lowering
recidivism rates as well as lowering rates of post-traumatic
stress disorder in the victims.
What are the aims of custodial sentencing ?
Deterrence
rehabilitation/reform
retribution
incapacitation
What was the study into recidivism ?
Aim: to see if prison is more effective than other
alternatives to treating crime.
Method: Smith et al (2002) reviewed more than one
hundred research studies looking at the relationship
between reoffending, length of sentence and the use
of prison vs. non-custodial sentences.
Results: recidivism rate following imprisonment was
no lower than for non-custodial sentencing and that
longer prison terms did not lower the risk of
reoffending.
Conclusion: recidivism research does not support the
idea that prison is any more effective than other
sanctions.
What is the institutionalisation study ?
Zimbardo (1973) found in a prison simulation study that
participants very quickly took on the roles that were
assigned to them.
“Prisoners” became passive and miserable. “Guards”
became domineering.
Had a massive effect on the psychological well-being of
“prisoners”.
Supports the argument that people become
institutionalised and that prison has a negative effect on
psychological health.
Who proposed the psychodynamic explanation for offending behaviour ?
Blackburn 1993
