Forensics Flashcards
What did Holmes and Holmes (1996) investigate?
Murder of a young girl and boyfriend and step father was main suspect but no forensics evidence available
Conventional questioning-he denied
Profiler suggests that he has great need for control so ask for his help to solve the crime
Suspect shown photographs of crime scene and believing himself to be in control of investigation, therefore became engrossed in talking about the murder
Showed his familiarity with the crime and gave himself away
What are the additional cues that criminal profilers look at?
- type of victim
- type of crime
- location
- time of day and night
- specific features of the crime
- what is taken or left behind
What is the top down approach also referred to as?
- the American approach
- the fbi approach
- Crime scene analysis
- typological profiling
What is the top down approach?
FBI researchers wanted to improve their profiling techniques and make it more exact. To do this profilers decided to interview 36 convicted serial killers and see if there were any common patterns behind their killings.Using this, they devised a classification system for several serious crimes
What are the two classifications of Offenders?
Organised offenders
Disorganised offenders
What are the possible characteristics of an organised offenders?
- intelligent
- skilled occupation
- socially competent
- angry/depressed
What are the possible crime features of an organised offender?
- planned crimes
- self control
- covers tracks
- victims are usually strangers
- victims are of a usual type
Who is an example of organised offender?
Ted Bundy
What are the possible characteristics of an disorganised offender?
Socially inadequate Unskilled First/last born child Lives alone Knows victim Confused/frightened
What are the crime features of a disorganised offender?
Unplanned crimes
Haphazard
Leaves clues
Who is an example of a disorganised offender?
Richard Trenton Chase
Who came up with the four step process of making a profile?
Jackson and Beckerian (1997)
What are the four steps of making a profile?
- Data Assimilation
- crime scene classification
- crime reconstruction
- profile generation
What is Data assimilation?
Looks at evidence from the crime scene e.g. photos
What is crime scene classification?
Either organised or disorganised offender
What is crime reconstruction?
What happened?, Who did what?, How did they behave?
What is profile generation?
Using the above to create the profile of the likely offender
What is the bottom up approach?
It is the opposite of the top down approach
It is more scientific and starts with the bare basics and adds more to their profile as the evidence grows
What is geographical profiling?
Use information from locations of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the offender
Who developed geographical profiling?
Rossmo (1997)
Who expanded on Rossmos ideas?
Canter and Larkin (1993)
What is the circle theory?
People operate within a limited spatial mindset that creates imagined boundaries in which crimes are likely to be committed. Using this profile can create a ‘jeopardy surface’
What is jeopardy surface?
Showing likely closeness to the offenders residence
What is crime mapping?
Looking at locations of linked crimes can help us make inferences about the likely home or operational base of the offender. This can be used along side investigative psychology to work out clues about how the offender operates
What are the two types of offenders?
Marauder
Commuter
What is a marauder?
Killing close to proximity to home
What is a commuter?
Killing where they have traveled
What is investigative psychology?
The application of not just psychology but also statistics to offender profiling
According to Canter what are the five characteristics that are important?
Criminal characteristics Criminal career Interpersonal coherence Significance of time and place Forensic awareness
What is criminal characteristics?
Placing criminals into categories is a useful exercise to help police
What is criminal career?
This considers how far into their criminal experience offenders are and how the pattern of crime might progress
What is interpersonal coherence?
The way in which an offender behaves at the scene. How they interact with the victim may indicate how they act in real life
What is the significance of time and place?
This may indicate where the offender is living if the crimes take place within the same forensic ‘centre of gravity’
What is forensic awareness?
This focuses on those who have been the focuses of police attention before. Their behaviour may denote how mindful they are from covering their tracks
Who is Adrian Babb?
A case study where he was convicted of sexual assault to women and he is a prime example of interpersonal coherence as he would be making women feel comfortable while committing the crime.
What is the Atavistic Form?
Biological explanation of crime
Who is the father of modern criminology?
Cesar Lombroso (1876)
What did Lombrosso suggest?
Lombroso claimed that these criminals lacked evolutionary development and could therefore find it impossible to adjust to civilised society and thus turn to crime.
Lombroso believed criminals had ‘markers’ or characteristics that allow us to tell they are criminals
What are the physical characteristics of a criminal according to Lombrosso?
Narrow sloping brow Strong prominent jaw High cheek bones Facial asymmetrical Dark skin Extra toes, nipples, or fingers Abnormal strange eyes Flat or beak nose
What are the physical features of a murderer according to Lombrosso?
Bloodshot eyes
Curly hair
Long ears
What are the physical features of a sexual offender?
Glinting eyes
Swollen fleshy lips
Projecting ears
What did Lombrosso Do?
Lombroso examined the facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts. Both living and dead. He proposed that the atavistic form was associated with a number or anomalies that where key i dictators of criminality.
Lombroso examined 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones. He concluded that 40% of criminals had some or all of these features.
What are strengths to Lombrosso theory?
he used a large sample size meaning easily generalised. Also lead to other theories because he was the first one to study the scientific causes.
Body shape links to crime- puthain and summons’-supporting study
What are the weaknesses of Lombrosso theory?
Has been found that prisoners’ behaviour has improved significantly following facial surgery. Rates of 42% have been found for those who have had surgery, compared to 70% who didn’t. This undermined the theory, which makes it due to socialisation. People may feel socially accepted therefore crime rates are lower.
Main weakness is that it is racist. can lead to inaccurate results
It is ethnocentric.
Only 40% of the offenders have the features, what about the other 60%?
Goring- he done the same study but found no link-undermining study
Who are the studies for the genetic explanations for crime?
Lagerspetz
Christiansen
Lange
Tiihonen
What did Lagerspetz study?
He separated mice into two groups depending on the level of aggression displayed when they were mixed with other mice. The mice that were most aggressive were classified as aggressive (TA) and the other non aggressive were called (TNA). These mice were interbred, by the 19th generation aggressive biting behaviour in TA mice was 52% and in TNA it was only 5%. There was also structural differences.The TA mice has heavier testes and increased serotonin. However the environment still had an influence as both types of mouse can’t be tamed
What did Christiansen study?
He studies 87 MZ and 147 DZ twin pairs and found concordance rate of 33% for MZ and only 12% for the DZ twins
They do not ave a 100% concordance rate meaning there are other factors involved(environment)
What did Lange study?
13 MZ and 17 DZ twin pairs and attests one of the twins in each pair had been sent to prison. 10 of the MZ twins had both twins jailed and only 2 out of the DZ twins had both twins jailed.
What did Tiihonen study?
Candidate Genes. He revealed two abnormalities that may be associated with violent crime
What were the two candidates genes?
MAOA genes
CDH13
What does the MAOA gene control?
Controls dopamine and serotonin
What does the CDH13 genes do?
Linked to substance abuse and attention deficit disorder
What was Tiihonen sample?
Was 900 Finnish offenders
How much more likely is it that an offender that has the combination to have a history of violent behaviour?
13 times more
What does the pre frontal cortex do in terms of the neural explanation for crime?
The PFC regulates emotional behaviour. Individuals who experience antisocial personality disorder shows reduced activity in the PFC
What did Raine find?
Found an 11% reduction in grey matter in the PFC of people with APD compared to control groups
Who studied mirror neurons?
Keyster
What did Keyster find?
Only when criminals were asked to empathise with other did their empathy reaction activate
What are mirror neurons?
These neurons fire in response to to the actions of others
What does mirror neurons suggest?
That criminals do experience empathy although it is not an automatic response
What is the hypothalamus responsible for?
Mainly for aggression
Who is Charles Joseph Whitman?
On august 1st 1966 he killed his mother and wife. He then went up to the uni of Texas in Austin and began shooting at people. He fatally shot 14 people and wounded 31 others. During autopsy they discover a pecan sized brain tumour. The relationship between the brain tumour and Whitman’s actions cannot be established with clarity. However, the tumour conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions
What is meant by diminishing responsibility?
Can’t be completely held responsible for their crime e.g. manslaughter
What is legal precedent?
Idea that If a judge had ruled one thing, all other judges should rule that out as well. But an issue with this is that we don’t know if they still have free will of their crimes
What is the diathesis stress model?
The diathesis stress model states that people need two things to trigger criminality.
What are the two things that trigger criminality according to the diathesis stress model?
Genetic vulnerability
A negative psychological experiences
What did Eysenck study?
The Eysenck personality inventory
What is an extrovert?
Most sociable
What is an introvert?
Least sociable
What does stable mean?
Emotions don’t vary widely
What does neurotic means?
Unstable amd emotions vary widely
What is psychoticism?
Lacking empathy, cruel, loner, aggressive and troublesome
What does Eysenck suggest?
Criminality is possibly inherited as we inherit a nervous system, which predisposes us to have a certain personality type
What type of personality has an under active nervous system?
Extroverts as they constantly seek excitement
What is the role of socialisation?
Eysenck also believed that criminals learned through socialisation. He thought that criminals were developmentally immature. They are concerned with immediately gratification like a child
Eysenck also believed that people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made them more difficult to condition. Because of this they wouldn’t respond to antisocial impulses with anxiety
How did Eysenck obtain his data?
Assessed 2070 male prisoners who were compared to a control group of 2422 males. prisoners recorded higher E,N and P scores than the control group which accords to the predictions of the theory
What were the most important stages in Kohlbergs levels of moral reasoning?
Stage 1 and Stage 2
What were stages one of levels of moral reasoning for?
It was through punishment
What was the second stage in the levels of moral reasoning?
Self interest driven
What were the problems with Kohlbergs Methods?
The dilemma is artificial
The sample is biased
The dilemma are hypothetical
Poor research design
What were the problems with Kohlbergs theory?
Are there distinct stages of moral development
Does Moral judgement match moral behaviour
Is justice the most fundamental moral principle
What are the cognitive explanation of crime?
Hostile attribution bias
Minimalisation
What is hostile attribution bias?
A tendency to interpret other behaviours as having hostile intent
What did Dodge and Frame find about hostile attribution bias?
That children who had been described as ‘aggressive’ or ‘rejected’ before the study found that they act aggressive. Those who had been described as ‘accepted’ or ‘non-aggressive’ said they was not aggressive
How is Hostile Attribution caused?
Children exposed to teasing at school or child abuse at home are more likely to develop high levels of hostile attribution bias which leads them to behave aggressively
What did Schoenberg and Justye study?
They showed 55 violent offenders emotionally ambiguous faces. They compared this to a control group. They found that the violent offenders were more likely to find the image hostile or aggressive compared to the control group
What did Holtzwoth-Munroe find about hostile attribution bias?
Found that those with HAB are over 4x more likely to die by the age of 50 than adults with low levels of hostile attribution bias
What did MacBrayer find about hostile attribution bias?
Found that parents with height levels of hostile attribution bias are also much more likely to use harsh discipline and aggressive parenting
What is Minimalisation?
Where criminals downplay or deny their actions to minimalize the effect of guilt.
What can minimalisation also be known as?
Euphemistic labelling
What did Howard Barabee find about minimalisation?
Found among 26 incarcerated racists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and a further 49% minimise the harm they had caused to the victim
What did Nathan Pollack and Judith Hashmall report about minimalisation?
That 35% of a sample of child molesters argues that the crime they had committed was non sexual and 36% stated that the victim had consented
Who came up with the differential association theory?
Edwin Sutherland (1924- 1939)
What did Sutherland say are the 2 components of crime as a learned behaviour?
Pro criminal attitudes
Learning criminal acts
What are pro criminal attitudes?
Where people socialise in different groups are exposed to different attitudes, some are pro crime amd some are anti crime. If the pro crime outweigh the anti crime attitudes then we will become criminal
What is Learning criminal acts?
Where criminals also learn particular criminal techniques, this may be why crimes breed in specific social groups and communities. It could also account for re offending as criminals learn more techniques in prison
What crime does differential association theory not account for?
Murder
What does Differential association suggest?
That we should be able to mathematically predict how likely it is that somebody will commit crime.
What are the trireme things Sutherland say we need to measure?
Frequency, intensity and duration
Why is Sutherland theory applicable to corporate crime?
You learn them from your environment
What is white collar crime?
Another word for corporate crime
Criminals do what to avoid the guilt of committing crime?
Rationalise
What is rationalisation?
Where criminals provide excuses for their actions
What is the ID?
Representing primitive desires and the need for gratification
What is the super ego?
You get it from your same sex parent, it represents moral and social constraints and works on moral principle
What is the Ego?
The role of the Ego is to strike a balance between the demands of the ID and the constraints imposed by the super ego
How is the super ego determined?
In Freudian theory, the structure of the psyche is determined in the first five years of life. The roots of offending are found in this period, especially in the relationship between the developing child and its parents
The Freudian framework implies a number of possible causes for later criminal behaviour
What does Ronald Black burn say that the super ego explanation causes crime?
Says that if the super ego is deficient or ‘inadequate’ then the ID is given free reign to do as it likes
What are the three types of super ego?
a weak super ego
A deviant super ego
A strong super ego
What is a weak super ego?
A moral regulator of behaviour and develops at the end of the phallic stage. It punishes the ego with anxiety when an immoral act is contemplated and with guilt as the act is carried out. It is developed as a result of abnormal relationships with family
What is a deviant super ego?
A child may develop a super ego in the normal ways but the super ego itself may have deviant values. As a moral regulator it threatens and punishes those behaviours that the parent might find unacceptable
What is a strong super ego?
An excessively powerful superego would render a person anxious and guilty most of the time since every time they acted on the ID desires. Their super ego would punish them for it. Normally they would express these impulses harmlessly through defence mechanisms. If the super ego prevents this from happening the aggression or sexual desire could build up over time u til it becomes strong enough to overwhelm the ego and turn into crimes such as rape and murder
What is Custodial sentencing?
The offender is punished by serving time in prison, or in some other place e.g. psychiatric hospital
What are the four main reasons for the prison system?
Deterrence
Incapacitation
retribution
Rehabilitation
What is deterrence?
Seeing or experiencing the negative consequences means that the offending behaviour should be avoided in the future
What is incapacitation?
Sending to prison removes the prisoner from society, putting them out of action
What is retribution?
Society exact revenge for unacceptable conduct
What is rehabilitation?
Objective of prison is not purely to punish but to reform through access to development skills
What is recidivism?
A convicted criminal who reoffends, usually repeatedly
What percentage of criminals leaving prison are back into prison?
46%
What percentage of prisoners that left prison 9 years ago are back in prison now?
78%
Which country have one on the lowest recidivism rates in the world?
Norway
What is the token economy program in prisons?
Involves being rewarded being set up for desired behaviour, sometimes with punishments to discourage behaviour which is undesirable. Rewards are usually tokens or points which can be traded in for what they actually want
What is a primary reinforcers?
Things that the prisoner genuinely wants
What are secondary reinforcers?
Tokens are secondary reinforcers that derive value from association with primary reinforcers
What are negative reinforcers ?
Doing something to avoid bad circumstances?
What is positive punishment?
Giving a punishment
What is Generalisation?
Part of the learning theory principles.
The idea is that desired behaviour once reinforced and established in an institution would be generalised to outside the institution so that appropriate behaviour would be established
We are ‘generalising’ the new positive behaviour to the outside world
What is restorative justice?
Rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with the victims
What aims do the restorative justice system aim to provide victims with?
Opportunities to explain the impact of the crime An acknowledgement of the harm caused A chance to ask questions Some control amd choice Peace of mind for the future
What are the four key features of restorative justice system?
- a focus on acceptance of responsibility and positive change for those who harm others; less focus is spent on punishment
- Not restricted to courtroom, it can take place anywhere
- active rather than passive involvement from all parties
- Focus on positive outcomes for survivors and those who have engaged in wrong doing
What percentage of victims felt it was a positive experience?
85%
What percentage of victims would recommend restorative justice to others?
78%
What is the Restorative Justice Council?
An independent body whose role is to establish standards for the use of restorative justice and to support victims and professionals in the field
What is Anger Management?
A form of behaviour modification
Who came up with the three types of angers?
Novaco (1975)
What is the three types of angers?
Physiological
Cognitive
Behavioural
An example of physiological anger?
Heart rate will increase
An example of cognitive anger?
Hyper focus
An example of behavioural anger?
Raised voice
What are the three steps of anger management?
Cognitive preparation
Skill acquisition
Application practice
What is cognitive Preparation?
Offenders identify situations that prove anger so they can recognise when an aggressive outburst may occur
What is skill acquisition?
Offenders are introduced to a range of techniques and skills to help them deal with the triggers more effectively.
What is application practice?
Where they role play a variety of scenarios to practice new skills to control anger
How many sessions do anger management go on for?
10-12
