Forensics: Introduction To Forensic Psychology

Question 1

What is a crime?

Answer 1

An act committed in violation of the law where the consequence of conviction by court is punishment, for example imprisonment

Question 2

What are the problems with defining crime?

Answer 2

Cultural (Forced marriage is illegal in UK, but practice in other cultures), Historical (in some countries, homosexuality is still illegal)

Question 3

How is crime relative?

Answer 3

Deliberately and intention, Issues with age, cannot be arrested under age 10 because they’re not considered responsible for their actions.

Question 4

What are the three ways of measuring crime?

Answer 4

Official statistics, published by the home office as a snapshot of the number of crimes committed across the country, victim surveys, offender surveys

Question 5

Evaluations of official statistics?

Answer 5

Crimes reported allow the government to formulate prevention strategies and police initiatives. But only account for 25% of the crimes, 75% regarded as dark figure of crimes

Question 6

Evaluations of victim surveys?

Answer 6

Greater degree of accuracy than official statistics, 06/07 statistics indicated 2% decrease in crime from the year before, whereas survey’s indicated 3%

Question 7

Evaluations of offender surveys?

Answer 7

They provide insight into how many people are responsible for certain crimes, unreliable (exaggerated or concealed)