Forensics psychology

Question 1

What are some features of an organized offender?

Answer 1

• Planned crime in advance
• High degree of control
• Precise
• Few clews left
• Often married
• High IQ
• Targeted crime
• Professional occupation
• Socially/ sexually competent
• High interest in crimes

Question 2

What are some features of a disorganized offender?

Answer 2

• Lack of planning
• Lack of control
• Clues left and often body
• Often single
• No specific victim
• Low IQ
• Socially awkward
• Poor employment history
• Little interest in crimes

Question 3

DCCP

What are the four main stages of FBI profiling?

Answer 3

1. Data assimilation - evidence is reviewed
2. Crime scene classification - either organised or disorganzed
3. Crime reconstruction - Hypothesis in terms of the sequence of events
4. Profile generation - Hypothesis of likely offender.

Question 4

What type of offender profiling fo the FBI use?

Answer 4

The top-down

Question 5

What is meant by the bottom-up approach to offender profiling?

Answer 5

Using past data of similar crimes in order to build a picture of the offender, investigators will use systematic analysis of the crime scene and compare this with historical data, it does not use fixed typologies but is instead data-driven.

Question 6

What approach to offender profiling is geographical profiling associated with?

Answer 6

Bottom-up profiling

Question 7

What is a marauder?

Answer 7

Someone who commits crimes in close proximity to their base.

Question 8

What is a commuter?

Answer 8

Someone who commits crimes away from their base traveling to commit crimes.

Question 9

What is spatial consistency?

Answer 9

How people commit crimes within a limited geographical space.

Question 10

What is crime mapping?

Answer 10

Using information about the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home or operational base of the offender.

Question 11

What is Modus operandi?

Answer 11

A particular way or method of doing something.

Question 12

What did Canter and Heritage do?

SA cases

Answer 12

Conducted an analysis of 66 sexual assault cases and identified common. behaviors, they also discovered that each assaulter has their own patter of behavior at the crime scene this helps establish case linkage and therefore shows that the bottom-up approach is useful and valid.

Question 13

What did Copson’s study find?

accuracy of advice from the profiler

Answer 13

He found that that advice provided by the profiler was judged to be ‘useful’ in 83% of cases but in only 3% of cases it led to accurate identification of the offender.

Question 14

Describe the Rachel Nickell case.

Answer 14

In 1992 Rachel Nickell was stabbed 47 times on Wimbledon Common and sexually assaulted investigation from the profiler led to police targetting Colin Stagg and the police had an undercover policewoman fake a relationship with him for 5 months to try and get a confession, in 2008 Robert Napper was convicted of the murder having been originally left out as he was several inches taller than the profile.

Question 15

Define the Atavistic form.

Answer 15

An early biological explanation which proposed criminals are a sub-species of genetic throwbacks that cannot conform with the modern rules of society, such individuals are identifiable by particular facial and cranial charicteristics.

Question 16

Explain Lombroso’s study.

Answer 16

Method: Lombroso examined the features and measurements of nearly 4,000 criminals, as well as the skulls of 400 dead criminals.

Results: Some common findings from Lombroso’s investigation included:

sloping brow
pronounced jaw
high cheekbones
large ears
extra nipples, toes, and fingers
Conclusion: Lombroso concluded that these characteristics indicated that such people were more primitive in an evolutionary sense. He went on to say that such individuals were therefore not responsible for their actions as they could not be blamed for their innate, inherited physiology.

Question 17

Explain a limitation of Lombros’ study when compared to modern society.

Answer 17

It has racist connotations as many of his ‘criminal features’ are features often seen in people of African descent.

Question 18

Explain a limitation of Lombroso’s method.

Answer 18

He did not use a control group so although these features may have been seen in offenders he did not cross-examine to see how common they were in the general public.

Question 19

Explain a strength of Lombroso’s study.

Answer 19

A primary strength is that Lombroso shifted the emphasis of crime onto a more scientific theory, looking at evolution and genetics. Secondly, he also introduced the idea of criminal profiling, which is vital for forensic psychologists, by assuming people with certain characteristics are more likely to commit crimes, this has led to criminal profiling now used by most modern police forces.

Question 20

What was the sample size for Lombroso’s study?

Answer 20

4000 Criminals and 400 skulls of dead criminals.

Question 21

What did Christiansen’s study show?

MZ vs DZ offending rates

Answer 21

Studied 3500 twin pairs born between 1880-1910 in Denmark, he found by looking at their offender records and found 35% concordance rates in MZ twins and 13% for DZ twins.

Question 22

What did Crowe find?

Adopted children with an offender mother

Answer 22

He found that adopted kids with an offender mother had a 50% higher chance of being an offender.

Question 23

What are the two genes linked with an offending?

Answer 23

MAOA
CDH13

Question 24

What is the CDH13 gene linked with?

Answer 24

Attention deficit disorder.

Question 25

What is an issue with adoption studies?

Answer 25

Children are adopted at different ages so may have spent more time with their parents than others.

Question 26

Explain Eysencks criminal personality study.

p,e,n

Answer 26

• 2070 male prisoners measured on extraversion and neuroticism scores
• Control group of 2422 non prisoners same score
• Found criminals have high P,E,N (psychoticism) scores

Question 27

2 limitations of Eysencks study

P,E,N

Answer 27

• Research by Farrigdon found high P scores in offenders but not E or N
• Personality studys are reductionist
• Not generalisable to different cultures

Question 28

Explain the Heinz dilemma

Answer 28

• Heinz’s wife is dying of cancer
• There is a cure but v expensive
• Heinz can only gather 50% of the cost
• Chemist wont lower or allow pay back
• Heinz steals drug
• Should Heinz have stolen the drug?
• Does the chemist have the right to charge what he likes?
• Would it make a difference if the person dying was a stranger?
• Should the chemist be arrested for murder should Heinz’s wife die?

Question 29

What did Kohlburg devise?

Answer 29

3 levels of morality with 6 stages.

Question 30

What is differential association theory?

Crime learning

Answer 30

Crime is learned same as other behaviours, regular, meaningful interactions with people the child values.