law Flashcards
what;s criminal law
smne commits crime against SOCIETY n police arrest suspect
crime shatters collectie sense of security
who decides whether there’s enough evid of motive to press formal charges
crown attorney
what is civil law
party complains against another for VIOLATION former’s rights
PRIVATE cases bw comapnies n individuals
common cause of innocent being convicted
erroneous eyewitness
jurors tend to rely hevaily on eyewitnesses thereby
overestimating their accuracy
accuracy of eyewitness depends on…
viewing conditions at time of crime
how to be acurate eyewitness?
successfully complete 3 stages memory processing:
1 acquisition
2 storage
3 retrieval
acquisition: notice env, but humans cannot notice everything, therefore we
have selective attention - acquire subset of info
srcs of error reducing accruacy in acquisition:
1 distance
2 weapon presence (will be focus)
3 unfamiliar w pple/event - biases like own race bias
own race bias
better at recognizing fae of own race
storage -> reconstructive memory
memories distorted by new info introducd AFTER event
eg yield vs stop sign
srcs of error in storage that decr accuracy
src monitoring:
src monitoring
process by which u try to identify SRC of memory - many mistakes + reconstructive memory
retrieval : src of error in recall info from storage
best guest problem - false id occurs when believe perpetrator is present - approximates more than being 100% sure
how to improve eyewitness accuracy in police lineup?
1 erbody resembles suspect description
2 tell witness they may or may not be there
3 now always include suspet in initial lineup
4 conducter shouldnt now whos suspect either
5 present sequentially rather than simultaneous
6 minimize time bw crime n lineup
is a witness’ confidence strongly correlated w their accuracy?
no
what else decreases accuracy eyewitness
more faces to compare and verbal descriptions
ways to improve eyewitness testimony accuracy?
cognitive interview
or
context reinstatement
cognitive interview
focus attention on details n context of event
context reinstatement
physically return to scene of crime
recovered memories
recollections that have been forgotten or repressed
false memory syndrome
recall past trauma that’s objectively FALSE but personally accept as TRUE
how jurors process info during trial
choose testimony that explains most evidence then try to fit story to verdicts
story order
evidence presented in order of seq of events
witness order
witnesses presented in order in which LAWYER think will have greatest impat
which info order sways juror most?
story order
false confessions likely to occur if:
1 prolonged stressful interrogation
2 suspect highly suggestible/dumb
3 coercive tactics
possible remedy to false confessions?
videotape
problems w recordings?
camera angle can influence perceptions - looks more voluntary if only suspect
- may not see full interaction, miss important context
minorities during deliberations in jury likely to…
pressured to conform w majority
do severe penalties deter crime? deterrence theory
refrain from criminal activitiy bc of threat of legal punishment (swift, certain, severe) - but rarely is so
problems w deterrence theory
1 not everybody knows penalities
2 not every crime is RATIONAL - usually impulsive, emotional
what’s effective in deterring crime then?
incr certainty of getting CAUGHT rather than severity punishment
