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PS250-Forensic Psych > Midterm 1: Lectures 1-8 > Flashcards

Midterm 1: Lectures 1-8 Flashcards

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1
Q

Psychology AND the law (Haney’s taxonomy)

A

Uses psych to examine operation of the legal system, psych viewed as separate discipline used to ask questions about the law and research issues

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2
Q

Psychology IN the law (Haney’s taxonomy)

A

Use of psych knowledge in the legal system, expert testimony on legal issues

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3
Q

Psychology OF the law (Haney’s taxonomy)

A

Use of psych to study the law itself, by legal scholars

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4
Q

Why are confessions so influential?

A

May be fundamental attribution error, the tendency to attribute others behaviour to internal causes such as personality or character traits and to dismiss the impacts of situational pressures

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5
Q

9 Steps of the Reid Model of Interrogation

A
  1. Accuse suspect with real or fake evidence, look at response
  2. Offer possible excuses to justify the crime, get them to accept some responsibility
  3. Handling denials
  4. Overcoming objections/explanations
  5. Retaining the subject’s attention
  6. Exhibit sympathy and understanding
  7. Reframe crime as having a good vs bad reason
  8. Develop admission of guilt into full confession
  9. Converting an oral confession into a written one
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6
Q

Minimization techniques in interrogations

A

Soft sell tactics used by police interrogators that are designed to lull the suspect into a false sense of security (sympathizing)

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7
Q

Maximization techniques

A

Scare tactics used by police interrogators that are designed to intimidate a suspect believed to be guilty (telling them there were eyewitnesses when there weren’t)

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8
Q

Psychological processes in play at interrogation

A
  1. Loss of control
  2. Social isolation
  3. Certainty of guilt
  4. Face-saving scenarios
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9
Q

Criticisms in the Reid model

A
  1. Inaccuracy in deception detection, can detect at chance level at best, even trained people
  2. Investigator bias, police have a formed a belief about the suspect guilt prior to interrogation, leads to more coercive behaviours
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10
Q

Legal safeguards in interrogation/arrest

A

Canadian charter sets out that all suspects must be informed of their right to silence (s. 7) and the right to legal counsel (s.10b). Police tell suspects upon arrest.

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11
Q

R v Oickle (2000)

A

Standard for court to determine the voluntariness of a confession and its admissibility

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12
Q

When is police conduct improper?

A

Only deemed improper if it goes so far to “shock the community”

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13
Q

“Mr Big” sting

A

Police make fake criminal organization and use undercover officers posing as gangsters to trick suspects into giving a confession, generally for a murder

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14
Q

Coerced-compliant/instrumental false confession

A

A confession that results from a desire to escape a coercive interrogation environment or gain a benefit promised by the police

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15
Q

Coerced-internalized false confession

A

A confession that results from suggestive interrogation techniques, whereby the confessor actually comes to believe they committed the crime

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16
Q

Employment options for forensic psych

A
  • law enforcement
  • substance abuse counsellor
  • Parole officer
  • paralegal
  • caseworker
  • victim services
  • security
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17
Q

what is forensic psych?

A

deals with human behaviour as it relates to the law

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18
Q

History of forensic psych

A

Began in the us and Europe. First experiments done at Colombia university. La suggestibilite by Alfred Binet looked at question techniques. Around 1900’s psychologists began appearing in court in Europe. Hugo Munsterberg advocated for forensic psych and was ridiculed at the time.

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19
Q

Who in Canada played an important role in Forensic psych developement and research?

A

Dr Stephen Wormith

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20
Q

Roles performed by forensic psychologists

A

-research that examines human behaviour
-professional practice of psychology in the legal system
-clinician forensic psychologists assess offenders and provide other testimonies

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21
Q

Expert witness

A

Witness who provides court with info that assists courts understanding of an issue of relevance to the case

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22
Q

Mohen criteria

A

Canadian standard for accepting expert testimony, will be admissible in court if its relevent, necessary and doesn’t violate any rules and is given by an expert

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23
Q

Internalization

A

The acceptance of guilt for an act, even if the person did not actually commit the act

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24
Q

Confabulation

A

The reporting of events that never actually occurred

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25
Q

Criminal profiling

A

An investigative technique
for identifying the major personality and behavioural characteristics of an individual based upon an analysis of the crimes they have committed. used most often in cases involving violent crimes, though it has also been used in cases of serial robbery, arson, and burglary.

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26
Q

Early attempts at criminal profiling

A

-Jack the Ripper (probably left handed, wearing a cloak)
-NYC Mad Bomber 1940s’

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27
Q

ViCLAS

A

The Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System, which
was developed by the RCMP to collect and analyze information on serious crimes from across Canada

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28
Q

Linkage blindness

A

An inability on the part of the police to link geographically dispersed serial crimes committed by the same offender because of a lack of information sharing among police agencies

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29
Q

Deductive criminal profiling

A

Profiling the background characteristics of an unknown offender based on evidence left at the crime scenes by that particular offender. Relies on logical reasoning, but this can be faulty.

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30
Q

Inductive criminal profiling

A

Profiling the background characteristics of an unknown offender based on what we know about other solved cases. Relies on probability and determining how likely it is that offender has same traits given prevalence of characteristics among known offenders who committed similar crimes. Basis of organized/disorganized model.

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31
Q

Investigative psychology

A

Evidence based method involving stat analysis to examine consistent patterns in crime scene behaviours and background characteristics across diff previous crimes, inductive. Focus on analyszing behaviours occuring during the comission of a crime. Ex: statistical cluster analysis

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32
Q

Geographic investigative psych profiling typologies

A

(1) hunters, who actively seek out victims close to their home;
(2) poachers, who travel long distances to find their victims;
(3) trollers, who encounter their victims during their regular rou- tine; and
(4) trappers, who put themselves into a situation (e.g., a job) where they have access to preferred victims.

33
Q

approach behaviours, three clusters (investigative psych profiling)

A

(1) opportunistic cons/tricksters use some sort of ruse to approach their victim,
(2) the home intruder forces their way into the victim’s home, and
(3) non-violent persuasion offenders use strategies such as gift giving to get close to familiar victims.

34
Q

Criticisms of criminal profiling

A
  1. Many forms of profiling appear to be based on a theoretical model of personality that lacks strong empirical support.
  2. The core psychological assumptions underlying profiling currently lack strong empirical support.
  3. Many profiles contain information that is so vague and ambiguous they can potentially fit many suspects.
  4. Professional profilers may be no better than untrained individuals at constructing accurate profiles.
  5. Organized/disorganized is forced dichotomy
35
Q

Classic trait model

A

A model of personality that assumes the primary determinants of behaviour are stable, internal traits that are same in every context. There many forms of profiling, especially those based on models such as the FBI’s organized-disorganized approach, rely on this.

36
Q

Geographic profiling

A

An investigative technique that uses crime scene locations to predict the most likely area where an offender resides. Used most often in cases involving violent crimes. Spatial analysis that uses known crime scene locations that are geographically connected to home base.

37
Q

Geographic profiling systems

A

Computer systems that use mathematical models of offender spatial behaviour to make predictions about where unknown serial offenders are likely to reside

38
Q

Douglas, Ressler, Burgess, & Hartman (1986) described six
stages of the profiling process:

A

(1) input: collecting crime scene information;
(2) decision process: arranging the input into meaningful patterns and analyzing victim and offender risk;
(3) crime assessment: reconstructing the crime and the offender motivation;
(4) criminal profile: developing these specific descriptions of the offender
(5) investigation: using the profile as an aid or adjunct in investigation
(6) apprehension: checking the accuracy and the description against new information that emerges in the investigation and changing the profile accordingly

39
Q

Victim vs Offender risk

A

Victim risk refers to the amount of risk (high, moderate, or low) a victim placed her/himself in to become a victim, Offender risk refers to the level of risk (high, moderate, or
low) an offender places himself in that might lead to his apprehension.

40
Q

Staging

A

Staging is the alteration of a crime scene in order to re-direct
the investigation away from the offender

41
Q

Comparison question test (CQT)

A

A type of polygraph test that includes neutral questions
that are unrelated to the crime, relevant questions concerning the crime being investigated, and comparison questions concerning the person’s honesty and past history prior to the event being investigated. Relevant questions deal with the crime being investigated (e.g., “On June 12, did you rob that bank in Winnipeg?”). Probable-lie comparison questions are designed to be emotionally arousing for all respondents and typically focus on the person’s honesty and past history prior to the event being investigated (e.g., “Before the age of 45, did you ever take anything of value that did not belong to you?”). Popular in North America.

42
Q

Concealed information test (CIT)

A

A type of polygraph test designed to determine if the person knows details about a crime. A CIT question in the context of a homicide might take the following form: “Did you kill the person with (a) a knife, (b) an axe, (c) a handgun, (d) a crowbar, or (e) a rifle?” The guilty suspect is assumed to display a larger physiological response to the correct option than to the incorrect options. Popular in Europe, not America.

43
Q

Countermeasures

A

As applied to polygraph research, techniques used to try to conceal guilt

44
Q

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs)

A

Brain activity measured
by placing electrodes on
the scalp and recording electrical patterns related to presentation of a stimulus. In the past decade, researchers have attempted to use brain- based responses to detect deception. fMRI’s are 90% accurate at detecting deception.

45
Q

Microexpressions (Ekman 1992)

A

Brief facial expressions that reflect the emotion a person is feeling. Ekman (1992) hypothesized that when people are attempting to conceal an emotion, the true emotion may be manifest as a microfacial expression. 7 universal expressions (inside out emotions+contempt and suprise)

46
Q

How accurate are people at detecting deception?

A

the accuracy rate for detecting deception for “professional lie catchers,” such as police officers, judges, and psychologists, was 55.5 percent, a rate that is not much more accurate than that of students and other citizens (who had 54.2 percent accuracy). Thus, the accuracy rate for both professionals and students is just barely above what would be obtained by guessing (50 percent).

47
Q

Truth-bias

A

The tendency of people to judge more messages as truthful than deceptive

48
Q

Conversion disorder

A

person has some neurologic symptom (e.g., paralysis, blindness) that cannot be explained by a medical condition. The symptoms are not intentionally produced and psychological factors (e.g., conflict or stressors) initiate or exacerbate the symptom.

49
Q

Factitious disorder

A

A disorder in which the person’s physical and psychological symptoms are intentionally produced and there are no external incentives, which includes “falsification of physical or psychological signs or symptoms, or induction of injury or disease”; “individual presents himself or herself to others as ill, impaired, or injured”; and “deceptive behavior is evident even in the absence of obvious external rewards”

50
Q

Munchausen syndrome by proxy

A

A rare factitious disorder in which a person intentionally produces an illness in their child, in DSM-5 this is called factitious disorder imposed on another

51
Q

Malingering

A

Intentionally faking psychological or physical symptoms for some type of external gain.
People typically malinger mental illness for one of the following external motivations:
* A criminal may attempt to avoid punishment by pretending to be unfit to stand trial, to have a mental illness at the time of a criminal act, or to have an acute mental illness to avoid being executed.
* Prisoners or patients may seek drugs, or prisoners may want to be transferred to a psychiatric facility to do easier time or escape.
* Malingerers may seek financial gain from disability claims, workers’ compensation
* Malingerers may seek admission to a hospital to obtain free room and board.

52
Q

Defensiveness

A

The opposite of malingering is called defensiveness. Defensiveness refers to the conscious denial or extreme minimization of physical or psychological symptoms. Patients or offenders of this sort seek to present themselves in a favourable light. Minimization of physical and psychological symptoms varies both in degree and motivation. Some people might want to appear to be functioning well to meet an external need, such as being a fit parent, or an internal need, such as unwillingness to acknowledge they are a “patient.”

53
Q

Signs of malingered psychosis

A

-Understandable motive for committing crime
-Presence of a partner in the crime
-Current crime fits pattern of previous criminal history
-Suspicious hallucinations
(Continuous rather than intermittent, Hallucinations with no delusions, Claiming all command hallucinations are obeyed)
-Marked discrepancies in interview versus non-interview behaviour
-Sudden emergence of psychotic symptoms to explain criminal act
-Absence of any subtle signs of psychosis
-Suspicious delusions (Elaborate delusions that lack paranoid, grandiose, or religious themes)
-Want to discuss symptoms
-Report many positive symptoms (hallucinations) but not negative ones (blunted affect)

54
Q

Reactive (affective) aggression

A

Aggression that is impulsive, unplanned, immediate, driven by negative emotions, and occurring in response to some perceived provocation

55
Q

Instrumental (predatory) aggression

A

Aggression that is premeditated, calculated, and motivated by some goal (e.g., to obtain money)

56
Q

Serial murder

A

The killing of a minimum of two people over time. The time interval between the murders varies and has been called a cooling-off period. Subsequent murders occur at different times, have no apparent connection to the initial murder, and are usually committed in different locations

57
Q

Mass murder

A

The killing of multiple victims at a single location during one event with no cooling-off period

58
Q

Spree murder

A

The killing of two or more victims in one continuous event at two or more locations, with no cooling-off period between the murders

59
Q

Holmes and Holmes 4 Typologies of Serial Murderers

A

(1) visionary: kills in response to voices or visions telling them to kill. This type of serial murderer would most likely be diagnosed as delusional or psychotic.
(2) mission oriented: believes there is a group of undesirable people who should be eliminated
(3) hedonistic: motivated by self-gratification. 3 subcategories: The lust serial murderer is motivated by sexual gratification, The thrill murderer derives excitement from seeing their victims experience terror or pain, The comfort serial murderer is motivated by material or financial gain.
(4) power/control oriented: not motivated by sexual gratification but by wanting to have absolute dominance over the victim.

60
Q

Female vs Male Serial killers

A

Males tend to have a prior criminal history, are more likely to use a firearm or to strangle or stab their victims, more likely to kill strangers.
Females tend not to have a prior criminal history, much more likely to use poison, much more likely to kill family members.
Males are more likely to kill for sexual gratification or control, Females are more likely to kill for money.
Main female killer types are black widows and angels of death.

61
Q

Profiling variables

A
  1. Victim risk
  2. Offender risk
  3. Escalation, many offenders start with small crimes and over time their level of criminality increases
  4. Staging, alteration of crime scene to re-direct the investigation
  5. Modus operandi, method of carrying out crime, focus on repetitive/ritualistic behaviour, signature left or trophy taken
  6. Time and Location, examining aspects of the duration of the crime, how long was offender with victim
62
Q

Distance decay

A

further away offender moves from their home base, they are less likely to commit crimes closer to home but create a buffer zone around homebase to avoid detection

63
Q

Circle theory of environmental range

A

Offenders typically commit crimes within a circular range of their home base

64
Q

Criticisms of Holmes and Holmes serial killer typologies

A

-Considerable overlap in categories
-Model not empirically tested
-Canter & Wentink failed to prove
-Murderers may change motive over time

65
Q

Genuine/Duchenne Smile

A

-Lines formed around under eyes
-Raised cheeks
-Nasolabial folds
-Corners of mouth pulled up

66
Q

Polygraph pitfalls

A

-Innocent person may react strongly to relevant q’s about offence because it is upsetting
-Jaded criminal may be less likely to physiologically react to lying, if they are a psychopath
-criminals may not remember specific details from crimes
-if suspect doesn’t believe polygraph is valid the test will be less effective
-Lack of standardization in conducting polygraph tests

67
Q

Accuracy of polygraph tests

A

CQT
-Very accurate at identifying guilty people, 84-92% hit rate
-Vulnerable to many false positives, 55-78% of innocent people classified as guilty
CIT
-Very accurate at identifying innocent people, 95% hit rate
-Vulnerable to false negatives

68
Q

Cues to deception that are scientifically accurate vs those that aren’t

A

Scientifically accurate
-speech fillers, speech errors, pitch of voice and rate of speech
Not
-Non verbal behaviours like gaze aversion, smiling, blinking, fidgeting

69
Q

Can we tell when someone is lying?

A

-Rely on behaviours that lack predictive validity
-Truth bias-tendency to judge more messages as truthful than deceptive
-Only small differences between liars and truth tellers

70
Q

What percentage of wrongful convictions are due to false confessions?

A

16%

71
Q

How often do false confessions occur?

A

Estimates vary drastically
-Self report range from 0.6%-12%
-40% of canadas youth offenders reported making at least 1 false confession
-70ppl have been exonerated in Canada

72
Q

Voluntary instrumental false confession

A

Provided without prompting or pressure from the police to protect someone else, gain notoriety, pre-empt further investigation of more serious crimes. Ex: charles lindbergh, 200+ false confessions

73
Q

Voluntary internalized false confession

A

Confession freely given by person experiencing serious psychosis who believes to have done it with little or no pressure from police. Cannot distinguish reality, relieve feelings of guilt

74
Q

Misclassification error (causes of false confessions)

A
  1. Flawed investigation training, inaccurate lie detection
  2. Innocent person is readily noticed based on general or vague eyewitness descriptions (ex public response to police sketch)
  3. Use of widespread crime-related schemes (assume usual suspects like spouse killing spouse)
75
Q

Coercion error (causes of false confessions)

A

Hgih profile case+scant evidence=police panic
-Psychologically coercive methods are used like deprivation, extreme exhaustion, promises of leniency or threats
-Suspects perceives no choice but to comply with demands, becomes worn down and sees no other option

76
Q

Contamination error (causes of false confessions)

A

Interrogator (in)advertently suggests/scripts details for the suspect to incorporate into post admission narrative
-Innocent person wouldn’t have known details about crime unless supplied by investigators
-Police pressure suspect to accept an ccount

77
Q

Saul’s recommendations on interrogations to avoid false confessions

A

Make sure all interrogations are filmed start to finish. Every human has a breaking point and that leads many ppl to falsely confess.

78
Q

Compliance vs suggestibility

A

Compliance: A tendency to go along with demands made by people perceived to be in authority, even though the person may not agree with them. Avoid conflict and confrontation. Factor in coerced instrumental confessions.
Suggestibility: Tendency to internalize info communicated, high anxiety, poor memory, low self esteem. Factor in coerced internalized confessions.

PS250-Forensic Psych (2 decks)

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