Module 3

Question 1

3 Types of False Confessions…and why?

Answer 1

Voluntary: A false confession that is provided
without any elicitation from the police

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

Coerced-internalized: A confession that results
from suggestive interrogation techniques,
whereby the confessor actually comes to believe
he or she committed the crime

Question 2

Consequences of False Confessions

Answer 2

Genuine false confessions still likely to be viewed
as evidence of guilt by jurors

Question 3

Genuine false confessions still likely to be viewed
as evidence of guilt by jurors for 3 main reasons:

Answer 3

–Difficulty with self-incrimination explanation
–Difficulty distinguishing true vs false
confessions
–Difficulty with form and content similarities
between true and false confessions

Question 4

Confessions are admissible if

Answer 4

• Given VOLUNTARILY
• By a COMPETENT individual
• Overtly coercive tactics not acceptable
• R. v. Hoilett, 1999; R. v. Chapple (2012)
• Subtle forms of coercion acceptable
• R. v. Oickle, 2000

Question 5

What is offender profiling

Answer 5

technique for identifying the personality and
behavioural features of an offender based on an analysis
of the crimes they have committed

Question 6

Goals of profiling

Answer 6

• Suspect prioritization
• New lines of enquiry
• Interview strategies
• Flush out offender

Question 7

Different types of “profiling”

Answer 7

1. Clinical approach: case-by-case, conducted
   by trained profiler, methods vary depending on
   who is doing it
2. Statistically-oriented approach: profiling
   using more systematic and consistent
   psychological theories to build statistical models
   of offending
3. Case linkage analysis: determining whether
   different crimes were committed by the same
   person based on evidence and crime behaviours
4. Geographical profiling: determining where
   the offender lives based on where they commit
   their crimes

Question 8

Clinical approach limitations

Answer 8

Faulty assumptions, “mixed” crime scenes, Ambiguous advice, Are profilers experts?

Question 9

Limitations of Geographic Profiling

Answer 9

Geographic profiling works because serial offenders
typically travel short distances to commit most of their
crimes