test 3 Flashcards
Civil commitment
must be a danger to yourself or others
2 types of forensic evaluations done in civil court
Competency to Stand Trial, custody hearing
2 ways that civil commitment
differs from criminal commitment
Civil is not a set time. Civil is not punishment. Crim is punitive. Civil is for help
What are Sexually Violent
Predator (SVP) laws
When sex offenders are civilly committed to keep them away from society
What are the 2 main questions that psychologists need to assess when conducting evaluations for
personal injury lawsuits
Presence of damage and cause of damage
Name the 4 main goals of punishment
Retribution, rehabilitation, Deterrence, and Incapacitation
Name 2 alternatives to traditional sentencing of offenders
Public shaming, drug and alc court
Provide 2 pieces of information about incarceration rates in the United States today
highest number for a 1st world country. Disproportional for minorities
What are 2 pieces of evidence to suggest that prison is not a general deterrent to crime?
Us has high homicide and violent crime rates compared to other Western nations
Compare states with 3 strike laws to states without them
2 ways that sentencing for sex offenders differs from sentencing for other types of offenders
mandatory rehab, register as sex offender, longer sentencing
How do death penalty trials differ
from regular criminal trials
Jury must decide whether to impose the death penalty.
an aggravating factor and
an example of a mitigating factor in a death penalty trial
Aggravating factor: rape, torture makes them look worse. Mitigating factor: pillar of community, mental illness
that the death penalty is not a deterrent for murder
Following public murders/executions, a small but significant increase in murder, violent crime, and After states have reinstitute death penalty, rates same or higher
What is required in order to become “death qualified” as a juror
Can’t be against the death penalty
What did the Supreme Court decide in the case Roper v. Simmons
Supreme court ruled juvenile death penalty cruel and unusual, banned it
2 sources of bias in death penalty cases
Largest source of bias: race of defendant and victim, Inconsistent application violates “equal protection” clauses of Constitution
What is the significance of the Supreme Court case Gregg v. Georgia (1976)?
brought back the death penalty 2 pronged, Only certain crimes eligible: murder, treason, and espionage
Name 2 ineffective rehabilitation
programs for juveniles
Scared straight, boot camp, wilderness camps. They Don’t target risk factors for delinquency
Kids are grouped with other delinquent kids
Describe an effective treatment
program for delinquent youth
Multi-systemic therapy (MST)
Are intensive and long-term (1+ years)
Target multiple contexts of child’s life
How do rehabilitation programs for adults differ from programs for juveniles
Institutional based programs are more common
High rates of mental illness in jail/prisons
Name 2 community-based rehabilitation programs for adult offenders
Probation, Drug courts
List 3 areas of effectiveness for community-based juvenile rehabilitation programs
Multi-systemic therapy (MST)
Oregon treatment foster care (OTFC)
Functional Family Therapy
What is the difference between peremptory challenges and challenges for cause
Peremptory challenges limited amount set by a judge can eliminate anyone for any reason besides discrimination. Challenges for cause unlimited to get rid of bias
similarity-leniency hypothesis
of jury decision-making
Similarity-leniency hypothesis if weak evidence if similar to defendant will be less harsh to
2 observable characteristics: race and gender
Name 1 personality attribute that impacts juror decisions
Authortanism is going to vote more punitive. Locus of control. External believes in luck. Internal doesn’t going to vote guilty
Name 2 things that jurors are
not good at doing during a trial
forgetting misheard information and judges instructions
2 observable characteristics of potential jurors that may impact their decisions
Gender and Race
Name an extralegal factor that can influence jury decisions
gender, race, prior convictions
What does the M’Naghten test for insanity require
Don’t know the nature or appreciate your behavior
The insanity defense is an affirmative defense. What does that mean
Burden of proof to defense
What is the test for
competency to stand trial
Dusky Standard. Does it impair his ability to participate in the criminal justice system
What happens to a defendant who is found Incompetent to Stand Trial
Trial stops and has to get competent to resume again
Describe 1 myth about the insanity defense and explain why it is wrong
Happens all the time
Name 2 differences between competency to stand trial and insanity
Mental state CTST at court insanity time of crime. CTST can be brought up by anyone, an insanity burden of proof on defense
Describe the conflict of
“equality vs. discretion”
Equality: all people who commit the same crime should have the same consequences. “All people are created equal”
Discretion: using judgements about the circumstances of the crime to determine how the system should respond.
What would a psychologist functioning as policy evaluator be likely to do in the legal system?
sex offender notification
Balancing a sex offender’s right to freedom with society’s right to safety is an example of which conflict in the legal system?
Individual Rights vs The Common Good
There are 2 views on the purposes of a trial. Name one of them.
find out the truth, get justice
These people are hired by the Court or attorneys on a case to evaluate a defendant and provide their results to the Court
Forensic evaluators
Name 2 ways that a person can be arrested by the police.
What is the role of a grand jury
decides whether probable cause exists for each charge
What happens at an arraignment
first appearance at court. Set bail, read charges and plea
How is a civil trial different from a criminal trial
Plaintiff vs. Defendant
Case brought by injured party
Seek monetary damages for wrongdoing
Burden of proof
Preponderance of the evidence
Verdict: rule in favor of a party
Award $$$
Which side goes first during a trial, and why
Prosecution because they have the burden of truth
Name 1 brain area thought to be
related to criminal behavior
Frontal lobe/prefrontal cortex
Describe the Control Theory of criminal behavior
we are born with a criminal predisposition, must learn to control impulses
What do studies examining the genetic contribution to crime typically find
If predisposed to crime with a criminal family leads to crime
Name 1 psychological risk factor for criminal behavior
Cognitive theories: focus on perception of events and info processing
Antisocial attitudes: thoughts, feelings, and beliefs supportive of crime
How might the Hostile Attribution Bias lead to crime
viewing neutral people as hostile
What are the 3 stages of memory
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
Name 2 factors that influence the encoding of criminal events and may impact one’s memory for them
weapon focus, how traumatic it was, cross race, lighting, drugs/alc
What is the difference between a sequential and a simultaneous lineup? Which is more accurate
Simultaneous see them all at once more false positives. Sequential see one at a time.
Name 3 recommendations by psychologists to police to help promote accurate eyewitness identifications of suspects
Don’t provide feedback, sequential lineup, tell them the suspect might not be here
According to the Innocence Project, what is the #1 cause of wrongful convictions in the US
Eyewitness testimony
What are 2 reasons that juveniles are more likely to falsely confess than adults
trust adults, and do not understand the consequences
What are the 2 types of
lie detector tests?
Which is more accurate
Control Question test (CQT)
Guilty Knowledge Test
GKT more accurate
If we want to distinguish a liar
from a truth-teller,
what cue(s) should we focus on
diagnostic cues
Verbal (non-verbal) cues: the story itself
Truthful stories are more detailed, more likely to be missing pieces (I can’t remember)
Are polygraph results admitted
into US criminal courts?
Why or why not
No because they are inaccurate.
3 types of false confessions
Voluntary false confessions: people who come forward and confess
Compliant false confessions: Confessing to escape or avoid excessive/lengthy interrogations
Internalized false confession: after prolonged interrogation, some suspects come to believe that they committed the crime
