Week 1- Psychology and the law Flashcards
Forensic psychology is concerned with the assessment of people already arrested including
Motives
State of mind during the act
Fitness to stand trial
Mental disorder assessment
This usually doesn’t involve profiling, yet some psychologists engage in this activity
Based on statistical information
the mission of the forensic psychiatric expert is to
determine as accurately as possible what is objectively true about the plaintiff’s or criminal defender’s diagnosis from a sceptical point of view
THE PSYCHOLOGY/LAW DICHOTOMY
Both psychology and law deal with the human condition (human choices, behaviour and consequences)
Yet they come from very different perspectives
LAW
Assumption that individuals act as a result of free will and rational choice, Therefore responsible for their actions
-> Law involves speculation; introspection; intuition; reflection; culturally transmitted beliefs; personal anecdotes
-> Law is very black and white – aim to find THE TRUTH (guilt/innocence)
-> Law tries to pin down the offender’s motive for behaviour (cause = guilt)
PSYCHOLOGY
-> The epistemology of psychology is based on empiricism (Observation, experimental, Hypothetic- deductive method)
-> Psychology as a discipline has a lot of grey, purpose in finding a truth, multiple causes, nothing is ever proved
PSYCHOLOGY
Creativity
Empirical
experimentation
descriptive
Nomothetic (describes the effort to derive laws that explain objective phenomena in general) – generalise
Probabilistic
proactive
academic
Future orientated
LAW
conservatism
authoritative
adversarial
prescriptive
diographic (describes the effort to understand the meaning of contingent, unique, & often subjective phenomena) - specify
certainty
reactive
operational
Past oriented
Roles of psychologists in criminal proceedings:
Clinical Role – Clinical interviewing, psychological assessments/evaluations, question of psychological disorder, psychometric testing, etc.
Experimental Role – Experiments for the defence/prosecution –eye witness testimony.
Actuarial Role – Statistical probabilities to behavioural data. Probabilistic reasoning. The incidence of a given human event in an appropriate sample of the population, i.e. young male drivers.
Advisory Role – Examining the evidence of other experts. Advice to defence/prosecution. Investigative psychology
MAJOR COMPONENTS OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
Police Psychology: Recruitment, Stress
Investigative Psychology: Profiling, Geographic Profiling
Clinical Psychology: Assessment, Prediction
Prison Psychology: Treatment, Parole/release
Biological Psychology: Inheritance of criminality, Effects of injury
Developmental Psychology: Aggression, Delinquency
Cognitive Psychology: Eyewitness Testimony, Interviewing
Social Psychology: Juries, Media Influences
1962 Jenkins v. United States
Ruling that psychologists could act as expert witnesses on matter of mental illness at the time crime was committed.
WHAT IS CRIME?
Term is relatively and culturally defined, not a single definition exists (influenced by public opinion). Need to take factors in account to define crime relevantly
- An act punishable by law (English Dictionary)
- Criminal behaviour is an act that violates criminal law and may therefore be followed by criminal proceedings and attracts the appropriate punishment. (Hollin, 1999)
- Anything forbidden or punishable by the criminal justice system. (Feldman, 1993)
THE conflict view
MARXIST THEORY- Opposed to the Consensus view. Argues that society operates as a collection of competing diverse groups, rather than a unified whole. Unequal distribution of wealth and power. This conflict promotes crime
POWERFUL WANT TO REMAIN Powerful, who has the power to label someone a criminal ect?
THE CONSENSUS VIEW
Functionalist perspective from sociological research
The idea of society functioning as the member respects a whole, and norms, rules and values because of consensus or agreements of that society. The majority in that society meets a crime with disapproval.
THE INTERACTIONALIST VIEW
Lies between consensus view and conflict view
Focus on meaning we apply to ourselves and others
Behaviours of individuals is guided by their interpretation of reality and the meaning events have for them
Meaning is learned from the way other people react (positive or negative)
Meaning can differ between people
Therefore, one’s behaviour is made according to the meanings learned and acquired from others
THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM (CJS)
Complex system which promotes law abiding behaviour and discourages law-breaking behaviour.
Many components and issues associated with CJS:
Types of crime – murder, rape, theft, fraud, public order, etc.
Recording and classification of crime
Crime prevention
Imprisonment
Penal policy
Sentencing
Case law decisions, etc
HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT CRIME?
First actual crime statistics published in France, 1827 (Guerry & Quetelet)
Geographical distribution of crime (first type of geographical profiling), crime occurrence in Paris, hotspots of crime
Biological bases of crime
Lombroso
University of Leipzig 1875
establishment of psychological laboratory (legacy of Wilhelm Wundt)
Albert Von Schrenk-Nortzing 1896
Leipzig Court: testimony into effects of media, arguing witnesses at murder trial confused actual memories of events with pre-trial publicity
Very relevant today, especially in regard to social media
J.M.Cattell (c.1895)
investigated human memory and the quality of eyewitness testimony.
Influenced Binet (originator of IQ testing) in France and William Stern in Germany
SOURCES OF CRIME - INFORMATION
We mostly hear of crime through media
Reality vs reporting? Doesn’t always reflect
Property crimes underrepresented in the media (although most likely to effect the general public)
Murder and violent crimes over-represented
We are drawn to crime, abbhorent human behaviour, fascination!!!
Why does crime captivate??
CRIME STATISTICS
Crime statistics are based on data collected from a range of different sources, and are therefore open to different interpretation:
Crimes reported to police – dependent on those re[ported, and some people may decide not to go to the police
Court statistics – codify numbers and types of offences being processed
Prison statistics – number of people in prison, offence categories and sentences
General population offender surveys – random sample of households interviewed about crimes committed over lifetime and in last 12 months
AUSTRALIAN COURTS
Australian court system modelled on UK, therefore essentially adversarial – but also has different systems within it – Tribunals, Children’s Court, Family Court, Drug Court, Restorative Justice, including Circle Sentencing (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander).
Our criminal justice system asks these three questions:
What law was broken?
Who broke it?
What punishment is warranted?
Restorative justice
asks an entirely different set of questions:
Who was harmed?
What are the needs and responsibilities of all affected?
How do all affected parties together address needs and repair harm?
Restorative justice is reparative, inclusive, and balanced. It emphasises: Repairing harm, Inviting all affected to dialogue together to figure out how to do so, Giving equal attention to community safety, victim’s needs, and offender accountability and growth
CRIME AND THE PUBLIC - IT’S A SOCIAL PROCESS
Ainsworth (2000a) – path from commission of crime to punishment of offender is long, complex and tortuous one. Crime not simply product of mind of criminal – but also social product
Evidence that public appear to be tough-minded towards crime – and this may influence way in which criminal justice is administered
Moral panics essentially an overreaction to some event – perceived as threat or risk to society’s major values. Alarm generated may lead to demands that action should be taken against source of threat. Strength of threat tends to be self nurturing resulting in escalation on panic
Eg. Current exaggerated concerns (for political effect) regarding terrorism and Muslims – countered through various postings – number of people killed as a result of other causes compared with those killed as a result of terrorism – but fear is powerful
