Week 1- Psychology and the law

Question 1

Forensic psychology is concerned with the assessment of people already arrested including

Answer 1

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

Question 2

the mission of the forensic psychiatric expert is to

Answer 2

determine as accurately as possible what is objectively true about the plaintiff’s or criminal defender’s diagnosis from a sceptical point of view

Question 3

THE PSYCHOLOGY/LAW DICHOTOMY

Answer 3

Both psychology and law deal with the human condition (human choices, behaviour and consequences)

Yet they come from very different perspectives

Question 4

LAW

Answer 4

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)

Question 5

PSYCHOLOGY

Answer 5

-> 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

Question 6

PSYCHOLOGY

Answer 6

Creativity

Empirical

experimentation

descriptive

Nomothetic (describes the effort to derive laws that explain objective phenomena in general) – generalise

Probabilistic

proactive

academic

Future orientated

Question 7

LAW

Answer 7

conservatism

authoritative

adversarial

prescriptive

diographic (describes the effort to understand the meaning of contingent, unique, & often subjective phenomena) - specify

certainty

reactive

operational

Past oriented

Question 8

Roles of psychologists in criminal proceedings:

Answer 8

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

Question 9

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY

Answer 9

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

Question 10

1962 Jenkins v. United States

Answer 10

Ruling that psychologists could act as expert witnesses on matter of mental illness at the time crime was committed.

Question 11

WHAT IS CRIME?

Answer 11

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)

Question 12

THE conflict view

Answer 12

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?

Question 13

THE CONSENSUS VIEW

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

THE INTERACTIONALIST VIEW

Answer 14

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

Question 15

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM (CJS)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT CRIME?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

University of Leipzig 1875

Answer 17

establishment of psychological laboratory (legacy of Wilhelm Wundt)

Question 18

Albert Von Schrenk-Nortzing 1896

Answer 18

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

Question 19

J.M.Cattell (c.1895)

Answer 19

investigated human memory and the quality of eyewitness testimony.

Influenced Binet (originator of IQ testing) in France and William Stern in Germany

Question 20

SOURCES OF CRIME - INFORMATION

Answer 20

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??

Question 21

CRIME STATISTICS

Answer 21

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

Question 22

AUSTRALIAN COURTS

Answer 22

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?

Question 23

Restorative justice

Answer 23

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

Question 24

CRIME AND THE PUBLIC - IT’S A SOCIAL PROCESS

Answer 24

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

Question 25

FEAR OF CRIME - ORIGINS AND THEORIES

Answer 25

Distorted image of crime portrayed by media affects heavy TV viewers disproportionately (Cultivation theory)

Any source of information may provide particularly vivid but negative impression of particular crime or particular sort of crime such that the individual responds to similar situations to the vivid imagery with fear (Availability heuristic)

 Fear of crime is the consequence of the independent influences of beliefs about the negative consequences of being victimised and subjective risk of victimisation (Cognitive theory)

Question 26

PERCEPTION AND REALITY

Answer 26

Perception: the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses

Reality: the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them

Question 27

INSANITY DEFENCE

Answer 27

An insanity defence is based on the theory that most people can choose to follow the law;

But a few select persons cannot be held accountable because mental disease or disability deprives them of the ability to make a rational/voluntary choice.

Insanity is a Mental illness of such a severe nature that a person…

 cannot distinguish fantasy from reality,

 is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behaviour.