Week 6 - Investigation + Profiling Flashcards
R v Oickle
Police lied about polygraph tests being admissible
- Has the police made any threats or promises to the suspect [quid pro quo]?
- Where there any distasteful or inhumane conducts that would amount to an involuntary confession?
- Does the suspect have an operating mind?
- What was the degree of police trickery?
Reid Model 3 stages
Stage 1 – Gathering evidence related to the crime and to interview witnesses and victims
Stage 2 – Conducting a non-accusatorial interview of the suspect to assess any evidence of deception
Stage 3 – Conducting an accusatorial interrogation of the suspect in which a nine-step procedure is implemented
Reid Model goal
Make confessing to the crime more desirable than the anxiety of lying about it
Reid Model Step 1
The suspect is immediately confronted to his or her guilt
Reid Model Step 2
Psychological themes are then developed that allow the suspect to justify, rationalize, or excuse the crime
Reid Model Step 3
The interrogator interrupts any statements of denial by the suspect
Reid Model Step 4
The interrogator overcomes the suspect’s objections to the charges to a point at which the suspect becomes quiet and withdrawn
Reid Model Step 5
The interrogator ensures that the suspect does not tune out of the interrogation by reducing the psychological distance between them
Reid Model Step 6
The interrogator then exhibits sympathy and understanding, and the suspect is urged to come clean
Reid Model Step 7
The suspect is offered face-saving explanations for the crime
Reid Model Step 8
Once the suspect accepts responsibility for the crime, the interrogator develops this admission into a full confession
Reid Model Step 9
The interrogator gets the suspect to write and sign a full confession
Reid Model potential problems
- Deception detection
- Investigator bias
- The coercive nature of the interrogation
R. v. Hoilett
Confession wasn’t accepted as conditions were found inhumane
- under influence of drugs
- left naked in cell for 1h30, refused napkin until he confessed
PEACE Model 5 steps
Preparation & planning
Engage & explain
Account
Closure
Evaluation
PEACE Model advantages
- The more the suspect talks, the more they remember details that can be important
- No non-verbal behaviour fully attached to deception (varies from person to person) - focus on what they are saying instead
- People are prone to suggestion, which can alter what they recall (make them believe that they did the crime) – free recall limits suggestion
- Even without coercion, people confess
Types of false confessions (Kassin & Wrightsman, 1985)
- Voluntary false confessions
- Coerced-compliant false confessions
- Coerced-internalized false confessions
Populations vulnerable to false confessions
- Juveniles
- People with intellectual impairments
- People with mental illness
What are some of the consequences of false confessions?
- A jury could convict the suspect for a crime they did not commit
- May lead investigators down the wrong track; putting the public at further risk from the real offender
Why are jurors unlikely to identify false confessions?
- It counters self-interest
- Difficulty to distinguish between true and false confessions
- False confessions are very similar to true confessions in both their form and content
5 Categories of Profiling
- Crime Scene Profiling
- Geographic Profiling
- Psychological Profiling
- Suspect-Based Profiling
- Psychological Autopsy
Two main approaches to Crime Scene Profiling
- Deductive analysis
- Inductive analysis
Organized/Disorganized Dichotomy
Organized offender
- methodological and cunning, could be quite amiable, and usually carries out their crime at a distance from their residence
- A deliberate, cold, systematic scene
Disorganized offender
- Lacks cunning, has an aversion to society, and has trouble maintaining relationships; tends to commit their crimes closer to their residence
- A chaotic and messy scene
Modus Operandi
The actions and procedures an offender uses to commit a crime successfully
Personation
Any behaviour that goes beyond what is necessary to commit the crime (writing on the wall)
Signature – when such behaviours are demonstrated by a serial offender
Makes it easier to link the crimes
Staging
The intentional alteration of the scene prior to the arrival of the police
To try to derail the police investigation (unlike undoing)
Make it seem like a suicide, accidental death
To divert attention of police away from suspect, to prevent the embarrassment of the victim’s family
A Trophy / A Souvenir
A item taken from the crime scene
- trophy: item symbolizes the offender’s triumph over the victim
- souvenir: meaningful item taken by the offender to remember the crime
Undoing
Behavioural pattern at the crime scene in which the offender tries to psychologically undo the crime
- make it seem like they are sleeping
- excessive facial battery
Pitfalls of Crime Scene Profiling
- Memory and cognitive biases (belief persistence)
- Confirmation bias (gathering data that confirms beliefs)
- Self-serving bias (credit success/deny failure)
- Fundamental Attribution Error (behaviour is a product of personality rather than environment)
Geographic Profiling
- Geographic mapping (looking at hotspots)
- Geographic profiling (movements of an offender or a small group)
Assumptions of GP
- A series of cases are linked to one offender
- At least 3 or 4 crimes are needed
- Offenses should have a stable base of operations
- There should be a short time interval between offenses
- The crime series must occur continuously over time
Psychological Profiling
Predict the likelihood that a specific individual will be dangerous or violent to others at some point in time
Threat assessment
Risk assessment
Threat assesment
Transient: don’t communicate a lasting intent to harm
Substantive: to take seriously
- Specific plausible details in the plan (on - this day, at this time, etc.)
- The threat is repeated several times
- Escalation, new evidence
- Invites an audience
- Acquired arms, weapons, guns, etc.
Suspect-Based Profiling
Summarizes the psychological features of persons who might commit a specific crime
terrorism
- organized vs lone wolves
- typologies
Typology of terrorists (Hoffman, 1993; 2008)
- Rationally motivated terrorist
- Psychologically motivated terrorist
- Culturally motivated terrorist
Psychological Autopsy
Conducted on a dead person for the purpose of determining not the cause, but the mode and motivation of the death
-Research: learning the sings of suicidal tendencies for learn suicide prevention
- Clinical practice applications: if they know why they committed suicide, can help family come to terms, lessen anger
- Litigation: was in foul play or suicide
