Week 6 - Investigation + Profiling

Question 1

R v Oickle

Answer 1

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?

Question 2

Reid Model 3 stages

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Reid Model goal

Answer 3

Make confessing to the crime more desirable than the anxiety of lying about it

Question 4

Reid Model Step 1

Answer 4

The suspect is immediately confronted to his or her guilt

Question 5

Reid Model Step 2

Answer 5

Psychological themes are then developed that allow the suspect to justify, rationalize, or excuse the crime

Question 6

Reid Model Step 3

Answer 6

The interrogator interrupts any statements of denial by the suspect

Question 7

Reid Model Step 4

Answer 7

The interrogator overcomes the suspect’s objections to the charges to a point at which the suspect becomes quiet and withdrawn

Question 8

Reid Model Step 5

Answer 8

The interrogator ensures that the suspect does not tune out of the interrogation by reducing the psychological distance between them

Question 9

Reid Model Step 6

Answer 9

The interrogator then exhibits sympathy and understanding, and the suspect is urged to come clean

Question 10

Reid Model Step 7

Answer 10

The suspect is offered face-saving explanations for the crime

Question 11

Reid Model Step 8

Answer 11

Once the suspect accepts responsibility for the crime, the interrogator develops this admission into a full confession

Question 12

Reid Model Step 9

Answer 12

The interrogator gets the suspect to write and sign a full confession

Question 13

Reid Model potential problems

Answer 13

• Deception detection
• Investigator bias
• The coercive nature of the interrogation

Question 14

R. v. Hoilett

Answer 14

Confession wasn’t accepted as conditions were found inhumane
- under influence of drugs
- left naked in cell for 1h30, refused napkin until he confessed

Question 15

PEACE Model 5 steps

Answer 15

Preparation & planning
Engage & explain
Account
Closure
Evaluation

Question 16

PEACE Model advantages

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

Types of false confessions (Kassin & Wrightsman, 1985)

Answer 17

• Voluntary false confessions
• Coerced-compliant false confessions
• Coerced-internalized false confessions

Question 18

Populations vulnerable to false confessions

Answer 18

• Juveniles
• People with intellectual impairments
• People with mental illness

Question 19

What are some of the consequences of false confessions?

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

Why are jurors unlikely to identify false confessions?

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

5 Categories of Profiling

Answer 21

• Crime Scene Profiling
• Geographic Profiling
• Psychological Profiling
• Suspect-Based Profiling
• Psychological Autopsy

Question 22

Two main approaches to Crime Scene Profiling

Answer 22

• Deductive analysis
• Inductive analysis

Question 23

Organized/Disorganized Dichotomy

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Modus Operandi

Answer 24

The actions and procedures an offender uses to commit a crime successfully

Question 25

Personation

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Staging

Answer 26

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

Question 27

A Trophy / A Souvenir

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Undoing

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Pitfalls of Crime Scene Profiling

Answer 29

• 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)

Question 30

Geographic Profiling

Answer 30

• 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

Question 31

Psychological Profiling

Answer 31

Predict the likelihood that a specific individual will be dangerous or violent to others at some point in time

Threat assessment
Risk assessment

Question 32

Threat assesment

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Suspect-Based Profiling

Answer 33

Summarizes the psychological features of persons who might commit a specific crime

terrorism
- organized vs lone wolves
- typologies

Question 34

Typology of terrorists (Hoffman, 1993; 2008)

Answer 34

• Rationally motivated terrorist
• Psychologically motivated terrorist
• Culturally motivated terrorist

Question 35

Psychological Autopsy

Answer 35

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