Week 7-An Introduction to Forensic Psychology Flashcards
What are 6 Myths about Forensic Psychology?
- Forensic Psychology is the same as forensic science
- As a Forensic Psychologist, most of your time is spent on crime scenes
- All Forensic Psychologists are profilers
- Forensic Psychologists solve criminal cases
- As a Forensic Psychologist, you will only work with the most serious and dangerous offenders
- Forensic Psychology is glamorous/exciting
What is Forensic Psychology?
-“Forensis” meaning “of or before the forum” (i.e., the place where Roman trials were conducted)
-At the intersection of psychology, legal systems and criminal justice
-Any application of psychological knowledge or methods to the legal system
-Deals with evidence, witnesses, and the courts (legal psychology), and understanding/reducing criminal behaviour (criminological psychology)
There was initial interest in the reliability of EWTs in the 19th/20th century. This has evolved into a much wider field, but what current issues have become key debates?
-The reliability of child witness testimony
-The accuracy of recovered memories - and occurrence of false memories
-Biases in jury selection and the jury decision-making process
-Effectiveness of interviewing techniques and false confessions
-Whether lie detection should be used in forensic settings (e.g., polygraphs)
-“nature” versus “nurture” perspectives on criminal behaviours
-“What works” in offender rehabilitation
What aspects are involved in Forensic Psychology?
-Victims of crime
-Criminal Investigation/Police Psychology
-The Law & Legislation
-Rehabilitation/Treatment of Offenders
-Criminological Psychology (Crime & Offending Behaviour)
-The Legal Court/Judiciary Process
What are some Roles and remits of Forensic Psychology? Pt1
-Psychological assessment in the criminal justice system
-Acting as an expert witness/advisor in court
-Risk assessments for the parole board process and attendance at parole board hearings
-Piloting and implementing treatment programmes for offenders
-Delivery/facilitation of offender treatment
-Supporting the recovery of crime victims or family members
-Supporting staff working with offender populations
What are some Roles and remits of Forensic Psychology? Pt2
-Crime analysis and offender profiling
-Advising police forces on interviewing techniques
-Act as consultants/advisors to key organisations (i.e., Police; Home Office; Prison/Probation Service; CPS)
-Train other Forensic Psychologists
-Conduct applied research into Forensic Psychology issues
-Carrying out research to support policy and practice
True or false: Forensic Psychologists are involved at all stages of the criminal justice process
True
What locations can Forensic Psychologists work in?
-HM Prisons (HMP) or privately operated/owned prisons (i.e., G4S, Serco, Sodexo)
-National Probation Service (NPS)
-Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs)
-Forensic Mental Health Settings/Services and Hospitals (e.g., Broadmoor, Ashworth)
-Private Consultancy
-Academia, i.e., Academic Departments & Research Centres within Universities
-Third sector organisations (Charities)
What is Forensic Psychology in the UK?
-90% of FPs in the UK are employed by HMPPS (or privately run prisons).
-Group-based Offender Behavioural Programmes (i.e., Thinking Skills Programme (TSP); Alcohol-Related Violence (ARV); Horizon; Building Better Relationships (BBR), etc.).
-Some individual psychological/therapeutic work with offenders
-Completion of risk assessment reports (either for parole or court hearings).
-Training of staff/supporting staff wellbeing
What is Evidence-based policing?
Understanding “what works” to reduce crime and disorder to make the most efficient use of police resources
Examples:
-Hot Spot Policing
-Longer or more frequent patrols?
-Effectiveness of Body Worn Cameras
What is Interviewing suspects?
-Long and winding path of interrogations of suspects throughout the 20th century, including dark pages like the MK Ultra Program
-Alternative proposals based on humanistic psychology and rapport-based methods
-Observing Rapport Based Interpersonal Techniques, ORBIT
-Potential for false confessions (e.g., Reid Technique)
-Interviewing vulnerable suspects (e.g., intellectual disabilities, juveniles)
-Psychological impact of techniques on suspects
-Lie detection (e.g., polygraphs)
What is Offender Profiling?
-Using information at the crime scene (where, when and how) to build a characterisation of the possible perpetrator (personality, behavioural tendencies, demographic variables).
Different approaches, views and practises:
-Investigative or clinical experience - like the FBI approach
-Statistics and research - Investigate Psychology
What is Geographical profiling?
-Uses the locations of a connected series of crime sites to determine the most probable area of an offenders’ residence
-Helps target resources
-Validity and accuracy
-Data and assumptions
What are some Missing people and human trafficking statistics?
-320,715 incidents reported in 2018-19 in England and Wales
-199, 634 incidents including children
-Cost £700 million per year (underestimation)
-10, 627 potential victims of modern-day slavery in the UK referred to the National Referral Mechanism 2019 (NCA, 2020)
What do Forensic Psychologists do in the area of Missing people and human trafficking?
-Look at reasons why people go missing/types of missing people
-Risk assessment factors and practises
-Look at the spatial patterns in people’s behaviour
-Optimisation of appeals for missing people (cognitive processes, memory)
What do Forensic Psychologists do in Critical Incidents?
-Need skills for investigating and coordinating responses to major incidents
-Analysis of decision-making environment
-Decision theories
-Heuristic and biases
What is involved in EWTs?
-Cognitive, social and physical factors in attention, memory storage and retrieval
-Processes and challenges in remembering and recognising others (the misidentification problem) in particular, face recognition
-Pros and cons of the main identification procedures such as show ups and line ups
What is involved in Juror decision-making?
-Jury selections
-Variables affecting juror decision-making e.g., education, SES, ethnicity, age
-How jurors and juries make decisions
-Arguments for/against the use of jurors in trials
What factors are involved in assessing risk?
-Approaches to risk and needs assessment
-Outcomes of risk assessment
-Risk of bias, accuracy and fairness
-Development and application of general/specific tools
What is involved in the treatment for offenders?
-Developing treatment frameworks for violent and sexual offenders
-Considerations of working with dangerous offenders (e.g., psychopathy) and specific client groups (e.g., female offenders)
-Work with attorneys, correctional staff, or the courts regarding the mental well-being of inmates
-Research on the effectiveness of treatment programmes
-New approaches e.g., family interventions
What sub-disciplines in Psychology does Forensic Psychology draw on? And what is this relevant to?
Draws on:
-Cognitive
-Developmental
-Clinical
-Social
-Organisational
-Environmental
Relevant to:
-Understanding criminal behaviour
-Investigations
-Courts
-Treatment
Are Body-worn cameras effective?
-Over 70% of UK police forces use BWC’s
-Public sector service pilots
-Implications for the use of force, public confidence and transparency + accountability
What does the evidence say about the effectiveness of BWC’s?
-RCTs (Ariel et al., 2016; Yokum et al., 2019) (one group wears BWC and one doesn’t to compare behaviours studies show no difference between 2 groups and behaviours e.g., no. of arrests made, more civilian aggression towards police)
-Systematic reviews (Cubitt et al., 2017, Lum et al., 2020) (no evidence to suggest it reduces the risk of force)
-Crime-related outcomes
-Citizen complaints reduced
-Issue of discretion (no camera turned off=reduced behaviour from police with force)
-Problems with bias and methodology (small sample sizes, design bias)
Do lie detectors work?
-Polygraph measures
-Physiological responses - heart rate, palmar sweating, blood pressure etc.,
-Detects bodily signs thought to be associated with lying
-Use in the UK since 2014 in the context of sex offender management
What does the evidence say about lie detectors?
-Problems with validity and reliability (BPS, 2004)
-Quality of evidence, issues with generalisation
-Insufficient evidence to recommend use
-Supportive tool for risk-relevant disclosures (Wood et al., 2020)
-Ethical issues
-Not admissible as evidence in UK courts
Should we use trial-by-jury?
-Used in <1% of all criminal cases (UK)
-Democratic
-Right to be judged by a jury of one’s peers
-Costly and time-consuming
-Bias, comprehension and representativeness
-Juror misconduct
What does the evidence say about whether juries should be used?
-Not all juries are representative
-Juror attitudes and defendant characteristics matter
-Pre-trial publicity (e.g., media)
-Jurors find it difficult to understand legal directions
-Jurors and judges tend to agree on most cases (around 89% agreement)
-Proposals to improve the jury system
-
Can we rehabilitate offenders?
-Punishment or rehabilitation?
-General pessimism around offender rehabilitation
-Martinson (1974) - review of 231 studies of prison rehabilitation programmes
-Consistent with political ideologies
-Shift in government funding strategies
What does the evidence say about whether we can rehabilitate offenders?
-Reanalysis of results (e.g., Palmer, 1975; Ross & Gendreau, 1980)
-Meta-analyses (e.g., Lipton, 1994; McGuire & Priestly, 1995)
-Mean reduction in recidivism of 5-10%
-Some approaches more effective than others
-CBT targeting criminogenic risk factors
-Strength-based approaches
What is the Division of Forensic Psychology?
-Represents Forensic Psychologists in the UK
