Week 7-An Introduction to Forensic Psychology

Question 1

What are 6 Myths about Forensic Psychology?

Answer 1

1. Forensic Psychology is the same as forensic science
2. As a Forensic Psychologist, most of your time is spent on crime scenes
3. All Forensic Psychologists are profilers
4. Forensic Psychologists solve criminal cases
5. As a Forensic Psychologist, you will only work with the most serious and dangerous offenders
6. Forensic Psychology is glamorous/exciting

Question 2

What is Forensic Psychology?

Answer 2

-“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)

Question 3

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?

Answer 3

-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

Question 4

What aspects are involved in Forensic Psychology?

Answer 4

-Victims of crime

-Criminal Investigation/Police Psychology

-The Law & Legislation

-Rehabilitation/Treatment of Offenders

-Criminological Psychology (Crime & Offending Behaviour)

-The Legal Court/Judiciary Process

Question 5

What are some Roles and remits of Forensic Psychology? Pt1

Answer 5

-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

Question 6

What are some Roles and remits of Forensic Psychology? Pt2

Answer 6

-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

Question 7

True or false: Forensic Psychologists are involved at all stages of the criminal justice process

Answer 7

True

Question 8

What locations can Forensic Psychologists work in?

Answer 8

-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)

Question 9

What is Forensic Psychology in the UK?

Answer 9

-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

Question 10

What is Evidence-based policing?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What is Interviewing suspects?

Answer 11

-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)

Question 12

What is Offender Profiling?

Answer 12

-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

Question 13

What is Geographical profiling?

Answer 13

-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

Question 14

What are some Missing people and human trafficking statistics?

Answer 14

-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)

Question 15

What do Forensic Psychologists do in the area of Missing people and human trafficking?

Answer 15

-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)

Question 16

What do Forensic Psychologists do in Critical Incidents?

Answer 16

-Need skills for investigating and coordinating responses to major incidents

-Analysis of decision-making environment

-Decision theories

-Heuristic and biases

Question 17

What is involved in EWTs?

Answer 17

-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

Question 18

What is involved in Juror decision-making?

Answer 18

-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

Question 19

What factors are involved in assessing risk?

Answer 19

-Approaches to risk and needs assessment

-Outcomes of risk assessment

-Risk of bias, accuracy and fairness

-Development and application of general/specific tools

Question 20

What is involved in the treatment for offenders?

Answer 20

-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

Question 21

What sub-disciplines in Psychology does Forensic Psychology draw on? And what is this relevant to?

Answer 21

Draws on:
-Cognitive
-Developmental
-Clinical
-Social
-Organisational
-Environmental

Relevant to:
-Understanding criminal behaviour
-Investigations
-Courts
-Treatment

Question 22

Are Body-worn cameras effective?

Answer 22

-Over 70% of UK police forces use BWC’s

-Public sector service pilots

-Implications for the use of force, public confidence and transparency + accountability

Question 23

What does the evidence say about the effectiveness of BWC’s?

Answer 23

-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)

Question 24

Do lie detectors work?

Answer 24

-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

Question 25

What does the evidence say about lie detectors?

Answer 25

-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

Question 26

Should we use trial-by-jury?

Answer 26

-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

Question 27

What does the evidence say about whether juries should be used?

Answer 27

-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

-

Question 28

Can we rehabilitate offenders?

Answer 28

-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

Question 29

What does the evidence say about whether we can rehabilitate offenders?

Answer 29

-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

Question 30

What is the Division of Forensic Psychology?

Answer 30

-Represents Forensic Psychologists in the UK