criminal mini studies

williams et al

-found that 60% of prisoners had some form of tbi

-adults with brain injuries were younger at the time of entry into the prison system than those without and were more likely to reoffend

-these injuries affect social judgement and impulsive behaviour and are also linked to more risk taking behaviour

-196 prisoners

labette et al

(ca to williams)

-showed frontal lobe damage improved impulsivity and reduced anti social behaviour therefore there is not a one size fits all explanation for criminality

hugh williams

63% of male offenders had a tbi

kretzer et al

tbi was not a risk factor for criminal behaviour without the presence of a substance

pardini et al

-brain scanning has shown that psychopaths have a smaller amygdala and higher levels of aggression than a non-psychopath

-such behaviours evident from childhood

-individuals with a smaller amygdala were three times more likely than those with larger amygdalae to exhibit aggression, violence and psychopathic features three years later

-this suggests that amygdalae size can predict future violence

cannon and britton: sham rage

-they severed the neural connections to the cortex in cats (so there was no connection between cortex and amygdala) when provoked these cats showed signs of rage

-the verbal cortex inhibits impulsive behaviour meaning that the cat’s emotions were uncontrolled

-it is now known that the source of the rage comes from the amygdala. when the amygdala is removed the animal becomes placid and when it is stimulated the animal becomes aggressive. severing the neural connections to the cortex severs the connection between the cortex and the amygdala thus increasing impulsivity and aggression which could be said to lead to crime

jacob’s et al

-suggested that men with xyy were more aggressive than those with xy and were over presented in prison eg. 15 in every 1000

theilgaard

-blood samples were taken from 30,000 men in 1940s

-two chromosome abnormalities were found- xyy and xxy

-16/30,000 were found to be xxy

-12/30,000 were found to be xyy

-they were all interviewed by a social worker about their background and their criminal history (the social worker did not know the aim of the study)

-a personality test was given to see if they were more or less aggressive

-xxy participants had reduces intelligence and were more aggressive than normal men in the sample

ca-however, there were more similarities between the xyy and the xxy criminals. this study gives some credibility to the xyy explanation by is limited because of the similarities between xyy and xxy criminals

money et al

-found that 19 of his participants had behavioural problems at school including a deficit attention span, restlessness and disrupting the classroom routine

-shows that xyy can affect a child’s education

-this helps us to understand why more people in prison have poor education performance

ca-re and birkhoff

re and birkhoff

-conducted a literature review of articles from the past 50 years and concluded that males with xyy syndrome were not necessarily going to become anti-social or criminals

eyesneck

-wanted to use personality variables to classify criminal behaviour

-the focus was on extroversion, neuroticism and psychotocism

-156 prisoners were used and classified as those who committed violent crimes, property crimes and fraud crimes

-there was a further group of ‘inadequates’ (lots of convictions over a short period of time- non violent or robbery) or residual for those who did not fit any categories

-used eps, eeg, eye blink and skin conductance

-they found violent or property crime was linked to extraversion and neuroticism was linked to residual or inadequate crime

rushton and chrisjohn

-investigated delinquent, rather than criminal behaviour

-their study showed clear support for a relationship between higher delinquency scores and high scores on both extraversion and psychotocism, thus supporting the role of personality and criminality

lyon and martin

-using mean scores from 37 countries found that women had higher scores in neuroticism and men had higher scores in psychoticism

-this suggests that the variables might be a result of nature rather than nurture

-37 countries used and so this is a universal finding

gur et al

-found that women have a larger frontal brain area in relation to the limbic regions than men do and this might show why women have more control over impulses and so are less often found at the high end of psychoticism dimension

-psychoticism means low impulsive control so this explanation might show why there are fewer women at the higher end of the psychoticism scale

lieberman et al

juveniles who had previously been arrested were more likely to commit other crimes compared with juveniles who had not previously been arrested, which could be due to labelling theory and how other treat them

bessemer et al

-looked at the extent to which children of conviction themselves because of the focus on certain criminal families, this is called official bias

-labelling a child of such a family as a ‘criminal’ is likely to happen and could influence their development in the future.

-bessemer points out that the findings, which show that children of criminal families are more likely to be convicted, do not show that such families transmit criminal behaviour to their children

-therefore, such families are paid more attention to and so such children are more likely to be caught and prosecuted and found guilty than children from other families

jahoda

-found that names affected criminal behaviour

-boys with names associated with wednesday had a higher arrest rate than boys with names associated with monday

-nearly 22% of violent offences were committed by boys born on wednesday but only 7% of boys born on monday

-this suggests that cultural expectations lead them to be treated differently because of their day of birth

ca-can’t generalise - culture

rosenthal and jacobson

-explains the impact of self-fulfilling prophecy

-they told teachers that some students were ‘intellectual bloomers’ (though they were randomly chosen)

-these students showed greater improvement, demonstrating a self fluffing prophecy, where teacher expectations influenced student performance

hart

according to hart, case formulation is narrative which means natural language is used and is qualitative and takes into account the complexities of an individual

-it is ‘diachronic’ and sees the criminal in terms of their past, present and considers future behaviour

-formulation is testable and based on theory and facts

maori case study

phase 1: 28 year old māori from nz with lifelong allegiance to gang. criminal history of convictions for violence and robbery. self reported pattern of rape beginning at 12 years old

phase 2: clinical interviews revealed an upbringing in household characterised by sexual abuse and violence. this led to the belief that abusing others was acceptable and that rape was rape only if the victim verbally said ‘no’

phase 3: he was given an intense course of cbt and took part in a ten week violence prevention programme. this was designed to meet the specific factors that turned him to crime. upon release, he was involved in two violent incidents and reported a temporary desire to rejoin the gang. however his new sense of identity prevented further relapse. this shows that psychological formulation worked for him to stop reoffending and joining gangs

ca-not gen

mcknight et al

formulations can predict effective treatment and also which treatments would not be effective

ca-self report

fisher

-police officers (participants) were shown a police training video and recall was tested 48 hours later, using 2 conditions:

1. the cognitive interview

2. the standard LAPD interview

the results were similar in terms of false info but number of correct items recalled were:

-cognitive interview improved recall by 34%

therefore, the cognitive interview is an effective method for improving the accuracy of ewt

ca-police were aware of different conditions- those in no training condition (lapd) may have lacked motivation

holmberg and christianson

-compared interviews of murderers and found that interviews characterised by intimidation produced more denials than interviews which were marked by respect for the suspect. in the latter case, suspects were more likely to confess their crimes

-this suggests that ethical interviewing is a more effective technique

-ca gudjonsson

gudjosson

-argues that ethical interviewing techniques are naive and should not replace more persuasive methods

-might lead to a ‘no comment’ situation as can’t push them

-shows how interview techniques have developed over time

cannon

treatment is less effective for females than males as it was found that cbt has little impact on female offenders

-ca- lipsey

lipsey

-cbt has been appropriate for juvenile offenders

-conducted a meta-analysis of over 400 studies of juvenile delinquency treatment programmes and found cognitive behavioural methods were at least 20% more effective in preventing reoffending than other methods such as counselling

ca-secondary data-select studies that show cbt to be effective

spence and marziller

-found that cbt in offenders improved their self-esteem and control, lowered re-conviction rates 6 months later

-however, they also suggested that it helped them with the skills not to get caught. this means that cbt may only be effective in the short-term

-the treatment is also dependent on the offender taking the treatment seriously and having the motivation to use it outside the prison setting

tomony et al

-found that depo-provera lowered sexual interest in patients. this highlights that there is credibility in the use of drugs to treat sexual offences

johnson and scott

participants overheard an argument in an adjoining room.

-in the first condition, a man came into the room where the participants were, holding a pen covered in grease

-in the second contain, he came into with a knife covered in blood

-participants were then asked to identify the man from a series of phots

-49% of those in the ‘pen’ condition could identify the man, compared with 33% of those in the ‘knife’

loftus et al

-showed participants a series of slides of a customer in a restaurant

-in one version the customer was holding a gun, in the other the same customer held a check book

-participants who saw the gun version tended to focus on the gun

-as a result they were less likely to identify the customer in an identity parade than those who had seen the checkbook version

pickell

-found the same weapon effect when a man pulled out a chicken or a pillsbury dough man to pay a cashier rather than presenting his wallet

hastie et al

-if the first decision favoured acquittal (not guilty) then in 86% of the cases a not guilty verdict was given

-if the majority favoured a guilty verdict, then in 90% of the time they gave a guilty verdict

nameth

-minorities can also sway the jury because it makes the majority doubt their opinion

-the minority can only every over throw the majority if:

-they are consistent or committed to their arguments

-acting on principle rather than for their own selfish needs

-they are not overly rigid and unreasonable in their opinions

pennington and hastie

-suggest that juror’s make their own decision by creating hypothetical reconstructive stories that could explain the evidnece and then match the story to their own verdict

-they will create stories based on:

1.their own biases

2.the complexity and number of stories they are willing to consider

baron and bryne

suggested that attractiveness does affect jury decision making in response to how light the sentence is, being acquitted and gaining sympathy

dion et al

-the ‘halo effect’ where physically attractive people are assumed to have attractive qualities eg. less likely to be found guilty of a crime

efron

-found that good looking criminals received lighter sentences or penalties when looks were involved in the crime

signal and ostrove

-participants were asked to make a sentence recommendation (1-15 years) for a defendant for burglary or fraud. they were given a crime and a photograph of a women or no photo if in control group

-there were six groups:

1.attractive barbara (burglary)

2.unattractive barbara (burglary)

3. no photo (burglary)

4. attractive barbara (fraud)

5. unattractive barbara (fraud)

6. no photo (fraud)

sentences were longer for ugly barbara when committing burglary but not fraud and longer for attractive barbara for fraud and not burglary. there were no differences in length in comparison to control.

saladin et al

-participants were given 8 photos of men and asked how capable they thought each of the men would be to committing armed robbery and murder. unattractive men were always considered more likely to commit a crime in comparison to attractive men

bradbury and williams

-found that black defendants are less likely to be convicted by jurors composed of a higher proportion of black jurors and are more likely to be convicted by jurors compromising of a higher proportion of white and hispanic jurors

-content analysis

dixon and mahoney

-the effect of regional accent on the attribution of guilt

-a recorded conversation between a male suspect and a male police officer was played to 119 participants

-the accent was varied so participants either hear ‘brummie’ or standard english accent

-brummie accent received higher rate of guilt

abwender and kenyatta

-conducted mock jury trial in 2001 and found the following when considering race and attractiveness:

-black participants showed leniency to defendants of their own race. hispanics showed the opposite and white people showed no ethnic bias. therefore, the interplay between race and jdm is more complex than we first thought

ruva and levasseur

-undertook a content analysis of 30 mock jury deliberations

-it found that pre-trial publicity does impact deliberations and interpretations of the jury

-those given negative pre-trial information were more likely to discuss ambiguous parts of the case more than the non-exposed counterparts in a way that supports prosecution and not defence

-they could also not stop themselves from talking about the pre-publicity trial even when told not to

hope et al

-research into pre-trials publicity found it constitutes to a ‘serious source of juror bias.’ in 116 university students those who considered a mock trial who received a negative publicity were more likely to receive a guilty verdict

steblay et al

investigated the effect of pre-trial publicity on jury verdicts by undertaking a meta-analysis of 44 empirical tests with 5755 subjects

-jurors exposed to negative pre-trial publicity were more likely to judge the defendant as guilty in comparison to those exposed to less or no negative pre-trial information

-this was more likely in emotive cases like rape, murder or where there is a lot of negative information

ogloff and vidmar

questioned the impact of television of printed media as a pre-trial influence. they found that television and printed media or television alone had more of an influence than printed media alone