Forensic Psychology- Research Studies

Who applied the concept of moral reasoning to offending?

Kohlberg

What did Kohlberg find?

Lower levels of moral reasoning were found in a group of violent youths compared to non-violent youths.

What do Kohlberg’s findings suggest?

Offenders show lower levels of moral reasoning.

Who conducted research into hostile attribution bias and offending?

Schonenberg (& Jusyte)

What did Schonenberg (& Jusyte) find?

Violent offenders were much more likely to interpret neutral faces as angry and hostile compared to a non-violent control group.

Who conducted research into minimalisation?

Barbaree

What did Barbaree find?

Out of 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they committed a crime and a further 40% minimised the harm they had caused to the victims.

What do Barbaree’s findings suggest?

Individuals who commit sexual offences are particularly prone to minimalisation.

Who conducted research to show that the TD approach has wider application?

Meketa

What did Meketa find?

Burglars tend to fit the categories of organised and disorganised, suggesting the TD approach also applies to burglary.

Who provided evidence for investigative psychology?

Canter and Heritage

What did Canter and Heritage find?

That there’s correlations between behaviours during the crimes and in the offenders everyday lives. They also found ‘case linkages’ which show different crimes were committed by the same person.

What did Canter and Heritages’ findings suggest?

Interpersonal coherance is true

Who provided evidence for geographical profiling?

Lundrigan and Canter

What did Lundrigan and Canter find?

Serial killers almost always had a base at the centre of a geographical circle which had been created from the locations of the crime scenes- especially for marauders.

What do Lundrigan and Canters findings suggest?

Canter’s circle theory is correct.

Who provided challenging evidence for offender profiling? (BU approach)

Kocsis et al.

What did Kocsis find?

UK chemistry students produced more accurate profiles than experienced detectives on a sample of solved murder cases.

What do Kocsis’ findings suggest?

Training in the BU approach may not improve success in catching criminals. Also, profiling may involve little more than guesswork.

Who provided evidence which contradicts Lombroso’s idea of the atavistic form?

Goring

What did Goring find?

Found no link with facial/cranial characteristics and criminality.

What do Goring’s findings suggest?

There’s no such thing as the atavistic form

Who carried out a twin study of offending behaviour?

Christianson

What did Christianson find?

Concordance rates of 35% for MZ twins and 13% for DZ twins for criminality.

What do Christianson’s findings suggest?

Criminality is not completely genetic but there may be a genetic component.

Who carried out an adoption study of offending behaviour?

Crowe

What did Crowe find?

There’s a 50% risk of having a criminal record by the age of 18 for adoptees with a biological criminal mother compared to only 5% risk for adoptees without an offending mother.

What do Crowe’s findings suggest?

There’s a biological component to offending behaviour.

Who conducted research into candidate genes in criminality?

Tiihonen

What did Tiihonen find?

Found that a low functioning variant of MAOA was far more common in offenders than in non-offenders.

What do Tiihonen’s findings suggest?

MAOA gene contributes to criminality.

Who provided support for the diathesis stress model of offending?

Mednick

What did Mednick find?

• When neither biological nor adopted parents had convictions, % of adoptees that did was 13.5%

• When either of the biological parents had convictions, this rose to 20%

• This further rose to 24.5% when both adoptive and biological parents had convictions

Who conducted studies into the APD brain?

Raine

What did Raine find?

People diagnosed with APD had 11% less grey matter in their prefrontal cortex compared to controls.

What do Raine’s findings suggest?

Reduced activity/functioning in frontal lobes may be a cause of criminality

Who came up with the theory of a criminal personality?

Eysenck

What did Eysenck find?

Prisoners recorded higher average scores than controls on EPQ

What do Eysenck’s findings suggest?

Suggests his theory of criminal personality is correct

Who provided challenging research to Eysenck’s theory?

• Farrington

• Kussner

What did Farrington find in regards to Eysenck’s theory of crim. personality?

Offenders tended to score highly on measure of psychoticism but not for extraversion and neuroticism.

What do Farrington’s findings suggest?

Psychoticism is the only significant factor in Eysenck’s theory of the crim. personality

Who provided research suggesting that the crim. personality may be culturally relative?

Bartol & Holanchock

What did Bartol and Holanchock find?

The Hispanic and African-American offenders were all less extravert than a non-offender control group- opposite to what Eysenck would predict.

Who provided supporting evidence for the link between moral reasoning and criminality?

Palmer and Hollin

What did Palmer and Hollin find?

When comparing moral reasoning in offenders and non-offenders, the offender group tended to show less mature moral reasoning.

Who provided challenging evidence for Kohlberg’s theory?

Thornton and Reid

What did Thornton and Reid find?

People who committed crime for financial gain were more likely to show pre-conventional moral reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes.

What do Thornton and Reid’s findings suggest?

Kohlberg’s theory may not apply to all forms of crime and the level of moral reasoning may depend on the type of offence committed.

Who provided research evidence suggesting that hostile attribution bias is apparent in childhood?

Dodge and Frame

What did Dodge and Frame find?

Children who had been identified as ‘aggressive’ and ‘rejected’ prior to the study interpreted an ambiguous provocation as more hostile than those children classed as ‘non-aggressive’ and ‘accepted’

Who provided research findings suggesting that levels of cognitive distortion depends on the type of offence?

Howitt and Sheldon

What did Howitt and Sheldon find?

Non-contact sex offenders used more cognitive distortions than contact sex-offenders.

Who conducted the ‘Cambridge study in Delinquency Development’?

Farrington

What did Farrington find in his Cambridge study in delinquency development?

• 41% of participants (working class, deprived boys living in inner city area of London) were convicted of at least 1 offence between the age of 10 - 50

• Risk factors associated with criminal behaviour may include: family back round, peer influence and school performance.

Who suggested the ‘inadequate superego’ as an explanation of offending?

Blackburn

Who came up with the theory of maternal deprivation?

Bowlby

Who provided research support for the link between offending and the inadequate superego?

Goreta

What did Goreta find?

Out of 10 offenders referred to psychotic treatment, all assessed were diagnosed with disturbances in their superego formation.

Goreta explained this as a consequence of an over-harsh superego

What do Goreta’s findings suggest?

An overharsh superego and the role of psychic conflicts both have a basis in offending behaviour.

Who suggested maternal deprivation isn’t the only reason for later offending?

Lewis

What did Lewis find?

Lewis analysed data from interviews with young people and found that maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending

Who provided supportive evidence for custodial sentencing as a way of dealing with criminality?

Shirley

What did Shirley find?

Inmates who engage in prison education are 43% less likely to re-offend.

What do Shirley’s findings suggest?

If custodial sentencing includes education, it rehabilitates offenders and makes prison a worthwhile experience.

Who suggested the negative effects of custodial sentencing?

Bartol

Findings from the Ministry of Justice? (custodial sentencing)

In 2016, there were 124 inmate suicides in prisons in Eng and Wales. This was a 325 increase from the previous year and 10 times higher than non-prison pop.

What do the findings from the Ministry of Justice suggest?

Prison exacerbates mental health issues

Who provided research support for the use of token economies as a way of dealing with offending?

Hobbs and Holt

What did Hobbs and Holt find?

Young offenders in token economies displayed significantly more positive behaviour than controls.

What do Hobb’s and Holt’s findings suggest?

Token economies are an effective behaviour management strategy for offending.

Who provided challenging evidence for the use of behavioural modification as a way of dealing with offending?

• Blackburn

• Moya and Achtenberg

What did Blackburn suggest about behaviour modification?

They have little rehabilitative value

What did Blackburn find when investigating behaviour modification?

Behavioural benefits tend to disappear upon release of prison.

Who provided support for using anger management (AM) as an approach to offending?

Ireland

What did Ireland find?

Offenders who completed the AM programme showed significant reductions in self-reported anger and were involved in fewer incidents compared to those in the control group.

What do Ireland’s findings suggest?

AM programmes are effective, particularly for offenders whose crimes are linked to aggression.

Who provided challenging evidence for the use of AM programmes in offending?

Howels

What did Howels find?

AM has very little overall impact compared to controls but significant impact on high anger individuals.

What do Howels’ findings suggest?

AM may only be effective for some offenders who fit a certain profile.

Who provided supportive evidence for restorative justice (RJ) as a way of dealing with offending?

Strang

What did Strang find?

RJ gave significant reduction in recidivism compared to controls.

What do Strang’s findings suggest?

RJ has a positive impact on reoffending and is therefore effective

Who provided challenging findings for the use of RJ in offending?

Van Gijsegham

What did Van Gijsenham suggest?

Suggested that offenders may abuse the RJ system. They may use it to…

• avoid punishment

• play down their faults

• take pride in their relationship with survivor