Psychology & The Law Quiz

What SCC case set the guidelines for the sleepwalking defense and was successfully acquitted?

Kenneth Parks

What is an example of a failed sleepwalking defense case due to prosecution believing he was malingering?

Scott Falater

What is forensic psychology?

Focuses on psychology as it relates to the criminal justice system including the application of clinical psychology, research and practice.

What are the five categories of forensic psychology?

Legal psychology, police and public safety psychology, psychology of crime and delinquency, victimology and victim services, correctional psychology

How is developmental psychology relevant to law?

Used following a divorce, custody arrangements, child murder

How is social psychology relevant to the law?

Used for police interrogations, group dynamics of juries

How is clinical psychology relevant to the law?

Used to determine competency to stand trial, predicting violence

How is cognitive psychology relevant to the law?

Used for eyewitness testimony, competency of juries

What is psychology IN the law

Psychologists provide services to the legal community, such as assessment of candidates, defendants, consultation in jury selection. Typically clinical and consulting

What is the most common relationship between psychology and law?

Psychology IN the law

What is Psychology AND the law?

Psychologists conduct research in areas that are pertinent to law, such as eyewitness testimony, child development. A mutually independent relationship between the disciplines.

What is psychology OF the law?

The law itself becomes the object of study, such as why people obey the law, decision making of judges. An abstract and theoretical approach to studying the law.

What is the least common relationship between psychology and law?

Psychology OF the law

What is the method of tenacity?

A method of elimination doubt that relies heavily on stereotypes, prejudices and ones prior beliefs.

What is the method of authority?

A method of eliminating doubt and gaining knowledge that relies on the information provided by experts in the field.

What is the a priori method?

A way of obtaining knowledge by means of logical deduction.

What is the method of science?

A method of obtaining knowledge by testing statements through systematic research and observation.

What is responsibilities in ethical guidelines?

Integrity, impartiality and fairness, and avoiding conflicts of interest

What is diligence in ethical guidelines?

Reasonable responsiveness and promptness in providing agreed-upon and anticipated
services

What is competence in ethical guidelines?

Foundational psychology knowledge, specific forensic skills, and key personal
attributes such as objectivity, critical thinking, empathy, and strong communication abilities

What is relationship in ethical guidelines?

Established with those who retain their services and those whom they interact and
recognize the associated obligations and duties vary with each nature of relationship

What is fees in ethical guidelines?

Determining and arranging fees, pro bono services

What is informed consent, notification and assent in ethical guidelines?

Inform recipients of forensic services about the nature
and parameters of services to be provided to ensure protection of rights and liberties

What is conflict of practice in ethical guidelines?

When conflicts occur, make the conflict known to all parties or agencies and
consider the rights and interests of these parties/agencies in their attempts to resolve the conflict

What is privacy, confidentiality and privilege in ethical guidelines?

Ethical obligation to maintain privacy and confidentiality

What is methods and procedure in ethical guidelines?

Use of appropriate methods/procedures in their work

What is assessment in ethical guidelines?

Focus on legally relevant matters, settings and individual differences in assessments

What is professional and other public communications in ethical guidelines?

Accuracy, fairness and avoidance of deception in
communications

What is an example of a practice that raises concerns about ethical issues?

Telepsychology

What is the Tarasoff rule?

A decision that focuses on the duties required of psychotherapists whose clients threaten violence to identifiable others.

What is the purpose of the psychologist as the applied scientist in the law?

To generate and apply knowledge to solve real-life problems, involves serving as an expert witness.

What is the purpose of the psychology as a basic scientist in the law?

To pursue knowledge for its own sake

What is the purpose of the psychologist as the policy evaluator in the law?

To provide data to answer questions

What is the purpose of the psychologist as a forensic evaluator?

To evaluate individuals in civil and criminal trials, such as competence to stand trial

What is the purpose of psychologists as advisors?

To provide specialized knowledge of psychological matters relevant to the law

What is the focus of a clinician?

Mental health issues in the system such as assessment and treatment of offenders, custody mediations, providing expert testimony, personnel selection, critical incident debriefings

What is the focus of a researcher?

Conduct research on any issue relevant to the legal system such as examining effectiveness of risk assessment strategies, developing and testing ways of eyewitness lineup
procedures, evaluating offender treatment programs, factors that influence juror decision-making

What is the focus of a legal scholar?

Scholarly analysis of mental health law and legal movements, policy analysis and legislative consultation

What is the least common role of the forensic psychologist?

Legal Scholar

What has twin and adoption and sibling studies found about criminal behavior?

The familial aggregation of criminal behavior is due to environment and genetics

What chromosome is thought to cause aggression in males?

XYY

What case did the court rule against the XYY defense?

Richard Speck

What gene is also known as the “Warrior gene”

MAOA when combined with early stress

What is strain theory?

Individuals inability to achieve culturally valued goals causes frustration, which can lead to deviant and illegal behavior

Who developed strain theory in the 1940s?

Robert Merton 

What is differential association theory?

Criminal behavior is learned (and can be unlearned) through interaction with other criminals or delinquents in small groups when the rationale for breaking the law outweighs the rationale for respecting the law.

Who developed differential association theory?

Edwin Sutherland

What is labeling theory?

Individuals can become deviant as a result of the labels placed on them (a self-fulfilling prophecy) and impact their sense of self

Who developed labeling theory?

Howard Becker

What is the general theory of crime?

Emphasizes self-control as the primary determinant of criminal behavior. Individuals with low self-control due to inadequate parenting early in life are more likely to engage in crime

What is social learning theory?

Aggression and violence are modelled after family, environment and the mass media

Who developed social learning theory

Albert Bandura

What is the most common interrogation tactic used in North America?

The Reid Technique

What are the three stages of the Reid technique?

Gather evidence, conduct a non accusatorial interview to assess deception, conduct an accusatorial interview to obtain a confession

What are minimization techniques?

Soft sell tactics to provide justification for their actions, ex: victim blaming

What are maximization techniques?

Scare tactics that attempt to scare suspects, ex: making up evidence

What are the most commonly used techniques of the Reid technique?

Flattery, minimizing the offence, building rapport, sympathize by condemning others

What are potential problems with the Reid model?

Deception detection and investigator bias

What are two legal safeguards that protect those being interrogated?

Right to silence and right to legal counsel

What do trial judges consider to determine if a confession is admissible?

If the confession was made voluntarily and the defendant was competent

What is the Mr. Big technique?

A Canadian police operation where a suspect is drawn into a fictitious criminal organization with the ultimate goal of securing a confession.

What will most likely make a confession inadmissible?

Physical coercion

What are the 4 stages of a Mr. Big operation?

intelligence probe, introduction, relationship/credibility-building and evidence gathering

What case was instrumental in imposing restrictions on the Mr Big Technique?

R. v Hart 2002

What are some potential risks of the Mr. Big technique?

Tunnel vision, the lucifer effect, eliciting false confessions, influencing jurors

What is the lucifer effect?

Inducing innocent people to commit crimes

What are some factors that can cause a false confession?

Coercive/deceptive tactics, mental impairments, intellectual disabilities, youth, desire for attention, vulnerabilities, etc.

What is a voluntary false confession?

Person’s need for notoriety, difficulty separating fantasy from fact, desire for punishment to cope with guilt, to protect someone else, ex) Henry Lucas

What is a coerced-internalized false confession?

Evocative interrogation techniques with highly suggestive and/or vulnerable individuals, ex) Central Park 5

What is coerced-compliant false confessions?

include many police-induced confessions, follow from coercive interrogation tactics that can entice a suspect to confess, ex) Michael Crow

What is a retracted confession?

A confession that is later declared false by the confessor.

What is a disputed confession?

A confession that is later disputed at trial?

What traits make youth more likely to falsely confess?

Suggestibility, impulsiveness, emotional arousal, brain development

What were the consequences of the enactment of PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act)

Made it illegal to trick suspects or lie about evidence to induce confessions

What is truth bias?

The assumption that most statements are honest and truthful

What is lie bias?

The assumption that most statements are lies and bias

What is the behavior analysis interview?

a set of predetermined questions (both nonthreatening and behavior-provoking) designed to assess whether a suspect is likely to be guilty

What is a polygraph?

a computer-
based machine that measures blood pressure, electrodermal activity, and respiratory changes during questioning based on the premise that liars will exhibit a particular constellation of emotional responses that distinguish them from truth-tellers

What is the purpose of a neutral question in a comparison question test?

Establish a baseline, ex) are the lights turned on?

What is the purpose of a relevant question in a comparison question test?

Establish guilt or innocence, ex) did you stab Beverly on the night of March 10th?

What is the purpose of a comparison question in a comparison question test?

Induce emotional reactions, ex) between the ages of 18 and 28, did you
ever deliberatively plan to physically hurt someone?

What are the assumptions underlying the CQT?

guilty people react more to relevant questions, innocent people react more to comparison questions

What is the purpose of the Concealed Information Test?

Assess if the suspect has information that only the criminal would know?

What is the FBI definition of criminal profiling?

A technique for identifying the personality and behavioral features of an individual by analyzing the crimes they have committed, used in serial crime investigations

What is crime scene profiling?

Used to identify behavior patterns, motivations & demographic variables of an unknown
offender based on the evidence gathered at the crime scene.

What is geographical profiling?

Used to identify area of probable residency and the probable area of the next crime of an unknown
offender.

What is psychological profiling?

Used to identify and predict level of dangerousness of known or unknown individuals. Involves threat assessment to determine credibility and seriousness of an expressed threat, and risk assessment to determine the probability of the individual harming themself or others 

What is suspect-based profiling?

Used to identify the psychological and behavioral features if a person who may be planning to commit a particular crime based on the collection of behavioral, personality, cognitive, and demographic data gathered on previous offenders who have committed similar crimes.

What is a psychological autopsy?

Postmortem reconstruction of the emotional life, behavior and thought patterns of a known but deceased person. Most often used in civil trials, but may also be used in criminal trials.

What is deductive profiling?

Profiling from evidence related to specific offenders crimes, ex) Inferring a suspect has access to a vehicle based on tire tracks found

What is inductive profiling?

Profiling from what is known about similar, solved crimes, ex) Profiler notes most serial killers targeting college students are males

What is profiling inputs?

The first step of criminal profiling that involves collecting all information available about the crime

What is decision process models?

The second step of criminal profiling where the profiler organizes the input

What is crime assessment?

The third step of criminal profiling where on the basis of the findings in step 2, the profiler attempts to reconstruct the behavior of the offender and the victim.

What is criminal profile?

The fourth step of criminal profiling where the profiler formulates an initial description of the most likely suspects

What is investigation?

The fifth step of criminal profiling where a written report is given to investigators who concentrate on suspects matching the profile

What is apprehension?

The sixth step of criminal profiling where the arrest of the suspect allows the profilers to evaluate the validity of their predictions

What traits are common in an organized crime?

Planned, used a vehicle, little evidence left behind, offender likely intelligent, skilled occupation, ex) Jeffrey Dahmer

What traits are common in a disorganized crime?

Spontaneous, mutilation, evidence left, offender likely unintelligent, lives alone, unskilled occupation, ex) Aileen Wuornos

What are interrogation techniques that can be used for an organized offender?

Direct confrontation, respect competency, one-person, don’t expect free information, no use of false evidence, don’t give suspect time to gather thoughts