PSY 370 Final Exam STudy Guide

Deception

a deliberate attempt to create in another a belief which the communicator believes to be untrue.

What Types of Lies do People Tell?

• Exaggeration

• Fabrication of new facts

• Denials of facts

• Subtile or white lies

Why do people lie?

• Self-oriented

  • Avoid punishment/negative consequences

  • Protecting oneself

  • Create a positive image

• Other-oriented

  • Protect social relationships

How often do people lie?

• Daily

• Mostly self-oriented lies

• rather trivial lies

How Would You Study Lies?

• Diary Studies

How do people feel about lying?

• In a study by Anderson(1968) being a liar was seen as the worst.

What did the diary studies show about how people feel about lying?

• Everyone lies

• people do not feel bad about lying

What are beliefs about cues to deception?

• Gaze aversion

• A lot of movement/posture shifting

• Self-manipulations

• Stuttering

• Long pauses

What are the actual cues to deception?

• Only a few,very weak cues

• Liars show somewhat : fewer movements, higher pitched voice when lying, more tense and could be over control or task complexity.

How to increase accuracy

• Have person tell story backwards

• Force person to maintain eye contact

• Have person draw a picture related to story

Who created the polygraph?

Dr. William Marston

Who is Dr. William Marston?

a layer and psychologist who created the polygraph and created the comic book character Wonder Woman

What does a polygraph do?

It measures blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate and galvanic skin response. These traits are thought to be heightened when a person is lying.

Comparison Question Test

Was created to address problems with relevant and irrelevant test. Its not directly related to crime, but thought to induce emotional reaction and arousal.

• It’s typically, about unrelated but similar issues to which the person is more likely to lie

Example of a Comparison Question

“Have you ever stolen anything in your life?”

What are some concerns with the polygraph?

• The person being tested must believe the test is
accurate for it to “work”
• Psychopathy or non-emotional individuals
• Innocence may increase anxiety
• Lack of standardization (questions, scoring,
demeanor and skill of the examiner matter)
• Countermeasures can be effective
• 75% of the guilty were correctly classified; only 68% of
innocent correctly classified

Who created the Guilty Knowledge Test?

-Lykken (1981) developed the test based on knowledge of evidence
rather than lying.
• Hypothesis : People will react differently when they hear
information that they know rather than information that is new
to them

How many states banned the polygraph test?

23

What state is the only state who admits the polygraph for evidence?

New Mexico

Use of polygraph for jobs

• Polygraph Protection Act of 1988
• Cannot be used for most private employers
• Public employees are exempt from the Act
• The CIA, FBI, DEA, NSA, and many police departments
routinely use a polygraph on job applicants and employees

How do we know that confessions are sometimes false?

• Police discover that no crime was committed

• Evidence later shows that it was physically impossible for defendant to have committed a crime

• The actual perpetrator confesses to the crime & has intimate non-public knowledge of the crime that shows guilt

DNA Exonerations

Happens when a person has been convicted of a crime and it is later discovered, through DNA testing, that they are innocent of the crime.

How many exonerations are in the US

600

In the first 375 cases analyzed :

• Average number of yrs served is 14

• 21 people served time on death row

• 165 actual perpetrators identified (44%)

• 12% plead guilty

• 29% involved false confessions

What is the most common factor that contributes to wrongful convictions in the US?

Mistaken eyewitness identifications

Plea-bargaining

96-97% of people charged with a crime in the US take a deal & plead guilty never going to trial

What are the Types of False Confessions

1. Voluntary False Confessions

2. Coerced Compliant False Confessions

3. Internalized False Confessions

Voluntary False Confessions

Could be psychological need for attention
• Could be mental illness (really believe they did it)
• E.g., John Mark Karr falsely confessed to
murdering JonBenet Ramsey in 1996

Coerced Compliant False Confessions

Is the most common type
• Done to escape aversive situation, avoid threat and/or gain reward
• E.g., Central Park Jogger Case – 5 teenagers promised that they
would be allowed to go home if they confessed.

Internalized False Confessions

• Police convince suspect s/he must have done it. Suspect believes them (even if only briefly) they actually committed the crime.
• E.g., Marty Tankleff was 17 years old when he was falsely accused
of murdering his parents.

Why do innocent people confess?

1) They are vulnerable suspects
2) The method of interrogation can cause a false
confession
3) Innocence itself is a risk factor because innocent people
often believe that if they simply tell the truth, people will
believe them. This is a naïve perspective.

Who is the most vulnerable suspects ?

• Youth or inexperience with the criminal justice system makes
people more vulnerable to give a false confession
• Low IQ and other cognitive deficiencies increase the likelihood
of a false confession
• 22% of known false confessions stem from people with an
IQ below 70
• Highly suggestible personalities
• Some mental illnesses, including anxiety and delusions
• Grief, shock, and other emotional states increase the risk

Miranda v. Arizona (1996)

Ernesto Miranda confessed to raping and kidnapping a 17-year
old woman
• Miranda appealed conviction on grounds that police had not
told him that his statements would be used against him in court
and he was not offered a lawyer during his interrogation
• U.S. Supreme Court overturned Miranda’s conviction and
extended the rights of a suspect: stated that confessions were
not allowed as evidence unless suspect was told, before
questioning, about their:

• Right to remain silent and anything said can be used against him/her
  • Right to an attorney
  • Right to a state appointed attorney if indigent (can’t afford an attorney)
  • In addition, the suspect must understand these right

Age & IQ Differences in Miranda Comprehension

• Positive correlation between Miranda comprehension and IQ
• Suspects younger than 14 do not comprehend their rights as well as older
suspects
• Not all states require that an adult be present when minor is
read his/her rights
• Poll Questions (2)
• When you “waive” your Miranda rights, it means that you will
speak with police. But, you can still stop at any time even if you
initially waived your Miranda rights.
• Even when an adult is present with a minor, waiver rates do not
go down as many parents urge the child to cooperate and
speak with the police

Methods of Interrogation

Historically, suspects were beaten & physically tortured until they
confessed.
• Physical Custody and Isolation
• Isolation increases anxiety and incentive to escape
• Maximization (Confrontation)
• Intimidate suspect to confess, make false claims to get the confession
• Minimization
• Interrogators make confession an easy way to escape the
interrogation and help create story that suspect is comfortable with
admitting

Innocence as a Risk Factor

• Naively, people trust that their innocence will prevail and
  innocent suspects almost always waive their Miranda rights
  • Innocent suspects often are open and cooperative during
  police interviews
  • Some innocent suspects have confessed to escape the
  pressure and stress of interrogation, while believing that the
  evidence will ultimately set them free

Preventing False Confessions

Improve interrogation techniques:
• Length of interrogation: Set a maximum time. Many false
confessions happen after many, many hours of interrogation
• Lying to suspects: STOP this practice
• Videotape full interrogations, not just the confession
• Main resistance for change is from the police

What is the most famous case of wrongful convictions due to eyewitness error?

Jennifer Thompson & Ronald Cotton

The Reid Technique

Is a widely used manual/technique for eliciting confessions in the US.

• Nine-step interrogation process to elicit an admission of guilt.

What are the goals of The Reid technique?

• To determine if a suspect is lying about involvement; if no then the interview is over or if yes they generate a confession.

How to prevent a false confession?

• A maximum time should be set for interrogations as many false confessions happen after many hours of interrogations.

• Lying to suspects should be stopped

• All Interrogations should be videotaped and not just the confession

• Main resistance for change comes from the police.

Eyewitness evidence can be valuable if ….

1. The evidence (memory) was strong to begin with

2. The evidence is collected/tested properly by law enforcemnet

Trace Evidence Analogy

• Memory is a form of trace evidence

• We cannot directly collect a person’s memory

• Vulnerable to contamination

• Continuously changing & degrading

What is the role of an eyewitness?

1. Perceive something in their environment

2. Store the information

3. Retrieve the information

4. Communicate the information to relevant people

Perception

Our expectations & life experienced can influence how we interpret our environemnt.

How does memory work?

• It is reconstructed

• its easily subject to contamination by post -event information

How does face memory work?

• Occurs as a whole/fully rather than slowly, meaning we see the whole face at once rather than the smaller features that make up the face (chin, left eyebrow, right cheekbone , and etc.)

Why do witnesses make ID errors?

1. Estimator variables (factors that we cannot control, such as being stressed)

2. System variables (controllable factors, such as police procedures)

What are estimator variables?

Uncontrollable variables that have been shown to influence eyewitness accuracy.

What are some examples of estimator variables?

1) Short exposure to the perpetrator (duration)
2) Poor lighting conditions
3) Presence of a weapon during the crime
4) High levels of arousal/stress
5) Cross-race bias (aka own-race bias)
6) Long periods of delay (time) between an event and retrieval
7) Witness intoxication (alcohol/drugs)
8) Distance
9) Lack of attention

What are system variables?

• Controllable factors & investigative decision made by police or investigators

What are some examples of system variable?

1) Crime scene control (e.g., were witnesses separated at the scene?)
2) Witness interviews
3) Identification procedures
a) Composites/sketches
b) Showups identifications
c) In-court IDs
d) Mug-shot searches (searching through books of arrest photos)
e) Lineups (photo & live lineups)

What is the purpose of a lineup?

• Its a memory test that is designed to give investigators more information that they had before the procedure was conducted.

What are some lineup best prcatices?

1. Minimum of 5 fillers and 1 suspect per procedure

2. Use a double-blind administrator

3. Give witness instructions

4. Record the procedure, video is best

5. Record witness’s level of confidence if they select someone

Assessing Bias : Filler Selection

• For all the items mentioned in the witness’s description, the fillers (person) should match the suspect's appearance.

• The suspect should stand out

Assessing Lineup Bias: Clothing

• Suspect should not be presented in the same clothing as the witnesses description , unless all lineup members are wearing the same clothing.

Witness Confidence/Certainty

• When a witness makes an identification with very high confidence, it is likely to be accurate when best practicies have been used.

What are some problems with a witnesses confidence/certanity?

• One of the problems with witness confidence is that many variables can increase or decrease confidence after the identification decision

• For example, positive Post-Identification Feedback can cause a witness to become more confident in their decision

Post-identification Feedback Effect

1. Witness a crime

2. Lineup identification

3. Researchers manipulate feedback (such as confirming: “Good, you identified the suspect.” or Control: Nothing (no feedback is given)).

4. Measures (recollection of witness experience & lineup behaviors)

Can we identify errors after the fact?

Not with precision, but there are a few indicators:

• High confidence from the first identification procedure with a suspect, where best practices were followed.

• Decision speed from fair lineups

• Elimination/comparison strategies (recognition vs choosing) indicate guessing

Conclusions of Eyewutnesses

• No current identification procedure eliminates the selection of
  innocent people.

• Researchers have identified procedures that reduce
  identification errors and can be used to increase the reliability
  of eyewitness evidence.

• Post-dicting accuracy is possible, but it is not without error

• Be aware of contamination

Basic Criminal Procedures:

1. Arrest

2. Filings

3. Grand Jury

4. Pre-Trial

5. Trail

6. Sentencing

True or False : Pre- Trial can lead straight to sentencing?

True: The defendant can take a plea bargain

What rights are you given?

• 6th Amendment (criminal cases), 7th (civil cases)

• Right to a speedy & public trial by an impartial jury

• Right to a lawyer, to face your accuser & to know the nature of the charges & the evidence against you

What is plea bargaining?

A process which defendants consider pleading guilty & skipping trial usually in exchange for some benefit from the prosecutor.

• researchers have identified 42 rights that defendants may give up if they accept a plea deal.

How many federal cases are resolved by guilty pleas/ people taking a ple bargin?

97%

What are the concerns about plea bargaining?

• The innocence problem (Are innocent people pleading guilty?)

• The validity problem (are people waving their rights doing so validly?)

Between 1989 & 2016, the National Registry of Exonerations had accounted for :

277 innocent defendants who pled guilty & served time for a crime they did not commit.

Brady v. United States

Waivers of constitutional rights must not only be voluntary, but must be knowing, intelligent acts done with sufficient awareness of the relevant circumstances & likely consequences .

Why do defendants plead guilty?

Benefits: Faster resolution,reduced stress, “plea discount”: Dropped charges , reduced charges and reduced sentences.

Defendant Guilt

Guilty defendants are more likely to plead guilty than are innocent defendants, but innocent defendants still plead guilty (sometimes at very rare rates).

Attorney Advice

Defendants are likely to follow the advice of their attorneys, even if it goes against their own preferences

Social Factors of plea-bargaining

• Authority

• Scarcity  (EX:” you have 48 hrs to take the bargain or else it's gone”)

• Reciprocity  (EX: “I knocked down 4 of your charges, so you should do this…”) They did something for you so you have to do something for them

• Pressure

Defendant Factors

• Incarceration

• Impulsivity

• Developmental Level

What is a Jury?

A sworn body of citizens gathered to render an impartial (neutral , fair, unbiased) verdict on a question given to them by a court.

Jury Pool Eligibility

• US Citizen

• 18 yrs old

• No felony convictions

• Speaks English

• Mentally competent

• Live in relevant jurisdiction

Grand Jury

Decides if further investigation or prosecution warranted (was there probable cause ) - if yes issue an indictment (true bill)

• Required in all federal felony cases (5th Amendment)

• Only half the states use a grand jury

Civil (Petit) Juries Decide:

• Liability and damages

Criminal Juries Decide:

• Guilt

• Death penalty cases : Bifurcated jury

• Life in prison or Death penalty

• Mitigating & Aggravating evidence

Venire

To come

Voir Dire

The legal proceeding in which jury selection occurs

Jury selection Challenges for cause

• Relationship to a party, language ability and certain attitudinal positions

Jury selection Peremptory Challenges

• no stated reason for excusal and limited number based on case

Limited Voir Dire

• Only a few yes or no questions

• Potential jurors questioned in a group by the judge

• No pretrial questionnaire or social media analysis

Expansive Voir Dire

• Questions are open-ended and yes/no

• Judges and attorneys ask questions to individuals

• Pretrial questionnaire and social media analysis

Baston V. Kentucky (1986)

• In a trial of a Black defendant charged with burglary, the prosecution struck all four Black venire persons

• Prosecution cannot use peremptory challenges to excuse jurors
  because of race in a criminal case

• Violates the defendant’s constitutional rights to equal protection

• No guarantee to jury of one’s own race, but cannot purposefully
  exclude members of that race

Powers v. Ohio (1991)

• Black venire persons cannot be systematically exclude even if the defendant is White, not Black.

Edmonson v. Leesville (1991)

• Extends Baston to cilvil litigation

Georgia v. McCollum (1992)

• Victims of robbery were Black & defense intended to strike Black jurors

• USSC extended Batson to defendant

J.E.B. v. Alabama (1994)

• Extends Batson to gender

True or False: Hardly people are being executed right now!

True

True or False: Actual executions are decreasing , fewer people are being executed in the US

True

Furman v. Georgia (1972)

The US Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as then administered was a cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments

Why did the Death Penalty Stop?

The death penalty was happening a lot in the .past, but it eventually stopped because it was being used too often without a fair or consistent process. The government didn’t have a clear standard for who received the death penalty, which led to unfair sentencing—especially against poor people and people of color. Courts realized this and decided that the way the death penalty was being used was unconstitutional. In 1972, the Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia stopped the death penalty temporarily because it was being applied in an arbitrary and discriminatory way.

Support of the death penalty is on decline but majority of americans still support the death penalty

Deterrence theory

posits that potential murders will be restrained
by possibility of execution.

Deterrence theory not upheld

Having the death penalty does not deter people from murdering , States with death penalty have higher rates of murder than those without the death penalty.

What are the contributing factors to wrongful convictions?

• Eyewitness Error (#1)

• Improper Forensic Evidence (#2)

• False Confessions

• Police Misconduct

• Prosecutorial Misconduct

• Perjury

• Inadequate Defense

Batson v. Kentucky

In court, when a jury is being selected, lawyers can reject certain potential jurors. But in Batson v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court ruled that lawyers cannot reject jurors just because of their race. Can not exclude them for gender, race, etc, and is withholding evidence favorable to the defendant

Brady v. United States (1970)

ruled that a guilty plea is valid if it is made voluntarily and with understanding of the consequences.