forensic psychology

What is the theory that geographical profiling is based on?

Circle Theory. It is a form of profiling based on the location/s of a series of crimes. It analyses the spatial relationships between crimes to reveal the offenders place of residence

What is Circle Theory?

The theory that offenders have a spatial mindset and commit crimes in a 'circle'

What are the two types of Circle Theory?

Marauder and Commuter. A marauder is someone that commits crimes around the general vicinity of their home whilst a commuter travels to a familiar place and commits crimes around that area

What are the search vicinities specified in geographical profiling?

The furthest reaches of the crime 'circle' are low intensity, and going towards the centre of the 'circle', intensity increases (from low, to medium, to high)

How did the FBI begin their profiling?

They interviewed 36 serial killers - including Ted Bundy - to find key characteristics. These were used to form a classification system

What are the key characteristics for FBI profiling?

Family life/background, personality, crimes, motives

What are the crime scene and offender characteristics of an organised offender?

The crime is typically planned, with the offender leaving little to no evidence. The offender typically transports the victim and/or body to hide them and will engage in conversation with the victim. They have average to above average intellect/IQ, they are socially competent, have a skilled profession, are often the first born, have inconsistent childhood discipline, often live with a partner and are typically unsuspicious after the crime, with a charming demeanor and leaving town or changing jobs afterwards

What interviewing technique is used for organised offenders?

Police and interviewers use direct strategies due to the higher intellect and knowledge of what they did

What are the crime scene and offender characteristics of a disorganised offender?

The crime is often spontaneous with little to no planning and is a result of heightened emotions. The acts consist of sudden violence and erratic, random, and sloppy behaviours. The body is often left in view with substantial amounts of evidence. Typically below average IQ/intellect, they are socially inadequate and as a result of these, they work in an unskilled profession. They often had hard discipline as a child and still lives with the parent or alone, near the crime. Their behaviour changed dramatically, they were anxious during the crime, and are very suspicious

What are the interviewing techniques used for disorganised offenders?

The questions are indirect and the interviewer empathises with them, to make them feel less scared and more compelled to tell the truth

What is a leading question?

A question with phrasing that prompts someone to provide a predetermined answer,, it implies the desired answer within the wording and can be drawn from assumptions/biases

What is the aim of the Loftus and Palmer study?

To test whether language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory

What was the method used for the Loftus and Palmer study?

45 university students formed an opportunity sample. There were five conditions they experienced and 7 films of traffic accidents were shown (ranging from 5 to 30 seconds) in random orders to the groups. They were asked to describe what happened and the speed they believed the vehicles were travelling at

What were the terms used in the Loftus and Palmer study?

Smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted. Smashed was 40.8 mph, with contacted being 31.8 mph

What was the conclusion/end result of the Loftus and Palmer study?

The verb used impacted the participants perceptions. Eye witness testimony may be biased by the way questions are asked in a police interview

What is an 'Old Style' Standard interview?

This is where the interviewer does most of the talking, often interrupting the victim and preventing them from elaborating on topics and adding detail. They ask specific, closed questions that can often be leading questions. There is little to no reconciliation and questions often seem out of sync

What is a cognitive interview?

Cognitive interviewing techniques aim to achieve greater detail and better recall, it is based on extensive memory research

What are the four key aspects of cognitive interviews?

Context reinstatement, where the witness recalls the scene, weather, toughts and feelings at the time, preceding events, and more to provide retrieval cues to access memory. Similarly, they must report everything, even the small, trivial details, for the same memory cues. Changed perspective is also used, where the witness describes the scene from another perspective and what someone else may have possibly seen, this can also aid in police deciding who to interview. Lastly, they recall in reverse and in various temporal views. This is due to the recency effect where the events that occurred most recently are the clearest

What are the three other aspects of cognitive interviews?

Only open questions are asked, no leading questions due to the Loftus and Palmer study. Time is given to witnesses to process and remember things. Witnesses are not excessively pressed due to possible trauma

What can blood help determine?

Direction it travelled, angle of impact, point of origin, velocity, manner date and time of the crime, type of weapon, movements and positions, if the assailant was left or right handed, types of injuries, and whether the death was immediate. It can also evaluate the credibility of witness, victim, and suspect statements

What is cohesion in terms of blood?

Blood sticks together as it falls, so it maintains a round shape, due to this, it also resists flattening out when it falls, so spatters are generally curved before drying

What are the two key shape aspects of blood droplets?

When blood falls from a high point or at high velocity, it forms secondary droplets called satellite droplets. If it falls to a rough surface, it can form spikes or scalloping around the main/body droplet

What are influences the shape of blood droplets?

The angle, height, velocity, and texture of the surface

What are the seven blood spatter types?

Elongated (at an angle other than 90 degrees, it forms a tail and satellite droplets), passive (90 degree slow falls, circular with satellite droplets), arterial gushes (from the pressure of a breached artery, typically found on walls or ceilings, it's pattern depends on the beating of the heart), splashes, smears, trails (follows the victim or assailants movements), and blood pools (victim bleeds heavily)

What are the different blood speeds, examples, and droplet sizes?

High velocity: can be from a gunshot, typically less than 1mm in diameter. Medium: can be from a beating or stabbing, droplets range between 1-4mm. Low: Blunt object impact, 4-6mm

What is death?

The cessation or end of life

What are the characteristics of death?

Irreversible stopping of blood and brain activity. When the heart stops, cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. This is called autolysis. Once they have died, they cannot be restarted

Why are autopsies conducted?

In the case of suspicious or unnatural deaths, a pathologist conducts a post-mortem examination, it can exclude suspects based on alibis or location at the time of death

What do autopsies determine?

The manner (what caused the death), the cause (reason of death), the mechanism (specific body failure), and the time (when they died)

What are the types of mortis?

Livor mortis, rigor mortis, algor mortis

Livor Mortis

Death colour, the pooling of blood in tissues after death (lividity)

Rigor Mortis

Death stiffness, stiffening of skeletal muscles

Algor Mortis

Death heat, cooling of body after death. The body temperature typically drops 1.5 degrees Celsius every hour after death

Why are stomach and intestinal contents important?

Death can be estimated through analysis of the victim's digestive tract

What are the time frames for the digestive tract?

4-6 hours to empty the digestive tract into the small intestine. 12 hours for food to leave the small intestine. 24 hours from the time of ingestion until food is released from the large intestines into the rectum

What are the changes in the eye after death?

Following death, the eyes dry out. If they were open at death, a thin film will appear in around 2-3 hours, in 3-7 hours a band called the tache noire will appear. It turns yellow, then brown, then black, before disappearing after 24 hours. If the eyes were closed at death, it takes around 24 hours for the film to appear

What are entomologists?

They are scientists that analyse bugs, and in the case of forensics, they analyse them in the context of a crime scene

What do entomologists do?

They record crime scene conditions such as the temperature, moisture, and wind. They collect insect evidence, on, above, below, and surrounding the corpse. They determine an estimate for the postmortem interval (PMI) - the time between death and discovery of the body. They can also testify in court to explain evidence at a crime scene

What can insects suggest?

If insects from other regions are found on a corpse, it suggests that the body may have been moved and can also help determine the primary crime scene

What is the lifecycle of a blowfly?

Less than 8 hours for eggs to appear in the warm, moist areas of the body. 20 hours for larva (instar 1). 2.5 days for larva (instar 2). 4-6 days for larva (instar 3). 8-12 days for pre-pupa. 18-24 days for the pupa

Locard's Exchange Principle

Every contact leaves a trace

What are the viability variables for forensic evidence?

Depending on the method of preservation, evidence can last for decades. The climate may accelerate the decomposition or preserve the evidence. As sub-tropical to tropical environments are harsher, decomposition occurs quicker, whereas cold, dry climates such as the permafrost can fossilise and preserve evidence.

What are the rules for evidence preservation?

1. Most evidence should be stored in a dry, sterile environment at room temperature 2. most/damp evidence should be dried our to prevent transfer ad contamination 3. evidence should be collected with care to prevent breakage and transfer between the collector, tool, and evidence 4. all evidence must be documented with labels and logs

Examples of misuse and misapplication

Conviction based solely on some, but not all, pieces of evidence. Other evidence such as witnesses and testimony is ignored. Conviction based solely on circumstantial evidence

What is the chain of custody?

Evidence is found, then collected and preserved before being transported to a lab. It is then examined and a report is filed to the appropriate authorities. This report is then provided in court

What are some types of evidence?

Dust and dirt (reveals where someone has travelled), fingerprints (FBI's Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or AFIS, database), shoe prints and tyre tracks (photographed, lifted with tape, or casted. Can help identify the brand, walking style, and occupation), bite marks (matched to dental records), tool marks (may have traces of other substances from the crime scene or fingerprints), wounds (can be matched to a weapon: size, shape, length, dominant hand, height), questioned documents (ransom note: type of paper, printing method/writing style, ink type, watermarks, indentations), insects (estimate PMI), DNA (extracted from almost any tissue such as hair, fingernails, bones, teeth, bodily fluids, and saliva - which can be tested up to 6 months, CODIS - Combined DNA Index System is a criminal and unknown DNA database used by the FBI), skeletal remains (sex can be determined by pelvis, humeris and femur. Age can be determined by development of teeth, bone growth and length. Race can be determined by skull characteristics. Can reveal injury and trauma), bodily fluids such as vomit, urine, and semen (detects alcohol levels, drugs, and poisons)

What are the three types of fingerprints?

Arches, loops, and whorls

Define the CSI effect

The CSI effect is the way that media depicts forensic science and its impact on public opinions and juror decisions

What is the importance of the CSI effect?

Jurors and the public have beliefs and expectations that don't match up with the reality of forensic evidence

What are the differences between crime television and real life?

In TV, pathologists do every job, whereas in real life there are various teams of specialists each in their own fields. 40% of TV tools are not plausible. Evidence in real life is not conclusive and can take days or weeks to process

What is conformity?

A change in belief or behaviour due to real or imagined group pressure

What was the aim of the Asch Study?

To find how a majority could influence a minority to conform

What was the method of the Asch Study?

50 male students participated in a 'vision test'. A 'naive participant' was put into a group with 7 'confederates', in advance, the confederates had agreed upon answers but the naive participant had no clue. They were asked to state the obvious length of a line, A, B, or C. The naive participant gave their answer last. There were 18 trials and the confederates answered incorrectly in 12 of them (the critical trials)

What were the results of the Asch Study?

1/3 went along with the clearly wrong confederates. 3/4 conformed at least once. 1/4 never conformed

What was the conclusion of the Asch Study?

Most naive participants said they did not believe their answers were right, they were worried about being ridiculed. Some participants, however, did believe the confederates

Why were there two different opinions in the Asch conclusion?

Normative social influence and informative social influence

Normative social influence

The desire to fit in, a change in behaviour

Informative social influence

The belief that the group is better informed on a topic, a change in belief

Aim of the Moscovici Study

To see how a minority could influence a majority

Method of the Moscovici Study

2 confederates, 4 naive participants. They were shown 36 slides that were clearly different shades of blue and were asked to state the colour aloud. In the first part, confederates answered green for all slides, in the second part, confederates answered green for only 24 times, and blue for the other 12

Results of the Moscovici Study

Consistent minority had an 8.42% effect, whilst the inconsistent minority had only 1.25% effect. 1/3 of the naive participants said green at least once

Conclusion of the Moscovici Study

A minority can influence a majority, but not always

Three key aspects for minority influence

Commitment - a dedication to the cause, which can be done through personal sacrifice. Consistency - opposition to the majority must be maintained with a resolution, certainty, clarity of definition, and coherence. However, there must also be flexibility - the minority must not give the impression they are rigid and unbending, which are undesirable traits. They must be prepared to amend views and accept reasonable counterarguments

What is the Halo Effect?

It is the theory that conventionally attractive people tend to be perceived as being competent and successful. Due to this association, their negative characteristics are often overshadowed so they receive more favourable treatment

What is the Horn Effect?

It is immediately ascribing negative attitudes or behaviours based on one aspect of their appearance/character. It leads to less favourable treatment

What are the five types of punishment?

Retribution - an eye for an eye theory where the punishment should fit the crime. Deterrence - specific deterrence to individuals so they do not commit further, and general deterrence to the public so they do not follow suit. Rehabilitation - treatment and therapy to eliminate the cause of criminal behaviour. Denunciation - symbolic, collective statement of society's disapproval. Prevention - protection of society and stopping those likely to offend/reoffend

Aggravating and mitigating factors

Evidence that can impact and influence the sentence period. Aggravating factors increase the seriousness of the offence whilst mitigating factors do the opposite

Aggravating factors

Negatively portray the offender/defendant. This can result from the offender having a criminal history, abusing trust, being on bail or parole, pre-meditating the crime, if the crime was violent or used a weapon, and/or if the victim had a disability

Mitigating factors

Lessen the sentence period as a result of the offender showing remorse, attempting rehabilitation, having a disability, and/or initially pleading guilty

What is bias?

A predisposed judgement. There are two types, explicit, and implicit

Explicit bias

Having an awareness of the bias, a conscious attitude or belief

Implicit bias

Subconscious attitude or belief that alters perceptions and behaviours

What is the Credibility Gap/Discount?

It refers to women being less likely to be believed by others than men (their statements are given less weight)

What are the consequences of the Credibility Gap (negatives for women)?

They face prolonged delays in getting their cases registered, cases have a higher likelihood of being cancelled, the duration of investigations is longer, there is a greater possibility of court dismissal, and discriminatory laws

What are the impacts for women and against men?

More men are sent to prison, men face longer sentences and serve larger proportions of their sentences. Men are also more likely t be sent to prison for the same crime