Forensic psych - finished deck

What is forensic psychology?

Application of psychological science to law and criminal justice with attention to individual behaviour

What are the micro meso and macro levels?

Micro is the individual / meso is groups and institutions / macro is society and culture

What topics does forensic psychology cover?

Police / offenders / juries / eyewitnesses / experts / mental illness / corrections / risk assessment

What are the three pillars of Canadian criminal justice?

Police investigate / courts adjudicate / corrections administer sentences and rehabilitation

What legal traditions does Canada use?

Common law generally / Quebec civil law for private matters / federal criminal law nationwide

What are the main Canadian court levels?

Provincial and territorial courts / superior courts / appeal courts / Supreme Court of Canada

What is the presumption of innocence?

The Crown must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt

What are important sentencing objectives?

Denunciation / deterrence / rehabilitation

What is the Criminal Code of Canada?

Federal law enacted in 1892 defining criminal offences and penalties across Canada

Which other major statutes govern criminal justice?

Youth Criminal Justice Act and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

When was the Charter entrenched?

1982 / protects constitutional rights and limits government conduct

What do Charter sections 8 through 11 protect?

8 Protection against unreasonable search or seizure / 9 Protection against arbitrary (random or unfair) detention or imprisonment / 10 ou have the right to be told promptly why you are being arrested or detained, in plain language and counsel / 11right to a fair, timely trial if charged.

What does Charter section 24(2) provide?

Exclusion of Charter-breaching evidence if admission would bring justice into disrepute

How do the Criminal Code and Charter differ?

Criminal Code creates offences and penalties / Charter protects constitutional rights

What are the three branches of government?

Legislative makes law / executive administers law / judiciary interprets law

What is Royal Assent?

Governor General formally approves a bill passed by Parliament

What does the Minister of Justice do?

Oversees federal justice policy and legislation and usually serves as Attorney General

What does the Minister of Public Safety oversee?

Federal policing and corrections institutions including RCMP and CSC

How do CSC and the Parole Board differ?

CSC manages federal corrections and supervision / Parole Board decides conditional release

What are actus reus and mens rea?

Actus reus is prohibited conduct / mens rea is the required mental element

What did James Cattell find in 1895?

Eyewitness confidence does not guarantee accuracy

What did Alfred Binet find about children?

Children are suggestible and free recall is generally more accurate than leading questions

What did William Stern’s reality experiments show?

Witness memories can be inaccurate especially during intense emotional arousal

Who is called the father of forensic psychology?

Hugo Münsterberg

What book did Münsterberg publish?

On the Witness Stand / applied psychology to eyewitnesses and interrogations and confessions

How did the legal profession initially respond to Münsterberg?

Many lawyers criticized or rejected psychological expert claims

What is retroactive memory falsification?

Post-event information becomes mixed into memory of the original event

What did von Schrenck-Notzing show in 1896?

Pretrial publicity can distort eyewitness recollection

What did Varendonck show in 1911?

Suggestive questions can distort children’s eyewitness reports

What were three early applied psychology milestones?

1909 young offender clinic / 1916 pretrial assessment labs / 1917 police testing

Why is State v. Driver important?

Early case expressing concern about using psychological tests to judge witness credibility

What did People v. Hawthorne recognize in 1940?

Qualified psychologists may testify about a defendant’s mental state

What did Jenkins v. United States recognize in 1962?

Qualified psychologists can give expert opinions about mental disorders

What did R. v. Hubbert concern?

Presumption of jury impartiality and existing jury safeguards

What did R. v. Williams recognize in 1998?

Racial prejudice can compromise juror impartiality

What does R. v. Sophonow illustrate?

Eyewitness error and investigative problems can contribute to wrongful convictions

What did R. v. Lavallee establish in 1990?

Expert evidence on battered woman syndrome may help explain defendant behaviour

What did R. v. Swain concern in 1991?

Reform of insanity defence procedures and treatment of accused with mental disorders

What did Wenden v. Trikha concern?

Potential duty of clinicians to warn or protect identifiable threatened people

What did R. v. Levogiannis allow in 1993?

Protective screens for child witnesses consistent with a fair trial

What did R. v. Gladue require in 1999?

Consider systemic circumstances affecting Indigenous offenders and alternatives to incarceration

What did R. v. Oickle address in 2000?

Voluntariness of confessions and coercive interrogation influences

What did R. v. L.T.H. emphasize in 2008?

Young people must understand their rights in age-appropriate language

What did Ewert v. Canada address in 2018?

Concerns about validity of risk tools for Indigenous offenders

What did R. v. Chouhan uphold in 2021?

Removal of peremptory challenges from jury selection

What did R. v. Lindsay concern in 2023?

Legal limits on police use of force and criminal responsibility

What did Robert Loo contribute?

Development of RCMP psychological health and stress services

What Canadian forensic psychology organization formed in 1985?

Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Psychological Association

What did Andrews and colleagues identify in 1990?

Principles of effective correctional intervention using meta-analysis

What are five major risk assessment tools?

VRAG / LSI / SARA / HCR-20 / Static-99

What did Regina Schuller study in 1996?

Effects of battered woman syndrome testimony on juror decisions

What did Lindsay and Turtle recommend in 1999?

Better procedures for collecting eyewitness identification evidence

What Canadian psychology and law textbook milestone occurred in 2001?

Regina Schuller and James Ogloff published an early Canadian textbook

What did Gendreau find about get-tough correctional policies?

Many punitive approaches did not reduce recidivism

What did Andrews Bonta and Wormith introduce in 2004?

Level of Service/Case Management Inventory or LS/CMI

What is an expert witness?

Qualified specialist who offers opinions to help a court understand evidence

How do ordinary and expert witnesses differ?

Ordinary witnesses describe observations / experts may offer specialized opinions

What is the main duty of an expert witness?

Assist the court objectively rather than advocate for either side

What is the Frye standard?

1923 rule emphasizing general acceptance in the relevant scientific community

What are two criticisms of Frye?

General acceptance is vague / judges may struggle to evaluate scientific consensus

What is the Daubert standard?

1993 reliability approach examining testing / peer review / error rates / standards / acceptance

How do Frye and Daubert differ?

Frye emphasizes acceptance / Daubert evaluates multiple reliability factors

Which case established Canada’s Mohan criteria?

R. v. Mohan in 1994

What are the four Mohan criteria?

Relevance / necessity / no exclusionary rule / qualified expert

What does necessity mean under Mohan?

Expert testimony helps with knowledge beyond ordinary juror or judge experience

What did R. v. D.D. address?

Expert evidence on delayed disclosure of childhood sexual abuse

What are the steps of the scientific method?

Identify problem / form hypothesis / gather and analyze evidence / conclude and communicate

What is a hypothesis?

A testable prediction or proposed explanation

What is quantitative research?

Numerical data and statistical tests of relationships

What is qualitative research?

Study of experiences and meaning through interviews or observations

How do qualitative and quantitative methods differ?

Qualitative explores meaning / quantitative measures numerical patterns

What is thematic analysis?

Identification of recurring patterns in qualitative material

What is an experiment?

Research manipulating a variable and typically randomly assigning conditions

How do independent and dependent variables differ?

Independent is predictor or manipulated factor / dependent is measured outcome

What is a quasi-experiment?

Study without random assignment to experimental conditions

How do random sampling and assignment differ?

Sampling selects participants / assignment allocates participants to conditions

What is selection bias?

A sampling process creates systematic differences from the intended population

• sample of people, cases, or data studied does not truly represent the larger target population, leading to distorted or invalid conclusions

What is generalizability?

Applicability of findings beyond the study sample or setting

What are case law and statistical tables and dashboards?

Case law provides precedents / tables provide numbers / dashboards visualize patterns

What is a logic model?

Visual representation of how a program is expected to achieve results

What is the logic model sequence?

Inputs → Activities → Outputs → Outcomes → Long-term impact

How do outputs and outcomes differ?

Outputs are immediate products / outcomes are resulting changes

How do logic models differ from scientific method?

Logic models map expected program pathways / scientific method tests hypotheses

What is a psychological test?

Standardized instrument measuring psychological attributes

How do tests and assessments differ?

A test is one instrument / assessment integrates multiple sources

What is the UCR Survey?

Police-reported Canadian crime data that excludes much unreported crime

How do self-reports and observer reports differ?

Self-report comes from the person / observer report from someone evaluating them

What is reliability?

Consistency of measurement

What are three forms of reliability?

Internal consistency / test-retest / inter-rater

What is validity?

Evidence supporting interpretation and intended use of scores

How do reliability and validity differ?

Reliability is consistency / validity is appropriate measurement interpretation

What are content construct and predictive validity?

Content covers domain / construct measures theory / predictive forecasts outcomes

What is the Classical Test Theory equation?

Observed score X = true score T + error E

What is measurement error?

Difference between observed and true scores due to extraneous influences

• the discrepancy between an observed psychological score (such as an IQ test, risk-assessment rating, or symptom inventory) and a person's true underlying psychological value

What are four measurement scales?

Nominal unordered / ordinal ranked / interval equal spacing / ratio true zero

What are descriptive statistics?

Summaries of numerical data and its distribution

What are mean median and mode?

Mean average / median middle ordered value / mode most frequent

What are range variance and standard deviation?

Range max minus min / variance squared dispersion / SD square root of variance

How do population and sample variance differ?

Population denominator N / sample denominator n minus 1

What is the standard normal distribution?

Mean zero and standard deviation one