Part 1 (forensic psych research)

Crime Myths / Who creates them (4)

(mass media)(government)(crime as entertainment)(statistics)

Shared characteristics of crime myths (4)

(Deviant or different target population)

(Innocent and helpless victim population)

(Heroes)

(Threat to lifestyle, norms, and values)

What was the war on drugs? How does it fit the myths?  Who benefitted?  What were the consequences?

The war on drugs was a gov. lead campaign to stop illegal drugs. It fits into myths b/c of the mass media response it created. It benefited law enforcement, private prisons, drug testing businesses, and traffickers. The consequences were racial and gender disparities and mass incarceration.

What are people who commit crimes like?

Lower IQ and age, as they get older they become less impulsive.

Truths about crime?

Reality 87% US crimes are non-violent and murder rate is 0.2%

Define serial murder

The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.

Define mass murder

A number of murders (four or more) occurring during the same incident, with no distinctive time period between the murders.

Define spree murder

Two or more murders committed by an offender or offenders, without a cooling-off period.

What do we know about profiling serial kilers?

Profiling lacks any scientific bias, does not work, not accurate

What do police mostly do?

Requests for information, paper work, and traffic problems.

Problem with confession evidence?

Chicago is notorious for persuading confessions with dangerous, abusive methods, having the time of the False Confession city, numerous individuals that were forced to confess to crimes they did not commit are being released from prison by organizations funded such as The Innocence Project. 

Polygraph as evidence

Inadmissible in court

What is the CSI effect?

The CSI effect is a phenomenon where popular crime-drama tv shows alter the public’s expectations and perceptions of real-life forensic science and courtroom trials. 

CSI effect among jurors?

(46% expected to see some kind of scientific evidence in every case) (22% expected to see DNA evidence in every criminal case)(36% expected to see fingerprint evidence in every criminal case) (32% expected to see ballistic or other firearms laboratory evidence in every criminal case.)

What is deterrence? How does it impact our policies?

Deterrence is the use of criminal penalties or threats of punishment to discourage individuals from committing crimes. This impacts our policies because it shifts focus from Severity to Certainty, the severity of a punishment making a 15-year sentence into a 30-year sentence has a very small or non-existent added deterrent effect. Forensic and policy studies demonstrate that Certainty of being caught is much more powerful as a deterrent.

Plea bargaining?

70 to 95% of cases are settled by a plea bargain.