Forensic Psychology, Investigative Interviewing, and Violent Extremism

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering criminal profiling, investigative interviewing, Indigenous Māori forensic frameworks, legal competencies, and the psychology of violent extremism.

Criminal Profiling

The process of using information about the crime scene and offense to infer characteristics of an unknown offender to narrow down a suspect pool.

James Brussel's Mad Bomber Profile

A psychiatric profile that predicted the bomber would be a foreign-born Slav aged 40 to 50, single, living with female relatives, neat, clean-shaven, paranoid, and wearing a buttoned double-breasted suit.

Modus Operandi (MO)

The practical and functional methods an offender uses to commit a crime, which can evolve and become more sophisticated over time.

Criminal Signature

Distinctive, unnecessary behaviors performed during a crime that fulfill a personal psychological or emotional need of the offender, remaining relatively consistent over time.

Jack the Ripper MO vs Signature

An analytical comparison contrasting the offender's functional actions (targeting sex workers in London's West End after midnight with a knife) with expressive signature acts ('overkill', body posing, facial mutilation, and picquerism).

Picquerism

A sexual signature paraphilia characterized by obtaining sexual arousal from stabbing, slicing, or cutting the flesh of victims.

Organised vs Disorganised Offender Typology

An FBI classification contrasting high-functioning offenders (average to high IQ, socially/sexually competent, skilled employment, mobile) with low-functioning offenders (below-average IQ, socially/sexually inept, unskilled/unemployed, geographically localized).

Four-Quadrant Offender Behavior Model

A statistical behavioral clustering framework that maps offense actions across four interpersonal crime themes: Sadism, Aggression, Intimacy, and Criminality.

Linkage Analysis

The investigative process of determining whether multiple crimes were committed by the same perpetrator; admissible in court only if proven reliable and probative rather than unfairly prejudicial.

Christchurch Burglary Series

A case analysis demonstrating that geographic proximity and consistent entry methods (forced rear window at midday) are the strongest variables for linking offenses to a single perpetrator.

Barnum Effect

The psychological tendency for individuals to perceive vague, general statements as highly accurate descriptions tailored specifically to their case or personality.

Behavioural Investigative Advisers (BIAs)

The United Kingdom professional title for criminal profilers who provide evidence-based, documented reasoning to support police inquiries.

Crime Pattern Theory

A criminological theory proposing that criminal events are not randomly distributed, but cluster within an offender's routine awareness space and daily paths.

Marauder

An offender who commits crimes within the surrounding area of their home base, radiating outward from where they live.

Commuter

An offender who travels away from their home base into an external geographic area to commit crimes.

Dual-Process Cognitive Systems

A psychological decision-making model contrasting fast, automatic, effortless pattern-matching (System 1) with slow, analytical, resource-hungry processing (System 2).

Tunnel Vision Pathway

A sequential cognitive breakdown wherein early bias narrows focus onto one suspect, behavioral confirmation secures a confession, and other evidence is corrupted or ignored.

Central Eight Risk Factors

Major predictors of criminal reoffending, comprising antisocial attitudes, antisocial peers, antisocial personality pattern, history of antisocial behavior, family/marital factors, school/work, leisure/recreation, and substance abuse.

Pōwhiri

A Māori engagement and risk management process that safely integrates two groups through stages including wero, karanga, whaikōrero, waiata, hongi, and kai to balance tapu.

Tapu

A foundational concept in te ao Māori denoting the sacred, intrinsic potentiality, restriction, and core dignity existing within people, relationships, and environments.

Mana

The active manifestation and realization of tapu, representing personal power, integrity, and presence cultivated through serving and elevating others.

Pono

A guiding principle of truth, integrity, and perceptive self-awareness that allows mana to be exercised without cognitive or cultural bias.

Tika

The discernment and enactment of correct actions and right relationships that appropriately honor tapu and mana rather than rigidly following mechanical rules.

Aroha

A deliberate, action-oriented governing principle of care, communion, and focus that breathes life into individuals and restores relationships.

Whakapapa

Layered genealogy tracing an individual's origin and relationships to people, landscapes, atua, and historical events to understand who they are.

Whenua

The land of origin that provides protection and belonging when connected, but acts as a risk factor when dislocation leaves an individual with nowhere to go.

Taha Wairua

The spiritual aspect of personal identity encompassing unseen waters and spiritual strength, which fosters resilience and directs recovery toward wellness.

Taha Hinengaro

The mental and emotional dimension that interprets perceptual experience and feelings through a collective, relational worldview rather than individual pathology.

Taha Whānau

The collective relational realm encompassing capacity to connect with siblings, relatives, and communities, welcoming social diversity.

Taha Tinana

The physical dimension of the body and immediate personal environment, frequently serving as the final indicator or mirror of an individual's overall wellbeing.

Hōkai Tapuwae

A Māori cultural assessment process that investigates a person's genealogy and cultural background to recommend pathways toward wellbeing and strength.

Whanaungatanga

The relational system of belonging, structural kinship, and reciprocal obligation spanning across whānau, hapū, and iwi.

Hotspot Policing

A proactive law enforcement approach that targets police resources and patrols directly at geographically concentrated areas where offenses are predicted to recur.

Shooter Bias

A split-second cognitive bias where an officer's perception of a suspect's ethnicity unfairly influences rapid decisions to shoot or use lethal force.

Co-Response Model

A collaborative emergency mental health dispatch model where police officers and mental health professionals deploy together in a single vehicle.

Intellectual Disability (Diagnostic Criteria)

A developmental condition defined by an $\text{IQ} \le 70$, functional deficits across at least two adaptive skill domains, and manifestation before the age of $18$.

Fitness to Stand Trial

The legal capacity of a defendant to comprehend courtroom proceedings, enter a plea, communicate effectively with legal counsel, and understand trial consequences.

Inventory of Legal Knowledge (ILK)

A $61$-item true/false psychometric test designed to detect feigned legal incapacity; scores below $47\%$ strongly indicate deliberate malingering.

M'Naghten Rules

The legal standard for insanity requiring proof that a disease of the mind caused a defect of reason such that the defendant did not understand the nature and quality of the act, or did not know it was morally wrong.

Reid Technique

A confrontational, guilt-presumptive interrogation method utilizing isolation, direct accusations, maximisation of legal danger, and minimisation of moral culpability.

Minimisation

An interrogation tactic where the interviewer offers moral justifications, expresses sympathy, and downplays the seriousness of an offense to induce an admission.

Internalised False Confession

A false confession occurring when an innocent individual exposed to coercive interrogation and fabricated evidence comes to genuinely believe they committed the crime.

Compliant False Confession

A false admission offered by an innocent suspect who recognizes their innocence but confesses purely to escape high-stress, prolonged interrogation.

Voluntary False Confession

A false admission delivered without police coercion, typically prompted by delusions, pathological guilt, a desire for notoriety, or protecting the true perpetrator.

Mr Big Technique

An undercover policing strategy in which suspects are recruited into a staged criminal syndicate and coerced by a faux crime boss to reveal past crimes to prove loyalty.

PEACE Model

A structured, ethical investigative interviewing framework consisting of Planning and preparation, Engage and explain, Account clarification and challenge, Closure, and Evaluation.

Interrogation Reforms Table

A synthesis of empirical evidence and New Zealand statutory safeguards designed to eliminate coercive interview tactics and prevent wrongful convictions.

Two Pyramids Model

A conceptual model separating cognitive extremism (radical opinions ranging from neutral to personal moral duty) from behavioral mobilization (actions ranging from doing nothing to terrorism).

Radicalization Risk Factors (Beliefs vs Action)

An empirical matrix showing that while predictors like criminal history ($r = .35$) and peer delinquency ($r = .30$) moderately drive violent action, they have far weaker associations with radical beliefs.

Extremism Protective Factors

A statistical table identifying major inhibitors against radicalization, highlighted by respect for the law ($r = -.55$ for beliefs, $r = -.22$ for action) and institutional legitimacy.

Significance Quest Theory (The Three Ns)

A framework stating that radicalization requires the co-occurrence of a Need (loss of social status or rejection), a Narrative (an ideology blaming an outgroup), and a Network (a supportive peer collective).

Leakage

A critical pre-attack warning behavior in which an offender communicates intentions or clues about an impending violent act to third parties such as friends, family, or online forums.

Black Pill

A fatalistic incel worldview asserting that a man's romantic and social success is strictly predetermined by facial aesthetics and genetic traits that cannot be altered.