criminal psychology

OCR exam

background- not psychological explanation for behavior (biological what makes a criminal)

the Cambridge study- farrington

• aim- to investigate the influence of family background on offending

• research method-criminal record search for criminal offence, longitudinal (40 years), interviews with children, parents and teachers

• sample- 411 boys (aged 8-48) from London UK, boys were mainly from white working class families

• results- 7% became chronic offenders- their crimes accounted for ½ of the criminal records- they shared common childhood characteristics (convicted parent, disrupted family, poor parenting)

• conclusion- disrupted families are associated with increased criminal record risk- multiple factors are involved. for interventions to be effective should target under 10 & create stable family environments

another example of non-psychological factor

SLT

physiological explanations for criminal behavior study

Brunner

aim and sample of brunner

• to explain the criminal behavior of a large family in the Netherlands

• 5 males from one family, these males were affected by mental retardation and abnormal violent behavior (aggression, arson, attempted rape and exhibition)

method for brunner

• urine samples from a 24hr period to measure levels of enzyme mono-amine oxidase A

• MAOA increases serotonin levels so if MAOA is low= low serotonin (vise versa)

• low serotonin leads to more aggression

Result for Brunner

• reduced MAOA levels so serotonin levels were low

• in all 5 males a mutation was identified in the gene producing MAOA

Conclusion for Brunner

• MAOA is responsible for serotonin levels so the deflect in the gene leads to low serotonin. low serotonin is likely to be responsible for the mental retardation and violent behavior

Caspi et al study

sample- 1037 pp from new zealand

results- those with low activity of MAOA experience of childhood maltreatment accounted for 44% of violent convictions

conclusion- low MAOA alone may not correlate as highly with antisocial and violent behavior as the interaction of low MAOA and maltreatment in childhood

what is the cerebral cortex

the wrinkly layer that surrounds your brain- your

what is your parietal lobe

• sensory (perception, spatial awareness, touch, motor control)

what is your frontal lobe

• cognition (planning, organizing, problem solving, personality and higher order thinking)

what is the temporal lobe

• auditory (hearing, selective listening, speech, language, memory)

what is the occipital lobe

• vision (process information from our eyes, visual cortex)

inner brain- limbic system and what is inside

• hippocampus- long term memory

• amygdala- controls emotions (anger/fear)

inner brain- basal ganglia

• voluntary motor control, procedural learning and eye movement, as well as cognitive and emotional functions

what is a PET scanner

• assumes high flow of blood associated with brain activity (Position Emission Tomography)→ patients injected with slightly radioactive glucose cyclotron- biological molecules synthesis

Raine aim

• offenders that had plead not guilty by reason of insanity

  hypothesis

  → seriously violent individuals have localized brain dysfunction in following areas (pre-frontal cortex, angular gyrus, Amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, corpus callosum)

research method for Raine

• quasi experiment

• IV- murderer/ non murderer

• DV- evidence of brain dysfunction

• non- murderers were taking no medicine, no history, no current medical issue

• 6 schizophrenic to match with murderers

• matched participant design (age, gender, 6 schizophrenic)

sample for murderers raine et al

• 41 participants

• california

• 39 men, 2 women

• murder or manslaughter

• university

• obtain evidence that they were not guilty by reason of insanity

what type of mental impairment did the murderers have

• 6 schizophrenic

• 23 brain damage

• 3 history of drug abuse

• 2 affective disorder

• 2 epilepsy

• 3 hyperactivity and learning disability

• 2 personality disorder

• 7 unusual circumstances surrounding crime

control group sample Raine

• 41 participants

• 39 men 2 women

• matched on age, gender, schizophrenia

• 37.1 years

procedure for Raine

• all offenders in custody and took no medication for 2 weeks before the PET

• 10 mins before receiving tracer drug were given practice trials continuous performance task

• 30 secs before given injection started CPT

• 32 mins after injection 10 slices of the brain were recorded by the pet scanner (pictures taken)

results for Raine

• Reduced activity- prefrontal cortex- lower than the control (linked to loss of self control and altered emotion)

• increased activity- occipital cortex- higher activity than controls- may compensate for lower activity in prefrontal cortex

• no difference found- the temporal lobe- no significant difference- no difference expected

conclusions for raine

• murderers pleading not guilty by reason of insanity had significant difference in metabolism of

• can’t be reduced to one area of the brain

• doesn’t show brain dysfunction causes violence

• not all offenders have brain dysfunction

one strategy for preventing criminal behavior

Raine listed a range of bio-social risk factors for anti-social and criminal behavior

• children of mothers who smoke- have a three fold risk of becoming violent offenders

• birth complications represented a risk factor for antisocial behavior and crime

• poor nutrition of a mother during pregnancy doubles the rate of anti-social behavior

study to support strategy for preventing crime

Olds

sample- 400 low social class women

intervention condition- nine home visits from nurse and practitioners during pregnancy followed by 23 visits from nurse practitioners in childs first 2 years

control- standard care

15 year follow up results- 52.8% of reduction in arrests and 63% reduction in conviction in those who received intervention

another study for strategy in preventing crime

The Mauritius study

• sample- 100 control, 100 intervention

• intervention- nutrition, physical excercise and cognitive stimulation

• at age 11: intervention focus better, more mature brain and level of arousal in brains increased

• at age 17: intervention scored lower in conduct disorder ratings, less cruel to others, less likely to pick fights, not so hot- tempered and less likely to bully others

what is forensic evidence (biological collection & processing forensic evidence)

• information collected from a crime scene, which can be presented as evidence in the court of law

according to criminal investigators fingerprints follow 3 fundamental principles

• individual (no two people have the same)

• sets at 24 weeks (pressure of iambic fluid) for life

• general characteristics- ridge patterns (arches, whorls, loops)

what is a latent print

• latent prints are impressions produced by rigid skin, friction ridges on human fingers, palms and soles. Examiners examine and compare these prints to known individuals to make identifications or exclusions.

study for print analysis

Madrid Spain bomber

• Brandon May-field

• smudged prints left on a detonator and partial prints held 20

• Brandon was not in the country

• 98% accurate, type 1 error

what did Dror propose about forensic errors

• human expert not the machine who makes the final judgement of weather it is a match

• this can be best explained an cognitive bias

different examples of cognitive bias

• observer bias- expert anticipates the outcome

• selective attention- prior expectation leads to filtering out

• conformity effect- unconscious agreement with peer

• need determination perception- desire to solve

• overconfidence bias- believe that they are always right

Hall and player research questions

• does the written report of a crime effect a finger print expert analysis of a poor quality man?

• are there fingerprint experts emotionally effected by the context of the crimes?

research method for hall and player

• lab experiment

• naturalistic- carried out at work

• typical fingerprint examination room

• New Scotland Yard

• randomly allocated to 2 conditions

• IV- high or low context

• DV- did they read the context? was it an identification or not?

• control- not to talk to others about what they were given or ask for others opinions

sample for Hall and Player

• self selected

• finger print practitioners

• 70 met police finger prints

• from 3 months to 30 years experience

• average 11 years experience

procedure for Hall and Player

• work time

• groups of 8 and treat it like a normal day

• no time limit and ordinary case

• 35 had low context- forgery, tried to pay with fake £50

• 35 had high context- murder, fired 2 shots at victim before leaving

procedure part 2 for Hall and Player

• researcher stayed with group

• given envelope with report and a right forefinger print (high ecological validity as usually given that)

• feedback sheet after- had they looked at the report? did it affect opinion?

results for Hall and Player

• 57/70 read the crime scene

• 30- high context

• 27 low context

• 19 didn’t read

• 52% of high context who read felt they were effected

• 6% of low context who read felt they were effected

hall and player produced a graph what did it show

17% high context were confident to present to court

20% low context confident to present to court

conclusion for hall and player

• they concluded that even though the experts thought that it affected their decisions it didn’t

• severity of the crime doesn’t affect the final decision

• fingerprint experts are good at separating emotion from analysis

strategies to prevent cognitive bias and processing forensic evidence

• training forensic examiners to acknowledge and minimize bias

• Dror et al- study showed experts had viewed the comparison before analyzing the latent print they identified fewer key elements

• examine the latent mark alone before comparing it

collection of evidence (cognitive) Mann et al study

• judged truthfullness of people in videos of real life police interview (14 suspects)

• police detected lies accurately 66% of time and truth accurately 64%

• experience was positively correlated with lies and truth

• in conclusion- levels of accuracy exceed chance

reids nine steps

• innocent people would not confess

• e.g tell suspect evidence confirms they committed crime- interrogation

gudjonson and Mkeith

aim

• to document a case study of a false confession

sample

• 17 year old boy accused of two murders (94) no mental illness, stable extrovert

what happened& interviews

• two woman found bashed to death in their home, savings missing and evidence of sexual assault- boy spending more than usual but no forensic evidence and denied access to lawyer by police

• 1st interview lasted 14 hours, accused of lying so agreed with police and confessed

• 2nd interview- in front of lawyer retracted his statement but confessed again under pressure- there were three further interviews

conclusion

• this is a case of coerced compliant false confession- this can happen to anyone not just mentally ill

PACE (police and criminal evidence act 1984)

• all interviews recorded in triplicate- one police, one solicitor, one court

• both police and suspect protected

loftus and Palmer weapon focus

aim

• to investigate presence of weapon on witness recall- predicted recall will be better in non weapon condition

• method- lab, 18 slides shown of people queuing in restaurant, two groups, one gun out one no

• sample- 36 students from washington

• 39% correct identification from control group, 11% correct from gun group

standard interview steps according to gudjonsson

1. orientation

2. listening

3. question and answers

4. advice

cognitive interview technique

1. reinstate the context- recall improved in same context

2. report everything can remember- tell story DO NOT interrupt

3. describe events from someone else POV

4. recall events in different order- start at the end

TRIGGERING CUES

Fisher et al

• trained detectives from miami police department to use cognitive interview

• compared the standard interview with the cognitive interview

• cognitive produced 46% increase in recall and 90% increase in accuracy

Memon and Higham research article- what did they look at

1. effectiveness of components in CI

2. relationship between CI and other interview techniques

3. memory performance

4. effect of training

cognitive interview components M&H

1. mental context reinstatements- reconstruct the external and internal events (milne showed this used alone obtained as much information, when combined with other steps)

2. asked to report everything- recall everything they think even if not relevent

3. recall from a variety of different perspectives- place themselves in shoes of the victim or another witness

4. make retrival attempts from different starting points- start in middle end ect

effectiveness of mental context reinforcement

• tested against the recall from variety of different perspectives and make retrival attemots from different starting points

• used group of 5-8 year olds and found no difference between the steps

• Milne compared the full CI to one group and single steps given to another and found context reinstatement most effective (children had most difficulty in using this technique )

the coginitive interview compared to other techniques

• standard interview- the technique police were using most of the time and found witnesses were much more focussed using cognitive- standard- too simple?

• guided memory interview- principle of context reinstatement, cognitive interview more effective

measures of memory memon and higham

• person if asked a question and they search their long term memory

• normally told to tell the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth but the cognitive interview is effective because everything is reported

quality of training m&h

• early studies didn’t say type or quality of training

• sometimes simply read a handout about techniques

• sometimes interviewers would just read out steps to witness

• training is important and should recieve 4 hours

• identify potential police officers to be trained

• should take into account prior interview experience, performance and attitude

appication of cognitive collection of evidence

P- prep and planning→ plan interviews and questions e.g timeline

E- engage and explain→ find something in common rather than fireing

A- account→ interviews should allow guiltiness to give account- open

C- closure→ close appropritatly- contact details given

E- evaluation→ establish if everything recalled was covered- no inconsistent

psychology and the court room (cognitive)

background

• how juries can be persuaded by the characters of witnesses

• how juries can be persuaded by the characteristics of the defendants

key research

• dixon et al (2002) the role of accent and context in perseptions of guilt

applications

• atleast one streategy to influence decison making

penrod and cutler- a study into witness confidence

• there was high or low condition variables experianced by participants on a random basis- controls for researcher bias

• IVs: witness confidence 80% confident she identified offender, 100% confident she identified robber

• DV: guilty/ not guilty

• sample: undergrads and experienced jurors from usa

• result- guilty verdicts were 67% for 100% confidence and 60% for 80% confidence

• conclusion- confidence considered by jury when evaluating eye witness testimony but witness confidence does not predict witness accuracy

dion et al- the halo effect experiment 1

IV- plain or attractive

DV- how long it took for help to come

result- 45 seconds by two woman for plain, 8 seconds by 2 men for attractive

conclusion- tendence to think highly of attractive people

dion- halo effect- experiment 2

• IV- size small (5’2) vs tall (6’4)

• DV- how much people assume they earn

• result- ½ million for tall a yea, minimum wage for short

• conclusion- tendece to think tall people are more sucsessful

sigall and osdrove- lab experiment

• picture of unattrative defendant results in participants giving them harsher sentences for theft, attractive got harsher sentrnces for fraud

what is the definition of accent

• a distinctive way of pronouncing language associated with country area, social class

what is received pronunciation

• a way of pronouncing British language that is often standard in teaching of english

what is white collar crime/ blue collar crime

• white collar- financially motivated crimes committed by buisnesses/ professionals or government

• blue collar- crimes committed by individual of lower class

aim of dixon et al

to further investigate whether a brummie accent suspect would receive greater rating of guilt than a suspect with perceived pronunciation

hypothesis for dixon

a brummie accent will elicit stronger attributions of guilt than a standard accent

research method- IVs, DVs and research method

Lab experiment

Independent measures

IVs-

• brummie accent or recieved pronounciation

• race of suspect (black/white)

• type of crime

DV-

• participants attributions of guilt

sample for dixon

• 119 white undergrads psychology students, 24 men, 95 women

• from Worcester uni

• no participants grew up in Birmingham

outline dixons procedure

• participants randomly allocated to conditions

• asked to listen to a 2 minute conversation based om a transcript that occured in a British police station in 1995 (made for study based on real)

• actors hired to play role of both

who did speaking for dixon

inspector:

• standard accent student in mid 40s

suspect:

• student in early 20s who spoke with standard accent but grew up in Birmingham so could easily do brummie (spoke in RP in one and brummie in other)

pre-tested standard and brummie accents and people rated them both as valid

what was standardized in interview

• volume of voice

• similar speed rate

• everything same except accent

• rated accent

how did interview start dixon (incase of reliability)

police officer: okay would you like to briefly tell me what your understanding is of the arrest?

suspect: well uh, I was told last night that I was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery (or check fraud)

what happens after the tape recording

• participants asked to complete rating scale→ rated suspects on guilt on 7 point scale, ranging from innocent to guilty

• also rated suspect more genrally by completing a speech evaluation instrument which contains several items to measure language attitudes

  → attitudes involved attractiveness, superiority, and dyamism

outline 3 results

• on speech evaluation instrument only 1 significant result which was superiority, brummie was rated lower than with RP

• significant effect of speaker accent was found in participants guilt ratings- guilt for brummie was 4.27 and 3.65 for standard

• superiority and attractiveness ratings significantly predicted guilt ratings→ low attractiveness and low in superiority likelihood of being guilty

• if participant was black, brummie and blue collar most guilty

conclusions

• non standard English speakers tend to be perceived more guilty than standard English speakers

• how attractive/superior a person is may effect perception of guilt

• suspects accused of blue collar crime who are black and brummie are perceived guilty

strengths of mock trials

• control of extrenious variables (internal validity)

• manipulation of the IV (scientific)

• establish cause and effect

• more ethical

weaknesses of mock trials

• low ecological validity (low useful)

• expensive and time consuming

• can’t control for all EVs

• reductionist

• socially sensitive (creating and removing stigmas)

strategy to influence decision making

• judge may rule evidence as inaddmissable and will: discharge jury, disipline barrister if introduced deliberately, tell jury to ignore it or tell jury to ignore and explain legal basis

• if ignore- jury will pay more attention as their attention is drawn to it leading to the boomerang effect→ jurors perceive judges instructions as undermining their freedom to take all evidence into account

study showing boomerang effect

Culter et al

• IV1- jurors given legal explanation as to why should ignore evidence

• IV2- jurors were not given LE and simply told to ignore

• result 1- no legal explanation- able to ignore evidence- more likely to find defendant not guilty

• result 2- unable to ignore, more likely to find defendant guilty

how would solicitors use boomerang to their advantage

• slip in admissible evidence in hopes judge will give legal explanation

• benifit defendent by dropping evidence that makes defendant seem like a good person

• or works against by dropping negative makes them seem guilty on legal basis

how can this boomerang be used as strategy

• could counteract attractiveness by providing evidence that shows attractive person doesn’t have positive characteristics

other strategies for courtroom

• all defendants dressed the same, no legal explanation for inadmissible evidence, ignore witness confidence

crime preventation (social)

background

• how features of neighborhoods can influence crime

• how features of a zero tollerance policy can influence crime

key research

• Wilson and Kelling

application

• at-least one crime prevention strategy

what is another feature of neighborhoods which increases crime rates

• defensible space: high rise flats

• newman- the issue with high rise flats is due to the design, numerous spaces do not belong to anyone

• people do not feel personal responsibility towards the upkeep of communal areas- petty crime is ignored which leads to escalation of criminal activity

what did newman do

• compare the rate of crime in two new york housing projects

• Brownsville was small blocks around courtyards and housed 5 or 6 families, van dyke consisted of high rise buildings set a distance apart with parkland in-between

• Brownsville had lower crime rate and van dyke was 50% higher

what else did newman suggest

• reduced sense of community!

• several high rise buildings within close proximity means residents struggle to distinguish who lived in their buildings/ neighbors → makes identifying criminals much harder

supportive evidence for newman

• a survey of residents found positive correlation between building size and fear of crime→ residents should see and be seen, as well as feel safe to report/challenge crime

• based on newmans principles (defensible space and sense of community)

what principles were put in place worldwide to deter crime

• access control- clear point of entry, mark private and public

• survellience- well designed street lighting

• maintenence- broken windows

• territorial reinforcement- ownership e.g plant trees

what are the three distinct functions of foot patrol

1. deter crime

2. make public feel safe

3. make officers more available for service

what is foot patrol and supportive evidence

officers making neighborhood rounds on foot

food patrol experiment in philidelphia

• 60 areas selected for ‘foot beats’ where crime was rife (trafficking, theft and public disorder), other areas police responded as normal→ used mapping techniques to idenify top 1% of violent crime intersections

• results- after 3 months violent crime was 23% lower in foot patrol sites compared to control locations → also reduction in violent crimes

benifits of foot patrol

• get to know people and make connections to those in foot beats→ know good people from troublesome

• positive results (proactive not reactive)

• reduction in crime in other places

3 key principles of zero tolerance

• adress all types of criminal acts in order to prevent escalation to serious crime

• police officers should be confident to tackle even the lowest level crimes and anti- social behavior that crime within the remit of law

• low level crime can be tackled with low intensity, humane methods by offices to create an environment that is inhospitable to more serious crime

Dennis describes this as confident policing

what is broken windows theory

human behavior is profoundly affected by environment

• the environment is uncontrolled and uncontrollable, windows not replaced- people move out, attracts criminal behavior

hartlepool UK- case study 2

• crime rates doubled in past 12 years burglary rates trebled

• council had to pay for it

• Ray Mallon used idea of zero tolerance by training police officers not to ignore anti- social behavior

• 27% decrease in overall crime within 2 years and car thefts by 56%

what is wilson and kellings research

• an article published in the atlantic online in march 1982

• features of neighborhoods that can be linked to high crime rates, focuses on usefulness of foot patrol, how to reduce crime in neighborhoods and make them safe

what are the three sections of wilson and kelling research

1. safe neighbourhoods

2. changing role of the police

3. maintaining order- the way forward

background for safe neighborhoods

• mid 1970s state of new jersey announced he ‘safe and clean neighborhood programme’

  → this was designed to improve community life in 28 cities by increasing the number of foot patrols

• police chiefs were skeptical this would reduce crime rates (believed foot patrols reduced police mobility by making it difficult for them to respond to crime rates, also hard work, unpleasant and in poor weather but it was state funded)

evaluation of foot patrol

• foot patrols had not reduced crime rates however residents felt more secure in foot beat areas and took fewer steps to protect themselves from crime

• they also had a more favorable opinion in the police

• beat officers had higher morale, higher job satisfaction and more favorable attitude towards citizens

what did kelling do to investigate

• spent hours walking with newArk foot patrol officers to see how they defined ‘order’ and what they did to maintain it

• one beat was typical- busy in heart of New Ark- many abandoned buildings, marginal shops, train station and several major bus stops

• the people on street were made up of ‘regulars’ (always there and knew there place) and ‘strangers’ (suspicious)

• the officer known as kelly in the article said he was keeping an eye on the strangers