Forensic psych

Crime

An act committed in violation of the law where the consequence of conviction by a court is punishment, especially where the punishment is a serious one such as imprisonment.

Problems defining crime

> Cultural issues: i.e. in the uk having more than one wife is a crime of bigamy. However, it is not a crime in cultures where polygamy is practised

> Age: Someone who commits a crime must understand that the behaviour is unacceptable. The age of criminal responsibility varies between countries. in the uk its 10.

> Historical issues: The definition of crime varies overtime. A parents right to smack their child was overlawed in 2004 with the introduction of the children act.

Ways of measuring crime

> Official statistics

> victim survey

> offender survey

Official statistics

Are figures based on the numbers of crime that are reported and recorded by the police. They are often used by the government to inform crime prevention strategies.

Evaluation of the use of official statistics

Strengths:

> Can be used by the government to develop crime prevention strategies and also helps to direct resources to those areas most in need.

> There are few ethical issues with using official statistics as no direct contact is need with the criminals.

> It is easy and cheap to access and collect

> The results are based on objective results which have been collected in a standardised fashion.

Weakness:

> Unreliable in that it significantly underestimates the true extent of crime. This is due to the figures been used being subject to confounding variables. For example: Policing priorities can distort official figures: One study in Nottinghamshire found that they were more likely than other regions to record thefts of under £10, compared to other regions. This explained an apparent spick of thefts in the area.

Victim survey

Is a questionnaire that asks a sample of people which crimes have been committed against them over a fixed period of time and whether or not they have been reported to the police.

Evaluation of the use of victim survey's

Strengths:

> They are more likely to include details of crimes that were not reported to the police and so are thought to have a greater degree of accuracy than official statistics.

> They also indicate which areas and social groups are most likely to be victims of crime.

> Evidence supports that is is more accurate than official statistics. 2006/7 officials statistics suggested a 2% decrease in crime from the previous year. But victim crime surveys showed that its intact increased by 3%.

Weaknesses:

> It relies on respondents having accurate recall of the crimes they have been a victim of.

> Another issues is telescoping. This occurs when a victim may misremember an event as happening in the past year when it did not and this may distort the figures.

Offender survey

Is a self-report measure that requires people to record the number and types of crimes they have committed over a specific period of time.

Evaluation of the use of offender surveys

Strengths:

> It provides insight into how many people are responsible for certain offences.

> it helps researchers to identify potential risk factors and develops ways to prevent a person from becoming an offender. For examples, through treatment programmes targeted at certain age groups that may show up as a risk.

Weaknesses:

> Responses may be unreliable due to offenders wanting to conceal some of the more serious crimes they have committed, or some criminals may over exaggerate their crimes.

> The targeted nature of the survey means that certain types of crimes are overrepresented. Where as middle class offences such as corporate crime and fraud are unlikely to be included, this means that the survey doesn't provide of full overview of all crimes committed in a area.

Offender profiling

Is a behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals.

Two types of offender profiling

> The top-down approach

> The bottom-up approach

The top-down approach

Profiler start with a pre-established typology and work down in order to assign offenders to two categories (organised or disorganised), based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene.

> Was developed in the USA by the FBI. The FBI developed of template which classified murders or rapists as organised or disorganised and then this classification informs the subsequent police investigation.

> Was developed through in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killed.

Organised offenders

Is an offender who shows evidence of planning, targets the victim and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher than average intelligence. Usually married and have children.

Disorganised offenders

Is an offender who shows little evidence of planning, leaves clues and tends to be socially and sexually in competent with lower than average intelligence. Body is still usually present at crime scene.

How the FBI construct a profile

1. Data assimilation: the profiler reviews the evidence.

2. Crime sense classification: as either organised or disorganised

3. Crime reconstruction: hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim.

4. Profile generation: hypotheses related to the likely offender, eg. demographic background, physical characteristics and behaviour etc.

Evaluation of the top-down approach

Weaknesses:

> The original sample which the approach was formed on only contained 36 killers in the USA. The small sample means that the approach has low population validity due to the sample not being representative of the whole population as it only shows is how american criminals behave. This means that the approach is based upon an unrepresentative sample, meaning that t can't be reliably used to influence police investigations in other countries.

> Another issue with the approach is that it assumes that all offenders have the same behaviours. Due to using the 7 stages process to narrow down the number of victims, the approach assumes that all humans work in the same way, so the approach dismisses the idea that each individual criminal has their own set of behaviours and motives/ emotions. This means that the approach has poor ecological validity as its unable to be used in the everyday analysis of criminals. This means that the approach is only useful in gaining an understanding of the criminal rather than being able to predict there personal behaviours and motivations.

> Another weakness of the approach is that it only applies to particular crimes. Top-down profiling is best used in crime scenes that reveal important details about the suspect, such as rape or murder. Its is not suited to more common offences, such as robbery. This means that the approach is limited in identifying criminals in all crimes, meaning that the police are only able to use this approach when certain crimes occur.

The bottom-up approach

Is where profilers work up from evidence collected from the crime scene to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics, motivations and social background of the offender. It does not begin with fixed typologies. Instead, the profile is data driven and emerges a the investigator engages in deeper and more rigorous scrutiny of the details of the offence.

Two components of the bottom-up approach

> Investigative psychology

> geographical profiling

Investigative psychology

Is a form of bottom-up profiling that matches details from the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory. It established patterns of behaviour that are like to occur or coexist across crime scenes. This establishes patterns of behaviour that develop into a database, which then acts as a baseline for comparison. This comparison then enables police to see specific details of an offence or related offences that can then be used determine important details about their current offender.

Components:

> INTERPERSONAL COHERENCE: this is the way in which an offender behaves at the scene.

> SIGNIFICANCE OF TIME AND PLACE: this may indicate where the offender is living.

> FORENSIC AWARNESS: This focuses on those who have been the focus of police attention before. Their behaviour may denote how mindful they are of covering their tracks.

Geographical profiling

It is based on the principle of spatial consistency; That an offenders operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the geographical location of their previous crimes

There are 4 main principles which influence geographical profiling

1. Locatedness

2. Systematic crime location choice

3. Centrality ( circle their )

4. Comparative case analysis

Canter's circle theory

Two models of offender behaviour:

> THE MARAUDER: who operates in close proximity to their home base

> THE COMMUTER: who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence.

The pattern of offending is likely to form a circle around their usual residence, and this becomes more apparent the more offences there are. Such spatial decision making can offer the investigative team important insight into the nature of the offence. I.e. planned/unplanned, mode of transport.

Evaluation of the use of the bottom-up approach

Strengths:

> There is evidence support for geographical profiling. Lundrigan and canter collated information on a 120 murder cases involving serial killers in the USA. Smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of the killer. The offenders base was located in the centre of the pattern. This study supports canters claim that spatial information is a key factor in determining the base of an offender. Which supports the use of the bottom-up approach as a method of investigation.

> Another advantage of the approach is that it can be applied to a wide range of offences. Techniques such as smallest space analyse and the principle of spatial consistency can be used in the investigation of crimes such as burglary and theft as well as more serious offences such as murder and rape. This means that the bottom-up approach is able to be more widely used by the police to help with their investigation. So the approach has higher ecological validity compared to the top-down approach.

> Another advantage of the approach is that it is more objective and scientific than the top-down approach, as it is uses more evidence and psychological theory, and is less driven by speculation and hunches. Due to the approach being objective it is free from participant bias and subjectivity making its results more accurate as they aren't distorted by confounding variables.

Biological explanations of offender behaviour

> Atavistic form

> genetic and neural

Atavistic form

Is a biological explanation which states that criminals are genetic throwbacks or a primitive sub-species ill-suited to conforming to the rules of modern society. Such individuals are distinguished by particular facial and cranial characteristics.

Atavistic features

> criminals: strong,prominent jaw, high cheekbones, dark skin, extra toes/nipples or fingers.

> murderers: bloodshot eyes, curly hair and long ears