AQA Alevel Psychology - Forensics

Top Down Approach

A qualitative approach to offender profiling due to looking at the overall pictures and using typologies.

It is based on police experience and case studies rather than psychological theory.

Suitable for more extreme/unusual crimes such as murder, rape and ritualistic crime.

Top Down Approach - Method

Data Assimilation

Crime Classification (Organised or Disorganised)

Crime Reconstruction

Profile Generation

Organised and Disorganised crime

Organised - victim targeted, body hidden

Disorganised - random victim, body left in view

A03 of Crime classification

Both are an over simplification and must be carefully taken into consideration.

Criminals are unlikely to fit neatly into one of the categories making predictions difficult.

Relies on an outdated understanding of personality.

Original sample is too small and not representative of a general population.

Canter et al (2004)

Wanted to test the validity of the organised/unorganised distinction.

He used info from 100 murders by 100 serial killers in the USA, the information was assessed for the presence of the characteristics of the categories.

A subset of organised characteristics was found to be typical of most serial killers including the use of restraint. Disorganised was rare.

Bottom-Up Profiling

A field of investigative psychology, the type of profiling method used in the UK, which involves generalising from the locations of linked crime scenes to the likely base of the offender. Based on the assumption that most offenders operate in a 2 miles radius of where they are based.

Based on the idea that an offender's operational base of possible future offences is revealed by the geographical location of previous crimes.

Patterns that co-exist or occur across crime scenes are used to generate data about the offender. It is based on psychological theory or matching behavioural patterns to generate data on the offender.

Interpersonal Coherence (BU)

the way in which the offender behaves at the scene, how they interact with the victim may indicate how they act in everyday life.

Significance of time and place (BU)

This may indicate where the offender is living if the crimes take place within the same forensic 'centre of gravity'

Forensic Awareness (BU)

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.

Marauders (BU)

those who will commit crimes in their own neighbourhood

Commuters (BU)

those who will commit crimes in a location far from their own neighbourhood

David Canter

Geographical Profiler in the UK and he argues that this method is built on psychological theory.

- Store in schemas

- Organised knowledge of experience

- Each individual's mental map is different

- Location of crime can link to their base

Bottom-Up Method

Personal experience of the world -> Determined the offenders mental map of an area -> This influences where the crimes are committed -> Knowledge of this is then used to infer the offenders base.

A03 for Bottom Up

- Founded in psychological theory

-Useful for all crimes not just violent ones

- Heavily supported by research

- Location alone is not enough to identify a criminal

Atavistic form

A biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks or a primitive sub-species ill-suited to conforming to the rules of modern society. Such individuals are distinguishable by particular facial and cranial characteristics

Examples of Characteristics (Atavistic Form)

Prominent Jaw, High Cheekbones, Extra Toes, Dark Skin, Blood shot eyes, curly hair, glinting eyes etc.

Lombroso

Investigated the cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts both living and dead. After examining 3839 living criminals, he concluded that 40% of crimes were accounted for by atavistic characteristics.

A03 atavistic form

-He took it away from blaming evil spirits and religion and made a foundation for the ideas of criminology, although it lacked scientific rigour it was at least an attempt to bring explanations from criminality into the realms of science.

- However, it does have links to eugenics (genetically 'unfit' people should be prevented from breeding) Scientific method encourages racism which is a limitation as it criticises the works ethical considerations.

-Contradictory evidence Goring (1913) after comparing 3000 criminals with 3000 non-criminals, he concluded that there in no evidence of facial features being distinct in the criminal group.

Biological explanation for offending behaviour

- One or more genes predispose individuals to criminal behaviour

-`Two genes are responsible for criminal behaviour

- MAOA

- CDH13

Abnormalities in these genes were found to be responsible for violent crime in a Finnish study.

Evidence from twin studies (Raine)

Evidence comes from twin studies - Raine (1993) - reviewed research on the criminal behaviour of twins and found a 52% concordance rate for monozygotic twins and a 21% concordance rate for dizygotic twins.

Jari Tiihonen et al (Finnish Study 2015)

Studied 900 offenders, they found low MAOA and CDH13 levels and determined 5-10% of all violent crimes are due to abnormalities in one of these two genes.

Evaluate biological explanation

- Backed up by recent modern studies

- No control groups

-Insignificant result

-Culturally specific not generalisable

Lang (1930)

13 MZ twins and 17 DZ twins where one of the twins in each pair has spent time in prison. 10 of the MZ twins but only 2 of the DZ twins had a co-twin that had also spent time in prison.

Christiansen (1977)

studied 87 MZ and 147 DZ twins and found a concordance rate of 33% for MZ twins and only 12% for DZ twins which supports the view that offending behaviour may have a genetic component.

Caspi (2002)

completed a longitudinal study on 1000 criminals. Assessed hem at age 26 for anti-social behaviour and found that 12% with low MAOA genes were maltreated as children and responsible for 44% of crimes.

Mednick et al (1984)

collected data from Danish Adoption of more than 1400 children and conviction rates of male adoptees compared with biological and adoptive parents. The results showed that 20% of adoptees whose biological parents had convictions but raised by non-convicts, had convictions. Both parents non-convict was 15.5%.

Farrington (1996)

studies 411 males from nearly 400 families monitored form age 8-32 using interviews. Results showed that 64% families had at least one convicted person. 6% of families accounted for 50% of convictions. 75% convicted parents also had a convicted child. 75% of families and convicted daughters also had convicted sons.

Neural Explanations for Offender behaviour

Pre-frontal cortex

Mirror Neurons

Noradrenaline

Seretonin

Dopamine

Prefrontal cortex role in offender behaviour

people with anti-social personality disorder (APD) show reduced activity in the PFC which regulates emotional behaviour.

Mirror neurons role in offending behaviour

Keysers (2011) - only when criminals were asked to empathise did it activate - controlled by mirror neurons

Noradrenaline role in offending behaviour

- is part of the fight or flight response and helps respond in a threatening situation. There is research to suggest that high levels are linked to violence and aggression and so, as a consequence, it is easy to explain some crimes as a result of an imbalance.

Seretonins role in offending behaviour

regulates mood and impulse control. This means that in low levels it could be implicated in criminal behaviour as there will be more impulsivity. If a situation is particularly emotional then someone with low levels could easily react due to an impaired capacity to hold back.

Dopamines role in offending behaviour

is implicated in offending behaviour because of its link to addiction and therefore substance abuse. This makes crime more likely. Dopaminergic activity in the limbic system means that pleasure is experienced. This makes addiction more likely.

A03 for neural explanation of offending behaviour

-Causality - may be early abuse

-Small sample size - not generalisable

-Could be brain trauma

- Social learning/behaviourist

-Biological reductionism is an issue within these studies as criminality is complex and environmental factors must be considered.

-Many adoptees are adopted late so spend their infancy with their biological parents anyway. Some also maintain regular contact with their biological parents. This means that the parents may have had an environmental rather than biological impact.

-Biological determinism presents problems for our legal system since it negates free will and raises the ethical question surrounding what society does with people who carry criminal genes.

-Twin studies involve small sample sizes and the fact that most twins studies are raised in the same environment is a confounding variable as concordance rates may be due to shared experience rather than genetics.

Eysenck's Theory of Offending Behaviour

Developed an inventory, a form of psychological test, which locates respondents along the E and N dimensions to determine their personality type. He believed that personality has a biological basis. Extraverts for example have an underactive nervous system which means that they consistently seek enjoyment through risk-taking behaviours.

A01 for Eysenck

-Personality is innate

-Criminals have particular personalities

-We inherit a type of nervous system that predisposes us to offending

-Therefore, criminality has a psychological basis

-Varies along 3 dimensions

-Neurotic stable

-Extravert Introvert

-Psychoticism

-Extraversion is due to chronically under aroused nervous system which leads to sensation seeking

-Need stimulation

-Extraverts do not condition easily and do not learn from mistakes

-Less likely to be affected by negative outcomes

-Neuroticism - scoring high on the neurotic scale suggests and leads to unstable, unpredictable behaviour

-Having high levels of extraversion and neuroticism leads to criminal behaviour.

Evidence for Eysenck

McGurk and McDougall - investigated the link between criminality and personality type. 100 students defined as delinquent and 100 control students completed the EPI. There were significant differences in scores on all three dimensions, with the delinquents group having high PEN scores, suggesting there is a relationship between personality type and delinquent behaviour.

Eysenck and his wife assessed 2070 male prisoners who were compared to a control group of 2422 males. On measures of E, N and P, prisoners recorded higher scores than control groups which accords with the predictions of the theory.

Farrington et all reviewed this study and found that offenders tend to score highly on P measures not on E and N/ There are also consistent differences between EEG measures, between extraverts and introverts, which cast doubt on the physiological basis of Eysenck's theory.

Further A03 for Eysenck Studies

•It's a questionnaire

•Demand characteristics

•Concerns of self-preservation and desire to appear tough

•Prison experience might have brought out that personality, not necessarily there before

•Prison experience might also have brought about depression

* Eysenck's study might be a reflection of inmates' current prison experience, rather than of their offending behaviour that got them into prison in the first place. Prison is not a good place to be if you have a vulnerability to mental health issues.

Cognitive Theory: Cognitive Distortions

faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive ourselves, the world or others, negatively.

Egocentric Bias

emphasis on your own needs rather than the needs of others

Causal attributions

blaming others for your behaviour not taking responsibility and having an external locus of control

Kohlberg's Theory: Pre-conventional morality

1.Obedience/Punishment (Infancy) No difference between doing the right thing and avoiding punishment

1.Self-Interest (Pre-school)Interest shifts to rewards rather than punishment - effort is made to secure greatest benefit for oneself.

Kohlberg's Theory: Conventional Morality

1.Conformity and Interpersonal Accord (School-age) The "good boy/girl" level. Effort is made to secure approval and maintain friendly relations with others.

1.Authority and Social Order (School-age) Orientation toward fixed rules. The purpose of morality is maintaining the social order. Interpersonal accord is expanded to include the entire society.

Kohlberg's Theory: Post conventional morality

1.Social Contract (Teens) Mutual benefit, reciprocity. Morally right and legally right are not always the same. Utilitarian rules that make life better for everyone.

1.Universal Principles (Adulthood) Morality is based on principles that transcend mutual benefit.

Kohlberg's Theory

Kohlberg believed criminals have a lower level of moral reasoning than others. Criminals do not progress from the pre-conventional level of moral reasoning - they seek to avoid punishment and gain rewards. They have child-like reasoning. Non-criminals tend to reason at higher level and sympathise with the right of others, exhibiting honesty, generosity and non-violence. Criminals are likely to be at the pre-conventional level. They believe that breaking the law is justified if reward outweighs punishment. Individuals who commit crime at the conventional level tend to feel that behaviour was justified because it heled maintain relationships or society.

hostile attribution bias

the tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as aggressive

Schonberg and Justye

55 violent offenders were presented with image of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions. When compared with a control group, offenders were more likely than non-violent pts to perceive images as angry or hostile.

Dodge and Frame

Children were shown an "ambiguous provocation" where the intention was neither clearly hostile or accidental. Prior to the study, children who had been judged as aggressive were more likely to perceive the situation as hostile.

Minimalisation

trivialising the extent of the crime

A03 studies for Kohlberg's Theory

Barbaree - found that amongst 26 convicted rapists. 54% denied it and 40% minimised the harm that they had caused the victim.

Pollock and Hashmall - found that 35% of a sample of child molesters said that they crime they'd committed was non-sexual, 36% said victims had consented.

Palmer and Hollin - compared moral reasoning between 210 female non-offenders and 112 male non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using the socio-moral reflection measure which contains moral-dilemma related questions such as not taking things and keeping a promise to a friend. The offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-delinquent groups.

Differential Association

This explanation for offending suggests that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motivation for criminal behaviour.

Learning criminal behaviour

The process of learning criminal behaviour by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning. (behaviourism: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social learning theory).

A03 for Differential Association

-Shifted the emphasis away from biology and eugenics arguments for criminality.

-It can also account for white-collar crime and indeed it was Sutherland who coined the term. -Differential association can explain crime for all race, gender and social groups.

-This theory is impossible to test. How do you count up someone's associations and influences accurately?

-Farrington found that the family is a large influence on offending. Crime can be seen as inter-generational.

-Reductionist - mainly behavioural looking largely at process of learning - doesn't consider other approaches

-Largely ignores free will

Farrington Study

- carried out a longitudinal study on a group of 411 working- class boys and their families from the age of 8-50, from a deprived inner-city area of south London. Researchers recorded details of family background, parenting style and school behaviour. Results showed that 41% of the sample had criminal convictions between the age of 10 and 50. At 17, 50% of the convictions were attributable to a hard core of 5% of the sample. Key risk factors were family criminality, poverty, poor parenting, risk-taking and low school achievement. Concluding that criminality develops in context of inappropriate role models and dysfunctional systems of reward and punishment.

Psychodynamic explanation for offending behaviour

The psychodynamic explanation of offending behaviour sees the Superego, the moral component of the personality as crucial in explaining criminality.

1)Weak Superego may develop if the same-sex parent is absent during the phallic stage of psycho-sexual development. This would mean that we would fall to internalize the moral values of the same sex parent.

2)Deviant Superego may develop if the child internalizes the morals of a criminal or deviant same-sex parent.

3)Over-harsh Superego may develop is the same-sex parent is overly harsh. This may mean an individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety and commits crime in order to satisfy the superego's need for punishment.`

Bowlby's Deprivation Hypothesis and Criminal Behaviour

Another psychodynamic theory is Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis. This predicts that if an infant is deprived of a mother or mother figure during the critical period of attachment in the first few years then there will be serious and permanent consequences. These consequences included mental abnormalities, delinquency, depression, affectionless psychopathology.

Defence Mechanisms and Criminal Behaviour

Another psychodynamic theory is defence mechanisms, where displacement, sublimation, rationalisation and denial are used. Denial is where refusal to admit anything happened occurs. Rationalisation is where the criminal gives excuses as reasoning for their actions. Displacement is where they give reason for what they did because of something else causing that behaviour that wasn't their fault. Sublimation is where they find a legal way of committing the act.

A03 for Psychodynamic Explanations

However, this theory has been heavily criticised. Freud's theory is seen as sexist as he focuses on the Oedipus Complex and added the Electra complex as an afterthought. In fact, Freud argued that females were less moral than males. This is because males fear castration by their father for moral transgressions, whereas females only fear losing their mother's love! However, the vast majority of criminals are male, not female. Males outnumber females in prisons throughout the world.

There is little evidence to back up this theory, many children grow up without a same-sex parent and the vast majority do not turn to crime. Although, family influence is undeniably a factor in criminality; individuals with delinquent parents or siblings are much more likely to turn to crime.

The idea of the over-harsh superego and wanted to be punished does not stand up to scrutiny; most criminals go to great lengths not to be caught and punished.

There is also a shortage of empirical research testing these ideas and therefore the ideas are not well supported, meaning the theoretical basis is flawed.

Aims of custodial sentencing

deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation

Deterrence

Prison should be an unpleasant experience. So someone who serves a prison sentence should never wish to serve another. The thought of prison should act as a deterrent to others and prevent them from committing crime.

Incapacitation

Taking a criminal out of circulation means they are unable to commit further crime, keeping society safe.

Retribution

Society is taking revenge on the criminal. They are paying for their crimes by having their freedom taken from them.

Rehabilitation

Prison can be used to reform criminal through training, education and therapy, so they leave prison a changed person.

Psychological effects of custodial sentencing

Stress and depression, institutionalisation and prisonisation

Stress and depression

Suicide rates are higher in prison than in the general population, as are cases of self-harm. If a prisoner suffers with mental health issues before their sentence, this is likely to worsen in prison.

institutionalisation

Having adapted to the norms and values of prison life, some prisoners find it impossible to cope in the real world on their release. Some even commit crimes with the intention of being arrested and returned back to the comfort of what they know - prison.

Prisonisation

Similar to institutionalisation, some behaviours that are unacceptable in the outside world are encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of a prison. Prisoners learn to accept the prisoner code in order to survive, for example the unofficial hierarchy of prisoners.

A03 for Custodial Sentencing

-Zimbardo's main conclusions were that situational factors were more useful for explaining the behaviour of prisoners and guards than individual ones.

-Zimbardo's pts conformed to their ideas of how prisoners and guards should behave.

-Prisons are very regimented, and prisoners have to conform to strict rules and regulations. The problem arises when prisoners have served long sentences and become very accustomed to the prison way of life. This means they find it very hard to adapt to life on the outside.

-In order to combat the problems of institutionalisation and prisonisation, prisoners need to be well prepared for their release. Without these skills they will be unable to cope and will soon find themselves back in prison.

-Curt Bartol (1995) has suggested that prison is 'brutal, demeaning and generally devastating'. Suicide rates are generally 15 times higher than in society in general. Most at risk are young, single men in the first 24 hours of incarceration. Around 25% of female and 15% of male prisoners have symptoms of psychosis (severe mental illness)

Individual Differences A03

Not all prisoners react in the same way to incarceration. Some the punishment should fit the individual, not necessarily the crime!

Rehabilitation A03

Cuts to prison budgets mean that education, training and therapy are not always available or effectively delivered. So opportunities for rehabilitation are limited.

University of Crime

Putting young, inexperienced criminals into a prison environment with older more experienced criminals may mean that the type of education these youngsters get is not necessarily the type we would want.

Recidivism

The aim of prison is to punish and rehabilitate offenders in the hope that they will not re-offend. Re-offending is known as recidivism. Prison has a poor record for reducing reoffending - 57% of offenders will reoffend within a year of release (2013). Over two-thirds (67%) of under 18 year olds are reconvicted within a year of release offending by all recent ex-prisoners in 2007-08 cost the economy between £9.5 and £13 billion.

Recidivism A03

In order to reduce recidivism (i.e. re-offending) punishment needs to fit the individual as well as the crime and more research is needed into reducing the negative psychological effects of imprisonment. The aim should be for offenders to leave prison fully reformed and ready to take on the role of a productive and law-abiding citizen.

Alternatives to imprisonment - Given that we know prison doesn't work we need alternatives. Some alternatives include probation and restorative justice. However, the government is reluctant to invest in prisoners, due to economic restraints and public opinion. But this is a short-sighted approach, in order to cut crime and recidivism rates investment is needed (Economic implication).

Behaviour Modification

Therapies based on the principles of operant conditioning aim to bring about specific changes in behaviour. This is known as behaviour modification. It involves rewarding 'appropriate' behaviour and withholding rewards for 'inappropriate' behaviour.

Behaviour Modification: Token Economy

Token economies illustrate the application of operant conditioning principles to adults in institutional settings. They were introduced into mental hospitals in the USA in the 1960s. Tokens, such as plastic discs are given as rewards for 'desirable' behaviour. The tokens can then be exchanged for privileges. In theory, tokens reinforce, 'appropriate' behaviour. House credits are used in the same way in schools.

Hobbs and Holt

Introduced a token economy programme with young delinquents in three behavioural units, a fourth acted as a control. They observed a significant improvement in positive behaviour as a result of the introduction of the token economy. Allyon (1979) found similar effects in an adult prison.

A03 for Behaviour Modification

•Token economies are easy to implement and do not require specialist training or expense, like other therapies such as Anger Management. But all staff must implement them consistently if they are to work.

•The effects they appear to produce may not be primarily due to the token economy. Patients may be responding to increased attention, planned system of activities and improved monitoring, rather than a desire to get tokens.

•Token economies may not really change behaviour - people may simply mimic or fake 'desirable' behaviour in order to get tokens. On release prisoners revert back to previous criminal behaviours.

•Token economies raise ethical issues. Is it ethical to withhold 'privileges' such as watching TV because a severely disordered person does not do what a nurse thinks is desirable? Are people's human rights threatened when staff can control their access to food and their freedom of movement?

•Clinton Field (2004) found that for maximum affect the rewards and frequency of them, needed to be individually tailored to the inmate. Think about house credits, whilst they work well with Year 7 students, a school mug or pen is hardly going to motivate a Year 11 student!

Anger Management

Anger Management programmes are a form of Cognitive behavioural Therapy (CBT), they aim to change the way a prisoner thinks and therefore the way they act.

Three stages of Anger management

Cognitive preparation, skill acquisition, application practice

Cognitive Preperation

The offender is encourages to reflect on their past behaviours and what makes them angry. The therapist works with them to show them that their response is irrational and helps them to redefine the situations as non-threatening. They are taught to recognise their own triggers for anger.

Skills aquisition

The offenders are taught a range of techniques and skills to enable them to avoid triggers and deal with anger-provoking situations more rationally. They might require training in assertiveness and effective communication. They are taught how to control their own emotions, rather than being ruled by them.

Application practice

Offenders practice their new skills through role-play. The therapist will deliberately provoke them to see how they react. The therapist will positively reinforce successful strategies.

Ireland (2000)

Investigation of whether anger management courses work. A natural experiment compared a group of 50 prisoners who had completed CALM and a group of 37 who were assessed as suitable but had not actually taken the course. Prisoners who had completed CALM rated themselves lower on the anger questionnaire and were rated lower by the prison officers, than the control group. 92% showed improvements on at least one measure of aggression and anger. Conclusions: - In the short-term the treatment seemed effective, but there is no re-offending data.

A03 Anger Management

•Anger management is an eclectic approach it uses a cognitive approach in stage 1, behavioural in stage 2 and social in stage 3. This recognises that offending behaviour is the complex interaction between social and psychological factors.

•Anger management is more likely to lead to a permanent change in behaviour than behaviour modification programmes (token economies) as it focuses on changing the way an offender both thinks and behaves.

•Although, Anger Management works in the short-term, the lack of re-offending data means we don't know if the effects last. It is very different role-playing controlling anger to controlling anger once outside of prison.

•Anger management is limited in its application as not all crime is motivated by anger. Crimes for financial gain for example, would not benefit from any form of CBT, as they are logical!

•Anger Management is very expensive and time consuming as it required highly skilled therapists. Also, the prisoner must be motivated and want to change.

Restorative Justice

punishment designed to repair the damage done to the victim and community by an offender's criminal act

Aims of Restorative Justice

Victim Perpsective

Atonement for Wrong doing

Rehabilitation of offenders

Rehabilitation of Offenders

Being punished is a passive process, restorative justice requires the offender to be an active participant in the process. It is tough for the offender they have to listen to the impact of their crimes on the victim and take full responsibility for their actions. The experience should reduce the likelihood of them reoffending.

Atonement for Wrongdoing

Offenders may offer concrete compensation (money or unpaid work) or atone by showing genuine feelings of guilt and remorse.

Victim Perspective

Restorative justice restores power to the victim. Their voice is heard in the legal process and they feel that their feelings have been taken into account. Many who have been through the process report that it has reduced their feeling of being a 'victim' and helped them to feel safe again.

A03 for Restorative Justice

•Restorative justice is tough both for victims and offenders. For offenders they have to face up to the consequences of their actions, but for victims they may be forced to relive frightening and upsetting experiences.

•The UK Restorative Justice Council (2015) reported 85% satisfaction from victims who had taken part in face-to-face restorative justice meetings.

•Cost - Shapland (2007) concluded that every £1 spent on restorative justice would save the government £8 through reduced reoffending. However, there are costs involved in training mediators and high dropout rates from offenders unable to face their victims, so it may not always be cost effective.

•Remorse - Offenders must feel genuine remorse. Therefore, restorative justice is not suitable for all criminals or indeed all crimes. It only works where there is an obvious victim

•Soft Option - Public opinion may be against restorative justice, as it may be seen as 'getting off lightly'.

•Feminist critique - Women's Aid have called for a ban on the use of restorative justice in cases of domestic abuse, as they believe it is inappropriate.

•First time offenders - Restorative justice is most effective with young, first time offenders. It provides a short, sharp shock and forces them to face up to the consequences of their actions