Chapter 3

Psychology of Investigations of Crime

• Forensic psychologists support investigations of crime through research and practical activities

• Investigative Psychology

  • Scientific approach designed to improve our understanding of criminal behavior and the investigative process

  • Application of psychology to the criminal investigative process

• Three Categories of IP:

  1. Nature of the offender

  2. Social psychology of group crime and terrorism

  3. Cognitive psychology of investigations by LE

• When perpetrator has NOT been caught, criminal investigators and forensic psychologists need to explore questions to determine WHO committed the crime

• Three fundamental questions of ALL criminal investigations:

  1. What are the important behavioral features associated with the crime?

  2. What inferences can be made about the personal characteristics?

  3. Are there any other crimes that are likely to have been committed by the same person?

Profiling vs. Behavioral Analysis

Five Categories of Profiling

• Crime Scene Profiling

  • Examines features of the crime scene to infer or deduce characteristics or motivations of offender

  • Ex: Criminal Minds

• Geographical Profiling & Mapping

  • Analyzes location associated with an unknown usually serial offender

  • Analyzes hot-spots of crime

  • Ex: Serial killer Ted Bundy murder locations

• Suspect-Bases Profiling

  • Systematic collection of data on previous offenders to identify additional offenders

  • Illegal

  • Ex: Stop-and-frisk searches

• Psychological Profiling

  • Details description of psychological characteristics of one known individual, not necessarily criminal

  • Ex: Threat or risk assessment

• Psychological Autopsy

  • Detailed description of psychological and background characters of a deceased individual to determine manner of death

  • Ex: Military personnel who died by suicide

Crime Scene Profiling

• Developed by the FBI in the 1970s

• Examining evidence at a crime scene to describe offender characteristics based upon an analysis of a crime scene

• Often associated with serial murder or serial rape, but can be applies to other types of crimes

• Used when investigators have few clues or trouble identifying a potential offender

• Crime linkage analysis

• Weaknesses:

  • Popular portrayal by media vs reality

  • Relying on guy feelings

  • Lacks rigorous standard vs valid evidence

  • Confirmation bias

  • Making predictions or assumptions about an offender’s personality

  • Profiling has limited applicability in various social science fields

Geographical Profiling & Mapping

• Geographical Mapping

  • Analyzing the spatial crime patterns committed by numerous offenders over a period of time

• Geographical Profiling

  • Analyzing the geographical location associated with the spatial movements of a single serial offender

• Geoprofiler

  • Hypothesis on offenders next crime, base of operations, and residence

  • Types of crimes:

    • Burglaries

    • Car thefts

    • Bombing

    • Child abductions

• Can be combines with other forms of profiling

• Utilized as an investigative tool

• Weaknesses:

  • Doesn’t account if an offender moves out of the area

  • Limited psychological characteristics considered

Suspect-Based Profiling

• Collecting data on behavioral, personality, cognitive, and demographics on previous offenders to try and identify other offenders

• Weaknesses:

  • Illegal to use, often leads to racial profiling

    • Ex: all people entering the U.S. are drug traffickers

  • Scrutiny on specific groups following tragic criminal events

  • Courts won’t accept police action taken against a person who utilize suspect-based profiling

Psychological Profiling

• Gathering of information on a known individual who pose a threat or believed to be dangerous (to self or others)

• Two primary psychological procedures:

  • Threat Assessment

    • Determine if an actual, expressed threat will be carried out

  • Risk Assessment

    • Determine if a person is dangerous to self or others

• Used to help prepare profilers for specific groups of offenders

• Weaknesses:

  • “Fit the profile” can mislead investigations

  • Speculative at times

Psychological Autopsy

• Procedure used to determine mental state prior to death

• EDA is reserved for investigations conducted by law enforcement

  • “Manner of death refers to specific circumstances that resulted in death”

• Two basic types:

  • Suicide psychological autopsy

  • Equivocal death psychological autopsy

• Many are requested for insurance purposes

• Weaknesses:

  • No accepted guidelines on how to conduct

  • Courts are not likely to admit evidence or will refute the evidence

  • Should not assert categorical conclusions about the precise mental status of an individual at the time of death

  • Required investigator characteristics

Eyewitness Evidence

• Identification of suspects begin as soon as possible after the offense occurred

• Requires witnesses or victims recount observed events

• Visual description, photos, and live line-ups

• Most influential evidence admitted into courtroom, but also the most unreliable type of evidence

• Research: field studies vs. lab experiments

  • 1 in 4 select the wrong person in a line up

  • Eyewitness mistakenly describe details or add inaccurate information

• Reconstructive Theory of Memory

  • Memory recall is subject to distortion by other intervening cognitive functions (ex: individual perceptions, beliefs) all which can promote errors & distort recall

• Variety of variables can influence recall

Variables Influencing Eyewitness Memory

• Estimator Variables

  • Sources leading to error that are related to human perception and memory, outside control of criminal justice system

  • Occurs when during or soon after a crime, before investigators gather evidence

  • Ex: Identifying the face of the perpetrator

• System Variables

  • Sources leading to error or inaccuracy which the criminal justice system has control over

  • Occurs after an event, investigation has begun

  • Ex: Suggestive questioning

Estimator Variables

• Effects of Alcohol and Drugs

  • Research contradicts if alcohol or substance use impact eyewitness memory

  • Intoxicated witnesses are less credible

  • Confidence levels of eyewitnesses are well received, even at the loss of accuracy

  • Very few studies have examined tis variable, more research needed

  • Forensic psychologists understand that pre-trial methods are vulnerable to biases and errors, witnesses make honest mistakes

  • Most research explores system variables

System Variables: Line-ups and Photo Spreads

• Suggestive Questions

  • Investigators contaminating witnesses with suggestive or leading questions

  • Can undermine the accuracy of witness statement

  • Media coverage and other witness commentary can also influence accuracy

  • Cognitive Interview

    • Utilizes memory retrieval and communication techniques aimed at increasing the amount of accurate information

    • Requires training

    • Promising technique, demonstrated effectiveness

  • Courts allowing experts in eyewitness to testify in court

• Line-ups and Photo Spreads

  • Commonly used methods for eyewitness identification

  • Simultaneous lineup vs. Sequential lineup

  • Forensic Psychologists recommend sequential, particularly photo arrays

  • Can be influenced by police

  • Research focused on line lineup

  • Composition Bias

    • Live lineups should fit the description the witness gave, if only one person fits that description it is biased

  • Commitment Bias

    • Occurs when witness initially identifies a face, even an incorrect one, they will likely choose that face again

    • Stems from willingness to please police, becomes more confident over time

  • Show-up

    • Controversial, legal in U.S., most occur within hours of crime

  • Recommendations for lineups

    • Double blind

Police Interviewing and Interrogation

• Could begin as an interview, but transition to an interrogation

  • OR begin as an interrogation

• Research identified 71 unique interrogative techniques that fall under 6 major categories:

  1. Rapport and Relationship Building

     • Ex: Showing kindness and respect

  2. Context Manipulation

     • Ex: Interrogation occurs in a small room

  3. Emotion Provocation

     • Ex: Interrogate suspect while very stressed

  4. Confrontation & Competition

     • Threaten suspect with consequences for non-cooperation

  5. Collaboration

     • Bargain with suspect

  6. Presentation of Evidence

     • Bluff or bait suspect with supposed evidence of involvement

Accusatorial vs. Informational Gathering Approaches

• Accusatorial

  • Seeks to obtain a confession

• Information-gathering

  • Seeks to obtain information

• Investigative interviewing

  • Focuses on gathering information about a crime, avoid confrontational behavior

    • Limited research found this methods yields more relevant and useful information

    • Fewer false confessions

• PEACE Model

  • Developed in the UK in the 1900s

• Miranda v. Arizona

  • Confession must be given freely and voluntary to be used as evidence

Interrogation of Juveniles

• Ill-equipped to withstand the pressures and stresses of interrogation

• The interrogative strategy of minimization

  • Downplay behavior, thus leading to false confession

• Factors: differences between adolescents and adults

False Confessions

• Admission to a crime that the confessor did not commit, but treated as evidence of guilt

• Three types of confessions:

  1. Voluntary

     • Confession to a crime didn’t commit, without coercion

  2. Coerced-Compliant

     • Occur after prolonged and intense interrogation techniques

  3. Coerced-Internalized

     • Innocent persons come to believe they actually committed the crime

• Compliance and internalization