B.Sc. Psychology UNIT 3 - Criminal and Police Psychology Comprehensive Notes

Criminal and Criminological Psychology

Criminological Psychology Definition: This field examines the explanations and causes of crime, features of crime and antisocial behavior, and the treatments for such behaviors.
Distinction Between Criminal and Forensic Psychology:
    * Criminal Psychology:
        * Focus: Study of criminals, their behavior, and motivations.
        * Primary Setting: Law enforcement agencies, prisons, and rehabilitation centers.
        * Target Population: Criminals and law enforcement officers.
        * Duties: Focuses on criminal profiling and advising on interrogation tactics.
        * Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Primarily collaborates with law enforcement agencies.
    * Forensic Psychology:
        * Focus: Application of psychological principles within legal systems.
        * Primary Setting: Courts, legal proceedings, and assessment of defendants.
        * Target Population: Defendants, legal professionals, and victims.
        * Duties: Involved in the assessment of defendants, expert witnessing, and policy advising.
        * Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Primarily collaborates with legal professionals.

Concepts of Crime and Legal Responsibility

Definition of Crime: According to Tappan (1947), a crime is "an intentional act in violation of the criminal law committed without defense or excuse, and penalized by the state as a felony or misdemeanor."
Constituent Elements of a Crime:
    * Actus Reus: A Latin term meaning "guilty act." This is the physical part of the crime.
    * Mens Rea: A Latin term meaning "guilty mind." This is the mental part of the crime.
    * Co-occurrence: Crime is defined as $Actus Reus + Mens Rea = Crime$ . These two elements must exist at the same time for a crime to be committed.
The Physical Element (Actus Reus):
    * Wrongful Action: Examples include Break and Enter.
    * Failure to Act (Omission): Must be voluntary or done by choice. An example is the failure to provide necessities for a child.
    * State of Being: Examples include being in possession of stolen property, illegal drugs, or break-in instruments under specific circumstances.
The Mental Element (Mens Rea): Two mental states render a person mentally responsible:
* Intent or Knowledge: Intent refers to the accused's state of mind. It asks if they desired to carry out an action and could foresee the results. Intent is determined based on facts and what a "reasonable person" would think in similar circumstances.
* Recklessness or Willful Blindness.

Clinical and Legal Case Studies

Case of Lacey - Clay and Sheila Fletcher: Noted as a specific instance in the context of criminal/criminological psychology.
Case of Elliot Rodger: Referred to as the "Supreme Gentleman" and categorized under "Incel." His crimes were motivated by his sentiment: "I don't know why you girls aren't attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it."

Juvenile Delinquency

Definitions:
    * Broad Definition: An imprecise, social, clinical, and legal label for various law- and norm-violating behaviors.
    * Social Perspective: Encompasses youthful behaviors considered inappropriate, though not all are technically crimes.
    * Psychological/Psychiatric Perspective: Includes symptom-based labels such as "conduct disorder" or "antisocial behavior." It raises questions regarding ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and whether defying is inherently "bad."
    * Legal Perspective: A juvenile delinquent is one who commits an act against the criminal code and is adjudicated as delinquent by a court.
    * Juvenile Justice Board (2006) Definition: Delinquency is an act or conduct of a juvenile that is socially undesirable.
    * Children in Conflict with Law (UNICEF, 2006): Refers to anyone under $18$ who contacts the justice system due to being suspected or accused of an offense.
Observation Homes in India:
    * Function: Facilities for juvenile boys in conflict with the law (e.g., robbery, murder, rape) during the pendency of inquiry.
    * Context: Many children come from dysfunctional families and unfavorable influences.
    * Classification: Juveniles are classified by gender (boys and girls) and age groups: $7-11$ years, $12-16$ years, and $16-18$ years.
Categories of Unlawful Acts by Juveniles:
    1. Unlawful acts against persons.
    2. Unlawful acts against property.
    3. Drug offenses.
    4. Offenses against the public order.
    5. Status offenses.

Principles of Forensic Interviewing for Children

Guidelines and Effectiveness:
    * Yes/No Questions: Should be avoided. Ineffective: "Did you do bad things when you got angry?" Effective: "What do you do when you get angry?" Effect: Allows for further identification and explanation.
    * Open-ended Questions: Used so the child can provide necessary definitions. Ineffective: "What do you think about your mother and father?"
    * Multiple Concepts: Avoid questions involving multiple complex concepts. Ineffective: "You have failed in five courses, is that true?" Effective: "What are the lessons in school that you think are hard for you?" Effect: Children can give direct answers and provide more information.
    * Sharp/Negative Questions: Avoid questions that embarrass the child. Ineffective: "Why are you using alcohol/substance?" Effective: "Why do you think your father might have said that?" Effect: The child feels less judged.
    * "Why" Questions: Can help communication if asked carefully but must not be "judicial" in nature. Ineffective: "Is this the only thing that your uncle told you?" Effective: "Do you remember exactly what your uncle said when he told you he had a gun at home?" Effect: Improves detailed recall.
    * Detailed Recall: Questions should encourage the child to provide more specifics regarding the crime.
    * Managing Silence: If silence lasts long, the child should be encouraged to talk. Effective Questions: "I wonder what you think right now" or "Do you want to talk now or later about what you felt at the time of the event?"

Violence: Types and Causes

Classifications of Violence:
* Pre-meditated vs. Spontaneous.
* Instrumental Aggression vs. Reactive Aggression.
Causes of Violence:
    1. Neurobiological.
    2. Socialization.
    3. Cognitive.
    4. Situational factors.

Police Psychology: Scope and Practice

General Definition: The research and application of psychological principles and clinical skills for law enforcement and public security (Bartol & Bartol, 2012).
Domains of Practice (Aumiller and Corey, 2007):
    * Assessment.
    * Intervention.
    * Operational support.
    * Organizational / management consultation.
Common Activities and Tasks:
    * Assessment: Job analysis, psychological evaluations of police applicants, Fitness-for-duty evaluations (FFDE), psychological evaluations of specialty units, and development of performance standards.
    * Intervention: Individual, group, couple, and family therapy; critical incident early intervention and debriefing; critical incident stress management; and substance abuse/alcohol treatment.
    * Operational Support: Crisis and hostage negotiations, police academy training, threat assessments, criminal activity assessment, offender profiling, and emergency consultations for the mentally disordered.
    * Consulting and Research: Research on law enforcement issues, management/organizational consultation, supervisory consultation, operations related research, and mediation.

Psychological Assessment in Law Enforcement

General Definition: Any procedure used to make inferences regarding a person's capacity, liability, or propensity to act, react, experience, or order thought and behavior (British Psychological Society).
Forensic vs. Therapeutic Assessment:
    * Purpose: Forensic aids legal decision-makers; Therapeutic focuses on diagnosis and treatment.
    * Relationship: Forensic is objective/quasi-objective; Therapeutic is a helping role.
    * Standards: Forensic uses clinical and legal; Therapeutic uses clinical.
    * Information Source: Forensic includes clinical, psychosocial, and collateral data; Therapeutic is mostly clinical/psychosocial.
    * Challenge: Forensic expects to be challenged; Therapeutic does not.
    * Documentation: Forensic reports are lengthy/detailed; Therapeutic has no set format/detail expectation.
    * Communication: Forensic has high expectations for expert testimony; Therapeutic does not.
    * Assessment Base: Forensic uses psychometric considerations (reliability, validity, etc.); Therapeutic uses theoretical orientation.

Police Personnel Evaluations

Pre-employment Psychological Screening: Evaluating suitability before hiring. Goals include:
* Screening out: Eliminating applicants poorly suited for law enforcement (mental/emotional impairments).
* Screening in: Identifying attributes that distinguish a potentially effective officer.
Fitness-for-duty Evaluations (FFDEs): Evaluating an employed officer's ability to perform. Usually occurs after stressful experiences (e.g., death of a spouse, hostage situation, shooting incident).
History of Selection:
    * Early 1900s: Selection began.
    * 11917: Intelligence tests introduced.
    * 1950s: Personality tests introduced.
    * 1960s-1970s: Psychological/psychiatric screening became standard.
    * Today: Uses background checks, interviews, personality assessments, and cognitive tests.
Commonly Used Inventories:
    * MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–Revised).
    * IPI (Inwald Personality Inventory).
    * CPI (California Psychological Inventory).
    * PAI (Personality Assessment Inventory).
    * NEO PI-R (NEO Personality Inventory–Revised).
    * 16-PF (Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire–Fifth Edition).
The 16-PF Traits (Continuums):
    1. Reserved vs. Outgoing
    2. Concrete thinking vs. Abstract thinking
    3. Affected by feelings vs. Emotionally stable
    4. Submissive vs. Dominant
    5. Serious vs. Happy-go-lucky
    6. Expedient vs. Conscientious
    7. Shy vs. Bold
    8. Tough-minded vs. Sensitive
    9. Trusting vs. Suspicious
    10. Practical vs. Imaginative
    11. Forthright vs. Shrewd
    12. Self-assured vs. Apprehensive
    13. Conservative vs. Experimenting
    14. Group-dependent vs. Self-sufficient
    15. Undisciplined vs. Self-controlled
    16. Relaxed vs. Tense

Occupational Stress in Policing

General Context: Law enforcement is considered one of the most stressful occupations, with high rates of divorce, alcoholism, and suicide (Finn & Tomz, 1997).
Four Major Categories of Stressors:
    1. Organizational Stress: Effects of department policies/practices (e.g., poor pay, paperwork, shift work, poor supervision, lack of promotion).
    2. Task-Related Stress: Nature of the work (e.g., boredom vs. use of force, protecting others, fear of danger, exposure to death/distress, emotional control).
    3. External Stress: Frustration with the criminal justice system (courts, prosecutors, media, public attitudes).
    4. Personal Stress: Marital problems, health/addiction, peer pressure, depression, and harassment. Older officers are vulnerable to physical/mental health issues. Female officers appear more prone to depressive symptoms and suicide due to stress factors.

Police Interviewing and Interrogation

Definitions:
* Interview: Questioning witnesses or persons with information.
* Interrogation: Accusatory questioning of a suspect in custody.
Primary Aim of Interrogation: Obtain a confession or incriminating evidence for conviction. It is initiated when evidence is weak and is successful $64\%$ of the time.
Approaches:
* Accusatorial: Primarily used in the United States.
* Information-gathering: Developed in the United Kingdom.
Technique Categories and Examples:
    * Rapport Building: Showing kindness/respect.
    * Context Manipulation: Using a small room.
    * Emotion Provocation: Interrogating a highly stressed suspect.
    * Confrontation/Competition: Threatening consequences for noncooperation.
    * Collaboration: Making a bargain.
    * Presentation of Evidence: Bluffing or baiting about evidence.

False Confessions

Definition: An admission to a criminal act that the confessor did not commit, often including a narrative of how/why.
Three Types (Kassin and Wrightsman, 1985):
    1. Voluntary: Confession given without pressure.
    2. Coerced-compliant: Occurs after prolonged, intense interrogation. The suspect may confess after being told (falsely) that incriminating evidence (fingerprints, witnesses) exists.
    3. Coerced-internalized: Innocent, tired, and vulnerable people come to believe they actually committed the crime. Pressure may also come from family/friends/religious figures to "do the right thing."

Eyewitness Evidence and Memory

Mental Myths vs. Reality:
    * Memories are not like video recordings.
    * The mind can make up memories.
    * Traumatic events can make stronger memories.
    * Discussing events can not always make memory more accurate (Co-witness effects).
Value of Eyewitness Testimony (EWT): It is highly influential in court. Jurors often accept it over physical evidence (DNA, fingerprints). However, it is error-prone and can be contaminated by suggestive questioning.
Misinformation Effect (Elizabeth Loftus): The impairment in memory for the past arising after exposure to misleading information.
* Example: Suggestive questions like "Did you see the broken headlight?" are more likely to elicit a "Yes" than "Did you see a broken headlight?"
Theories of the Misinformation Effect:
    1. Blending: Original and misleading information merge.
    2. Replacement: Misleading information overwrites original memory.
    3. Retrieval: Recent (misleading) information is easier to retrieve.
    4. Filling Gaps: Misleading info fills in data that was never encoded.

Factors Influencing Eyewitness Reliability (Kapardis, 2014)

Event Characteristics: Time passage, frequency, duration, illumination, weapon focus, flashbulb memory.
Witness Characteristics: Personality, mood, drugs, age, gender, stereotypes, confidence.
Perpetrator Variables: Race, composition bias.
Interrogational Variables: Post-event information.

Criminal Identification and Face Recognition

Facial Recognition: Extremely complex task. Unique faces are recognized better than plain faces. High/low attractiveness faces are easier to recognize than medium attractiveness.
Facial Composites: Computerized or artist drawings based on descriptions. Research suggests constructing these may actually hinder identification accuracy and memory of the suspect's face.
Diagnostic Tools: Unit 3 also covers the Cognitive Interview, Polygraph, Brain Mapping, Hypnosis/Narco-Hypnosis, and Criminal Profiling.