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Forensics Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the American approach to offender profiling?

A

The top-down approach

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2
Q

What does the term ‘offender profiling’ mean?

A

A behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile characteristics of unknown offenders

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3
Q

What is the top-down approach?

A

Profilers start with a pre-established typology and work down to lower levels in order to assign offenders to organised or disorganised offenders based on evidence from the crime scene

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4
Q

How did the top-down approach come about?

A

The FBI gathered data from interviews with 36 sexually motivated murderers and concluded the data could be categorised into organised or disorganised crimes/ murders

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5
Q

How does the top down approach work?

A

The crime would be categorised into either organised or disorganised, so we can predict other characteristics of the criminal that would be likely.

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6
Q

What are characteristics of an organised crime scene?

A

The crime has been planned in advance, high degree of control by perpetrator, little evidence or clues left behind, a type of victim is sought out

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7
Q

What are some characteristics of an organised offender?

A

Above average intelligence, in a skilled and professional occupation and are socially competent

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8
Q

What are characteristics of a disorganised crime scene?

A

Little evidence of planning, offences may be spontaneous and spur of the moment
The body is usually still at the scene and there is little control by the offender

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9
Q

What are characteristics of a disorganised offender?

A

They tend to have a lower than average IQ, be in unskilled work or unemployed and often have a history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships

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10
Q

What are the four main stages in the construction of an FBI profile?

A

Data assimilation
Crime scene classification
Crime reconstruction
Profile generation

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11
Q

What is data assimilation?

A

The profiler reviews the evidence e.g. crime scene photographs, witness reports

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12
Q

What are the two crime scene classifications?

A

Organised or disorganised

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13
Q

What is crime reconstruction?

A

Hypotheses formed in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of victims etc

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14
Q

What is profile generation?

A

Hypotheses related to the likely offender eg physical characteristics, behaviour, background

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15
Q

Where is the bottom-up approach based?

A

The U.K.

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16
Q

Briefly describe the bottom up approach

A

The profile is data driven and emerges as the investigator engages in deeper and more rigorous scrutiny of the details of the offence

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17
Q

What are the two methods of the bottom up approach?

A

Investigative psychology
Geographical profiling

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18
Q

What is investigative psychology

A

It is an attempt to apply statistical procedures and psychological theory to the analysis of crime scene evidence

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19
Q

What is the concept of interpersonal coherence?

A

The way an offender behaves at the scene eg how they interact with the victim which may reflect their behaviour in every day situations

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20
Q

What is forensic awareness?

A

Those who have been subject of police interrogation before, so their behaviour may denote how mindful they are of covering their tracks

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21
Q

What is geographical profiling?

A

It uses information about the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home or base of an offender (crime mapping)

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22
Q

What is spatial consistency?

A

People commit crimes within a limited geographical space

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23
Q

What is Canter’s circle theory?

A

The pattern of offending forms a circle around the offenders home base

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24
Q

How does the distribution of offences lead us to describe an offender?

A

The maurader or the commuter

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25
What is the marauder?
Someone who operates in close proximity to their home base
26
What is the commuter?
Someone who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence
27
What is the evidence for investigative psychology?
Canter and Heritage- analysis of 66 sexual analysis case Some behaviours were identified as common in different such as the use of impersonal language and lack of reaction to the victim. This created a pattern and can establish whether behaviours are performed by the same person
28
What is the evidence for geographical profiling in the bottom up approach?
Lundrigan and Canter analysed information from 120 murder cases involving US serial killers and this revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of the killers. This created a centre of gravity in which the offenders base is located.
29
What is the limitation of geographical information being insufficient
The success of geographical profiling may be reliant on the quality of data that the police can provide. But around 75% of crimes are not even reported to the police in the first place. So other factors are just as important in creating a profile.
30
Outline the research support for the top down approach.
Canter conducted an analysis of 100 US murders and found that some things such as whether there was torture or restraint, an attempt to conceal the body and the murder weapon used matched the typology for organised offenders
31
What is the wider application of the top down approach?
It can be adapted to other kinds of crime such as burglary Meketa said top down profiling has been applied to burglary, leading to an 85% rise in solved cases
32
Outline the flawed evidence of the top down approach.
The evidence which it is based on lacks validity. There was a small sample size of 36 murderers used and there was no random selection of offenders. This sample is also very severe and the set of questions for each interview was different
33
Briefly outline Lombroso’s theory of the atavistic form.
Offenders are a biologically distinct group of people They have primitive characteristics which make them ill suited to civilised society
34
Outline someone with the atavistic form.
Narrow sloping brow, a strong jaw, high cheekbones and dark skin
35
What were Lombrosos three categories of crime
Murderers, sexual deviants, fraudsters
36
What would a murderer look like according to Lombrosos theory?
Blood shot eyes, curly hair and long ears
37
What would a sexual deviant look like according to Lomboros theory?
Glinting eyes and fleshy lips
38
What would a fraudster look like according to Lombrosos theory?
Thin lips
39
What was Lombrosos sample for his theory?
He sampled 383 dead skulls and 3839 live faces of criminals
40
What did Lombroso find from his research?
40% of criminal acts were carried out by people with atavistic conditions Continental illness causes crime “most criminals suffer from epilepsy to some degree”
41
What is a strength of Lombrosos theory- changed the study of crime
Father of criminology and coined the term Shifted the emphasis in crime research away from a moralistic discourse towards a scientific position Heralded the beginning of offender profiling
42
What is a weakness of Lombrosos theory linked to racism.
Delisi- racist undertones Characteristics of atavism are mostly found in people of African descent Eugenic attitudes which are harmful
43
What is the contradictory evidence for Lombrosos theory of the born criminal
Goring compared 3000 offenders and 3000 non offenders There is no evidence that offenders are a distinct group with unusual facial features
44
Outline the poor control of Lombrosos theory
He did not compare his offender group sample with a non offender control group This could have controlled for confounding variables that could explain high crime rates in certain groups e.g. poverty
45
What stances does Lombrosos theory take ?
Biological determinism Nature of nature nurture debate
46
What are the concepts of Eysnecks theory of the personality?
Personality is inborn/ genetic Criminals have particular personalities Combines physiological, social and environmental factors to explain criminality
47
What is extraversion?
Determined by the level of arousal in a persons nervous system Extroverts are underaroused so require and seek external stimulation
48
What is neuroticism?
The level of stability/ reactivity in the nervous system How much a person responds in situations of stress They are slightly unstable and get upset easily
49
What is psychoticism?
Higher levels of testosterone which means men are more likely to be found at this end of the spectrum
50
Criminality is the outcome between…
Innate personality and socialisation
51
What is socialisation?
The learning you receive through interaction with others, usually at a young age
52
What type of people do not learn to avoid antisocial behaviour?
High in extraversion and neuroticism were less easily conditioned
53
Those high in extraversion and neuroticism…
Find it harder to build the association between the wrongdoing and the punishment
54
What are the three levels of moral reasoning?
Pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional
55
Outline Christiansen’s sample looking at genetic explanations for criminality.
He studied 3500 twin pairs in Denmark
56
What were Christiansen’s results? Genetic
Concordance rates for offender behaviour of 35% for MZ twin males and 13% DZ twin males
57
What are the two genes that Tiihonen found could be associated with criminality?
The MAOA gene and CDH13
58
What is the MAOA gene responsible for?
Regulating serotonin in the brain and has been linked to aggressive behaviour
59
What is the CDH13 gene linked to?
Substance abuse and ADHD
60
What did Tiihonen find in this analysis?
5-10% of all severe violent crime in Finland is attributable to the MAOA and CDH13 genotypes
61
How could the diathesis stress model influence criminality?
Being raised in a dysfunctional environment or having criminal role models could trigger the genetic predisposition
62
Outline antisocial personality disorder (APD)
It is associated with reduced emotional responses and a lack of empathy for others
63
Which part of the brain do antisocial personalities have reduced activity in- Raine?
The prefrontal cortex
64
What did Raine find about the prefrontal cortex in those with APD?
There was an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex or people with APD compared to controls
65
What did Keysers find about mirror neurones and criminals?
Only when offenders were asked to empathise with the painful film shown, did their empathy reaction activate.
66
What does Keysers research into mirror neurones suggest about empathy in those with APD
APD individuals are not fully without empathy, but they may have a neural switch that can be turned on and off, unlike the normal brain which has the empathy switch always on
67
How did Eysenck measure personality?
Using the Eysenck personality questionairre which locates respondents along the E, N and P dimensions to determine their personality type
68
What are characteristics of the pre conventional stage of moral reasoning?
Moral reasoning is based on reward and punishment
69
What are characteristics of the conventional moral reasoning stage?
Moral reasoning is based on external ethics and law and order
70
What are characteristics of the post- conventional stage of moral reasoning?
Moral reasoning is based on personal beliefs
71
Which stage of moral reasoning are criminals stuck in?
(Hollin) the pre conventional stage as they believe that breaking the law is justified if the rewards outweigh the consequences or if punishment can be avoided
72
What are cognitive distortions?
A form of irrational thinking where a persons perceptions of events are wrong but they think it is accurate
73
What is hostile attribution bias?
Interpreting others behaviour negatively Violence is caused by the perception that other peoples acts are aggressive
74
What is minimalisation?
Downplaying the seriousness of an offence
75
What is the real life application of cognitive distortions?
The use of CBT techniques (Heller) worked with a group of young men from Chicago, using CBT techniques. Participants had a 44% reduction in arrests compared to a control
76
who is associated with differential association theory?
Sunderland
77
how is offending behaviour learned in the DA theory?
through interactions a person has with significant others such as peer groups or family members
78
through interactions with others...
individuals earn the values, techniques and motives for criminal behaviour
79
how can we mathematically predict the likelihood that a person will commit crime?
with the knowledge of the frequency, intensity and duration that a person is exposed to deviant and non deviant norms and values
80
what are some techniques that offenders learn to commit crime?
rationalisation and the pros of the crime outweighing the cons
81
how does DA theory explain why people reoffend from prisons?
while they are in prisons they learn techniques from those who are more experienced
82
what does sunderland state that criminality is not necessarily associated with?
deprived backgrounds
83
what is a strength of DA theory? supporting research
Farrington (2006) DA can be used to explain all types of crime social circumstances may be more to blame
84
what is a strength of DA theory related to a shift of focus
sunderland moved the emphasis away from biological explanations eg Lombroso drew attention to deviant social circumastances which are more to blame
85
what is a weakness of sunderlands attempt to mathmatically predict crime?
he aimed to provide a scientific and mathmatical framework where future offending can be predicted however concepts cannot be rationalised no scientific credibility
86
outline farringdons study sample
longitudinal study of the development of offending and antisocial behaviour of 411 males studied from the age of 8-50 years
87
what does the psychodynamic explanation for offending say is the reason for offending behaviour?
an inadequate superego
88
what are the three types of inadequate superego?
the weak superego, the deviant superego and over-harsh superego
89
outline the weak superego
if the same gender parent is absent during the phallic stage, a child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification. making immoral or offending behaviour more likely
90
outline the deviant superego
the superego that a child internalises has immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour. e.g. a boy with a criminal father
91
outline the over harsh superego
an excessively punitive or overly harsh parenting style leads to a child with an overly harsh superego who is crippled with guilt and anxiety. this may drive the individual to perform criminal acts to fulfil need for punishment
92
what is the effect of an inadequate superego?
primitive and emotional demands become uppermost in guiding moral behaviour
93
outline the 44 thieves results
14 of the sample of 44 had shown characteristics of affectionless psychopathy. 12 of the 14 had prolonged seperation from their mother during the critical period
94
outline Goreta's research support for the psychodynamic approach to offending
Goreta conducted a Freudian style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment. they diagnosed disturbances in superego formation. each offender experienced unconscious feelings of guilt and self punishment -> consequence of an overharsh superego
95
outline the counterpoint to over harsh parents creating guilty and anxious children
evidence suggests that parents who rely on harsher forms of discipline tend to raise children who are rebellious and rarely express feelings of guilt or self criticism (Kochanaska)
96
outline the gender (alpha) bias of freud's theory
girls do not feel castration anxiety therefore do not identify with same gender parent as strongly --> weaker superego. therefore women should be more prone to offending behaviour, however rates of imprisonment show the opposite
97
outline the evidence of other factors in the psychodynamic approach
Lewis analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people and found that maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending. maternal deprivation is not a causal relationship
Psychology
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