TEST 2

Question 1

Criminal Profiler

Answer 1

An individual who examines evid from the crime scene, victims, and witnesses in an attempt to construct an accurate psychological (usually concerning psychopathology personality, and behavior) and demographic description of the individual who committed the crime

Question 2

Criminal profiling

Answer 2

Biological sketch of behavioral patterns, trend and tendencies
Educated attempt to provide specific info about a certain type of suspect

Question 3

What is included in a criminal profile?

Answer 3

Personality traits
Motivation of the offender
Characteristic ways of committing crime
Physical characteristics
Occupational/military history
Educational Background

Question 4

Profiling is more of a ___ than a ___

Answer 4

art than a science

Question 5

T/F: expert testimony on profiling is likely to be admitted into court

Answer 5

FALSE
Daubert standard of merit
However, it CAN aid in both the detection and prevention of crime

Question 6

Functions of profiling

Answer 6

Overcoming simplified assumptions (“Criminals are stupid, self-interested crooks!”)
Overcoming false stereotypes

Question 7

3 approaches to criminal profiling

Answer 7

1. Distinguishing the “evil person”
2. Determining common characteristics
3. Extracting specific psychological or physical characteristics

Question 8

Distinguishing the “evil person”

Answer 8

understanding the behavior and motivations of specific influential individuals
helps to predict future behavior

Question 9

Determining common characteristics

Answer 9

identifying consistencies in the personalities, backgrounds and behaviors of offenders who carry out similar crimes (childhood experiences, personality tests (MMPI)); ex: serial homicide is often a sexual act

Question 10

Extracting specific psychological or physical characteristics

Answer 10

MO (Modus Operandi)- standard procedure to accomplish the crime. ex: strangulation to kill
Signature- unique, personal aspects of the criminal act done to fulfill the offender emotionally; often indicates the need to express violent fantasies ex: keeping a personal item from the victim

Question 11

5 steps for FBI profiling procedures

Answer 11

1. Comprehensively study the nature of the criminal act and the types of people who have committed similar offenses in the past
2. Analyze details of the crime scene
3. Examine the background and activities of the victim(s) in depth
4. Formulate possible motivations for all involved
5. Develop description of the perp based on the crime scene and past criminals’ behavior

Question 12

Profile of an organized criminal

Answer 12

Plan
Use restraints
Commit sexual acts w/ live victims
Emphasize control over victim by using manipulation or threatening techniques
Use a car or truck

Question 13

Profile of a disorganized criminal

Answer 13

Leave a weapon at crime scene
Reposition the dead body
Perform sexual acts with dead body
Keep the dead body
Try to depersonalize the body
Not use a vehicle

Question 14

How effective is profiling

Answer 14

U.K study found that profiling led to identification of the offender in only 2.7% of the cases (5/184 cases)
However, police frequency reported other benefits:
1. Better understanding of the case or offender
2. Validation of their own conclusion
3. Helps provide a structure for interviewing
Effectiveness also depends on the profiler: professional profilers (FBI trained) are better than psychologists, detectives and police officers; students and psychics performed the worst

Question 15

T/F: Using profilers to link a particular def to a particular crime has serious probelms

Answer 15

TRUE

Question 16

Psychological Autopsies

Answer 16

An investigation to help determine postmortem, a person’s mode of death or mental state in equivocal (5-20%) cases 9even if no criminal act is suspected)
ex: competence to draw up a will (testamentary capacity); worker’s compensation cases: can claim that stressful working conditions contributed to premature death

Question 17

What are the 3 questions that psychological autopsies answer?

Answer 17

1. Why did the individual do it?
2. How and when did the individual die?
3. What might be the most probable mode of death?

Question 18

NASH classification

Answer 18

N atural
A ccidental
S uicide
H omicidal

Question 19

What is the most common inquiry in a psychological autopsy concerned with?

Answer 19

whether the death was an accident or suicide

Question 20

Has expert testimony based on psych autopsies been readily admitted into criminal cases?

Answer 20

no; in civil cases, though, in which the mental state of the dead person is central to the issue at hand, testimony based on a psychological autopsy is more likely to be admitted

Question 21

Hypnosis in criminal investigation

Answer 21

Use of hypnosis by police grew rapidly in 1970s
Been used to obtain info from def about crime and to attempt to aid a witness/victim in remembering more about a crime (most common use)

Question 22

Martin Reiser

Answer 22

Started Law Enforcement Hypnosis Institute (LEHI) in mid 1970s to train police officers as forensic hypnotists
Trained over 1,000 officers in the first 7 years

Question 23

Effects of hypnosis on memory

Answer 23

People often remember more material when hypnotized (HYPERAMNESIA)
Under hypnosis, subjects relax their standards for reporting info
People who have been hypnotized find it difficult to separate actual memories from those generated under hypnosis
Meta-analytic research has found that hypnotized witnesses tend to become more confident about their recall (MEMORY HARDENING)
Hypnotized subjects are more responsive to the biasing influence of leading questions

Question 24

Rock v Arkansas

Answer 24

Vicki Rock was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting her husband. Before hypnosis, she remembered:
They argued, he pushed her against wall, she wanted to leave but he wouldnt let her; she clutched gun; she phoned police
After hypnosis, she remembered:
She did not put her finger on the trigger; he grabbed her from behind; they struggled and the gun went off accidentally
AR Judge refused to allow any testimony from hypnosis
USSC overturned AR trial judge

Question 25

Current admissibility of hypnosis

Answer 25

Per se exclusionary rule- 2/3 of states; Hypnotically assisted testimony prohibited in all cases Totality of Circumstances Test- 1/3 of states and fed. gov.; consider administrative procedures and admit if proper safeguards were met

Question 26

Hypnosis guidelines

Answer 26

1. Qualifications of the person using hypnosis 2. Pre-hypnosis records 3. Electronic recording of hypnosis sessions 4. Measurement of hypnotizability 5. Pre-hypnosis briefing 6. Management of the hypnotic sessions 7. Selective use

Question 27

Meta-analytic research findings of hypnosis

Answer 27

"The hypothesized increase in recall accuracy for hypnotized subjects has not been substantiated by research to date" Hypnotized subjects are more confident about the accuracy of their recall Bottom line: the costs of using hypnosis to aid in memory recall outweigh the benefits, and its use in a court of law to convict a def is generally discouraged

Question 28

What are polygraphs typically used for

Answer 28

1. Assess the honesty of exculpatory statements given by criminal suspects 2. Review periodically the status of employees whose work involves international security

Question 29

What are the 4 physiological responses that the polygraph commonly measures?

Answer 29

1. Blood pressure 2. Heart rate 3. Respiratory rate 4. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)- sweating

Question 30

What are the 2 types of polygraph testing

Answer 30

1. Relevant-Irrelevant Test | 2. Control Question Technique (CQT)

Question 31

Relevant-Irrelevant Test

Answer 31

2 types of questions 1. Relevant questions- deal w/ the crime 2. Irrelevant questions- completely unrelated to wrong doing eg. is your bday in april Rationale: Deceptive person will show strong reaction to the relevant questions, but truthful subjects will show no difference in reaction Criticized as simplistic and naive

Question 32

Control Question Technique

Answer 32

2 types of questions 1. Relevant Questions- deal with the crime 2. Control Questions- not related to the crime but designed to induce an emotional reaction because they cover common misdeeds Rationale: an innocent person will respond the same to both sets of questions; a guilty person will respond omre to the relevant questions

Question 33

What are the 5 criticisms of the polygraph?

Answer 33

1. Nonstandardized procedures 2. Examiners often mislead subjects regarding how accurate the test is 3. Sometimes, interrogators have used the polygraph to create anxiety in order to encourage confession 4. The subjects privacy may be violated in the asking of personal and irrelevant questions 5. Questionable reliability and validity

Question 34

Polygraph Technique Research findings

Answer 34

84% of truly guilty subjects were judged to be lying 53% of subjects known to be innocent were judged to be truthful The rate of false positive judgements (47%) was staggeringly high Empirical data do not support many people's assumptions of the polygraph accuracy

Question 35

What are some potential sources of inaccuracy for the polygraph?

Answer 35

1. Polygraph does not measure lying directly. Rather, it measures physiological changes which only reflect emotional reactivity. Thus, any conclusion about lying is an inference 2. Problems can arise in the translation of the physiological responses (waves charted on paper) into quantifiable measures

Question 36

Current legal status of polygraph

Answer 36

``` Fed appeals cts are divided regarding the admissibility of polygraph evid. USSC rule (8-1) that polygraph results are NOT admissible in military courts due to unreliability (US v Scheffer) ```

Question 37

Polygraph countermeasures

Answer 37

2 types 1. Physical 2. Mental

Question 38

3 psychical countermeasures to polygraph

Answer 38

1. suppressing physiological responses to relevant questions 2. augmenting physiological responses to contorl questions 3. Suppressing the overall level of physiological activity (eg taking drugs)

Question 39

Effectiveness of physical countermeasures for polygraph

Answer 39

Many result in "inconclusive" Using several is more effective than using just 1 Special training and practive are needed Some physical countermeasures used are not easily detected Pharmacological substances are moderately effective at best

Question 40

3 Mental countermeasures for polygraph

Answer 40

1. Artificially producing responses to control questions (most effective) 2. Attenuating responses to relevant questions 3. Mentally dissociating; distracting themselves Advantage: cant be detected Disadvantage: less effective than physical countermeasures

Question 41

What are the contexts for risk assessment

Answer 41

``` Civil commitment Disposition of Incompetent defendants NGRI Sex Offender Evals Pre-release evals LE FFDEs ```

Question 42

Balance for risk assessment

Answer 42

Society has legitimate interest in being protected from violent individuals but those individuals have a right to be protected from harassment by authorities and from arbitrary arrest and detention based on mere suspicion

Question 43

3 types of risk assessment

Answer 43

1. Clinical Prediction 2. Actuarial Prediction 3. Anamnestic Prediction

Question 44

Clinical Prediction

Answer 44

Basing determinations on intuition, non-empirical experience (clinical judgement, and one's memory for empirical findings) Most predictions are made on this scheme

Question 45

Actuarial Prediction

Answer 45

Basing determinations on relevant factors identified by research that are actually/statistically related to the outcome

Question 46

Anamnestic Prediction

Answer 46

Based on a specific analysis of how a particular person has acted in the past in similar situations

Question 47

Actuarial v Clinical Prediction

Answer 47

It has been wildly accepted for over 50 years that actuarial methods yield better results than clinical methods in predicting violence

Question 48

1st generation of research

Answer 48

Conduction in 1st part of 20th century; few studies done; Most research focused on relationship b/w mental illness and violence with the following conclusions being reached: 1. Mentally ill are less prone to violence and have lower arrest rates 2. Mental health professionals are unable to predict dangerousness or violence accurately

Question 49

Baxstrom v Harold (1966)

Answer 49

Been held in state hospital after criminal sentence had expired, which was found to be violation of equal protection; ruling led many patients to be released and studies found little recidivism in those groups (less than 3% after 5 years) Following those studies, it was generally assumed in the scientific community that mental health professionals could not predict dangerousness or violence accurately

Question 50

Barefoot v Estelle (1983)

Answer 50

Barefoot was convicted of capital murder of a LEO; Jury was asked to consider "future violence" in making a decision about sentencing and whether the death penalty should be impacted; 2 psychiatrists testified that Barefoot would probably commit future violence; Jury imposed the death penalty; Case appealed to USSC; Barefoot argued in his appeal that psychiatrists cannot predict dangerousness accurately; APA submitted amicus brief which also argues that dangerousness cannot be accurately predicted by mental health professionals; However, USSC upheld the jury's sentence and affirmed the use of mental health professionals in making determinations regarding future dangerousenss

Question 51

We do not predict, we ___ risk

Answer 51

evaluate

Question 52

2nd Generation of Studies

Answer 52

Shift in focus from "prediction of dangerousness" to "risk assessment" Dangerousness was thought of as a dichotomous variable (yes or no?) Risk is conceptualized as a continuum (low to high) Research began to focus on identifying factors that are statistically associated with increased risk

Question 53

Assessing risk

Answer 53

Eventually the consensus shifted to the opinion that risk assessment CAN be made with "moderate to good" levels of accuracy

Question 54

What are the 3 categories of violence risk factors

Answer 54

1. Static- unchanging (past history of violence or abuse) 2. Dynamic- can change in the moment (mood) 3. Risk management- nature of situation/environment that their in/going into now

Question 55

What are the 10 risk factors

Answer 55

1. History of violence 2. Young age (according to Hickey's 1997 database of approx 399 serial killers, the avg. age of the murder at the time of the first killing was 27.5 years); (Grover Godwin's 1999 databases of 107 serial killers revealed an avg age of 30) 3. History of relationship instability (separation from parents before age 16; never married) 4. History of employment Instability 5. Drug of alcohol Abuse History (violent crimes- 40%; Murder 50%) 6. Major Mental Disorders 7. Diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder or Psychopathy (Psychopathy was more strongly associated with violence than any other risk factor in a large-scale study published by MacArthur in 2001) 8. Early maladjustment in home or school settings 9. History of attempted or actual escapes 10. Diagnosis of any personality disorder

Question 56

5 Dynamic Risk factors

Answer 56

1. Lack of insight into one's capacity for violent behavior 2. Anger/hostility 3. Psychotic Symptomatology- psychosis (diagnosis of schizophrenia alone usually indicated a lower likelihood of violence, except: if voices specifically command a violent act OR a cooccurring diagnosis of substance abuse strongly predictive of violence) 4. Impulsivity and Affective Instability 5. Resistance or unresponsiveness to treatment

Question 57

5 Risk Management Factors

Answer 57

1. Lack of supervision and monitoring after release 2. Exposure to destabilizers 3. Lack of social support 4. Non-compliance w/ medication or treatment 5. Stress

Question 58

What are the 2 main methods to assessing risk?

Answer 58

1. Structured Professional Judgement- Requires consideration of specific empirically determined risk factors (ex: HCR-20) 2. Actuarial Risk Scales- scales designed specifically to estimate risk of violence using empirical correlates of aggressive behavior (ex: VRAG)

Question 59

Tools to Assess the Risk Factors/Markers

Answer 59

HCR-20= 20 historical, clinical, and risk management variables Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) Psychopathy Checklist- Screening Version (PCL-SV)

Question 60

Prediction of Sexual Offending

Answer 60

Another common task for forensic psychologists is to assess a sex offender's degree of risk to the community- determinations of how likely to convict another sex offense

Question 61

Follow up study of convicted sex offenders- rates of recidivism

Answer 61

``` Rape- 22.8% Pedophilia- 20.4% -Heterosexual 18.3% -Homosexual 35.2% -Incest 8.5% ```

Question 62

Tools to assess the risk factors/markers for sexual offending

Answer 62

Rapid Risk Assessment of Social Recidivism (RRASOR) Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool Revised (MnSOST-R) Sexual Violence Risk-20 Static-99

Question 63

Prediction of domestic violence

Answer 63

Markers- history of family violence in their childhoods; less education and lower income (demographic differences b/w partners also increase risk); alcohol abuse; about 1/2 of men who batter their wives also physically abuse their children

Question 64

Prediction of Child abuse

Answer 64

Each week in the US, CPS received approx 60,000 referrals alleging that children have been abused or neglected (~66% unfounded)

Question 65

4 ecological levels of risk factors (Belsky)

Answer 65

1. Ontogenic Level- individual factors and parent characteristics 2. Microsystem level- family factors 3. Ecosystem or community level- social support and employment stress 4. Macrosystem or cultural level- cultural values

Question 66

Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI)

Answer 66

Only instrument with acceptable reliability and validity

Question 67

Prediction of suicide

Answer 67

the accuracy rate of suicide prediction is not high Partly due to failure to consider base rates ex: VA hospitals 67/4,800 patients (1.4%) committed suicide over 5 years later

Question 68

Suicide risk factors

Answer 68

``` Suicide in the family Preexisting psychological disorder Alcohol use and abuse Past suicidal behavior Experience of a shameful/humiliating stressor Communicating suicidal ideation Giving belongings away ```

Question 69

Tools for prediction of suicide

Answer 69

Suicide Probability Scale (SPS)- focuses on a history of suicide attempts, current depression and stress, and cognitive variables Suicidal Intent Scale (SIS)- A semi-structured interview used with patients who have attempted suicide in the past