Criminal Studies

• What was the aim of Ruva, Dickman and Mayes 2014 study?

  to find out how exposure to pre-trial publicity affects the verdict given using a mock jury watching a court case.
• What was the sample of Ruva, Dickman and Mayes 2014 study?

  345 university students, aged 18-51 years, of different ethnic backgrounds
• What was the procedure of Ruva, Dickman and Mayes 2014 study?

  participants were split into four different groups: negative, positive, mixed and unconnected pre-trial publicity
• What was phase 1 of the procedure of Ruva, Dickman and Mayes 2014 study?

  this was where groups of "jurors" were randomly selected and asked to complete a demographic questionnaire, they were then told they would receive online surveys to complete.
• What was phase 2 of the procedure of Ruva, Dickman and Mayes 2014 study?

  over the next 10-12 days of the study, the "jurors" received 8 crime stories to read online. They were then asked to compete a memory test online
• What was phase 3 of the procedure of Ruva, Dickman and Mayes 2014 study?

  one week after the final exposure to a pre-trial publicity article the "jurors" were shown a videotape of a murder trial. After watching, the trail, the participants were instructed to act as jurors of the case.
• What was the conclusion of Ruva, Dickman and Mayes study?

  pre-trial publicity does affect jury decision making
• What was negative pre-trial publicity in Ruva, Dickman and Mayes study?

  neagative media reports shown on the defendant
• What was positive pre-trial publicity in Ruva, Dickman and Mayes study?

  positive media reports on the defendant
• What was mixed pre-trial publicity in Ruva, Dickman and Mayes study?

  mixed media reports on the defendant
• What was unconnected pre-trial publicity in Ruva, Dickman and Mayes study?

  crime reports which were unconnected to the case
• what was the aim of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  to test the hypothesis that high arousal (high stress) can reduce an eyewitnesses ability to recall information and identify a perpetrator
• what was the procedure of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  56 participants visited the London Dungeon and were offered a reduction in the admission price to complete a questionnaire after the visit and wear a heart rate monitor through-out their visit.
• what was the procedure of Valentine and Mesout's study?


  an actor was identified as the "scary person", who would step out in front of participants and block their way.
• what was the procedure of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  participants completed a questionnaire which assessed state anxiety and trait anxiety
• in Valentine Mesout's study, what was trait anxiety?

  this was the participants more general experience of emotion in day to day life
• In Valentine Mesout's study, what was state anxiety?

  this was the participants experience of emotion and how they felt in the dungeon
• what was the procedure of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  after completing the questionnaire on trait and state anxiety, each participant filled out a recall questionnaire, for a free recall description of the "scary person" as well as a cues recall, asking for details.
• what was the procedure of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  at the end of the study, participants were asked to identify the "scary person" from a photo line-up and rate their confidence on a scale of 1-100%
• what were the results of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  participants who experienced lower state anxiety recalled more correct information about the "scary person".
• what was the mean state anxiety in Valentine and Mesout's study?

  49.0
• what were the result of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  females reported higher state anxiety than males, and as a result, males made more correct identifications
• what were the conclusions of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  eye-witness identification is impaired under conditions of high anxiety
• what were the conclusions of Valentine and Mesout's study?

  memory is negatively affected by increased physiological arousal, which leads to less reliable eye-witness accounts. Therefore, when considering the accuracy of an eye-witness, the anxiety at the time of the event should be considered
• Ireland: what was the procedure of this study?

  offenders were randomly allocated to one of two conditions.
• Ireland: what were the conditions of this study?

  there was a treatment group, who received CBT anger management and a control group, who didn't receive any treatment
• Ireland: what was the procedure of this study?

  the treatment group were given 12 sessions of anger management, and there were three measures of progress
• Ireland: what were the measures of progress for the treatment groups anger management sessions?

  the participants completed a progress questionnaire and interview
• Ireland: what were the measures of progress for the treatment groups anger management sessions?

  the prison staff completed a behaviour checklist
• Ireland: what were the results of this study?

  nearly all of the treatment group showed significant improvements on at least one measure and nearly half showed improvement on both the behaviour checklist and the questionnaire
• Ireland: what percentage of offenders showed improvement on at least one measure of progress?

  92%
• Ireland: what percentage of offenders showed improvement on both the behaviour checklist and the questionnaire?

  48%
• Ireland: what were the results of this study?

  the control group failed to show improvement on any of the measures while waiting
• Ireland: what were the conclusions of this study?

  the results suggest that anger management is clearly more effective than no treatment at all, and is most effective for those who have a history of violence.
• What did Ireland investigate?

  anger management in an institutional setting
• Williams et al: what did Williams do?

  they interviewed 197 young male offenders in a prison about head injuries
• Williams et al: what did Williams do?

  they interviewed 197 young male offenders in a prison about their crime history
• Williams et al: what did Williams do?

  they interviewed 197 young male offenders in a prison about mental health problems and drug usage
• Williams et al: of those who were contacted to be a part of the study, how many took place?

  94%
• Williams et al: what was the sample of this research?

  prison offenders who were on average, about 16 years of age