crime

• what makes a criminal - raine (key)

  
  

  aim:

  • to see if there is differences in brain structure of murderers
• what makes a criminal - raine (key)

  sample

  • around 40 people who committed murder or manslaughter
  • all had either a mental or physical issue
  • each participant matched with a 'regular' person
• what makes a criminal - raine (key)

  method:

  • each participant injected with a glucose tracer
  • participants completed continuous improvement tasks
  • participants were then given a PET scan
• what makes a criminal - raine (key)

  results:

  • less activity in the pre-frontal cortex so higher impulsivity
  • more activity in the right side of the amygdala so a lack of fear
  • less activity in the corpus callosum so an inability to grasp long term implications
• what makes a criminal - raine (key)

  evaluate on generalisability, determinism, nature, psychology is a science
• what makes a criminal - raine mauritius study

  • some children given an intervention programme
  • were given high nutrition, exercise and cognitive tasks
  • found they had better attention and were less hot tempered
  • a follow up study, giving fish oil to children and parents reported lower aggression
• what makes a criminal - jahoda

  • looked at delinquency in a tribe who names their children after weekdays
  • wednesday boys are known as violent and commit more crimes
  • concluded this was due to a self-fulfilling prophecy as there was a cultural expectation of these boys and they were treated differently.
• what makes a criminal - smoking and pregnancy

  • smoking cigarettes during pregnancy can results in higher testosterone in a foetus
  • a longer ring finger compared to the index finger is a sign of high testosterone
  • long ring fingers are associated with being dominant and aggressive
• forensic evidence - hall and player (key)

  aim:

  • to see if fingerprint experts are emotionally affected by case circumstances
  • to see if reading a written report would affect a fingerprint analysis
• forensic evidence - hall and player (key)

  sample:

  • 70 fingerprint experts
  • from the metropolitan police
  • all volunteers
• forensic evidence - hall and player (key)

  materials:

  • fingerprint on a £50 note
  • participants had to see if this fingerprint matched the suspects
• forensic evidence - hall and player (key)

  procedure:

  • participants had either:

  1. low emotion context - forgery case
  2. high emotion context - murder case

  • participants could look at crime scene report if they wanted
  • filled out questionnaire after to see if they read the report or not
• forensic evidence - hall and player (key)

  results:

  • no significant differences between the two emotional contexts
  • reading the case report didn't affect the analysis
• forensic evidence - hall and player (key)

  • evaluate based on reliability, validity, psychology as a science
• forensic evidence - dror

  • bottom up = examining fingerprint without knowing anything else about them
  • top down = use experts previous knowledge to make assumptions about the fingerprint
  • --> more open to mistakes due to personality, emotions etc
• forensic evidence - dror 2

  • uni students studied fingerprints
  • participants were related to high or low emotion crimes
  • messages of 'guilty' would flash on the screen sometimes during analysis
  • participants were more likely to find matches in the high emotion crimes
• forensic evidence - miller

  • the 6 pack idea
  • miller tested with students being given one hair sample or 5 hair samples and the suspect one to match
  • found having 6 prints to analyse leads to less false positives
• collection of evidence - memon and higham (key)

  aim - compare the effectiveness of the cognitive interview
• collection of evidence - memon and higham (key)

  • context reinstatement = can obtain a lot more information than other techniques
  • report everything
  • recalling from a different perspective = can often confuse witnesses and doesn't increase amount of information
  • recalling in a different order
• collection of evidence - memon and higham (key)

  • officers should be trained by other officers rather than university lecturers
  • should be given specific cognitive interview training
• collection of evidence - gudjonsson

  factors that increase likelihood of of a false confession:

  
  

  • the suspect = very old, young or low IQ
  • the arrest = at night, violent arrest
  • mental state = stressed or intoxicated
  • the interrogation = coercive interview techniques
• collection of evidence - mann

  • police officers detected lies on suspects in interviews
  • higher experience = better at lie detecting
  • contradictions in story were cues to lie telling rather than fidgeting
• collection of evidence - PEACE model of interviewing

  • can be used for suspects or witnesses

  = prep and planning

  = engage and explain

  = account, clarification and challenge

  = closure

  = evaluation
• psychology and the courtroom - dixon (key)

  aim:

  • whether a suspect with a birmingham accent has a higher rating of guilt
  • whether the race of suspect and type of crime affects the rating of guilt
• psychology and the courtroom - dixon (key)

  sample:

  • around 120 students from worcester
• psychology and the courtroom - dixon (key)

  • listened to a recording of an interview
  • suspect had either a birmingham or standard accent, about a blue or white collar crime, described as white or black race
  • participants rated the guilt on a 7 point scale
• psychology and the courtoom - dixon (key)

  results:

  • birmingham accent had a higher rating of guilt
  • blue collar crime was a higher rating of guilt
  • black described was a higher rating of guilt
• psychology and the courtroom - penrod and cutler

  • participants watched a mock trial
  • the witness was either 80% or 100% confident
  • when witness was 100% confident, the suspect was found guilty more often
• psychology and the courtroom - sigall and ostrove

  • based on halo effect
  • participants were told the suspect was attractive, unattractive or they weren't told
  • crime was about fraud or burglary
  • attractive suspect = shorter sentence for burglary
  • attractive suspect = longer sentence for fraud
• psychology and the courtroom - pennington and hastie

  • to see if presenting evidence in story order or witnes order led to guilty verdicts
  • story order is more persuasive than witness order
• psychology and the courtroom:

  
  

  dixon, pennington and hastie, penrod and cutler, sigall and ostrove
• collection of evidence:

  memon and higham, gudjonsson, mann, PEACE model of interviewing
• forensic evidence:

  hall and player, dror, dror, miller
• what makes a criminal:

  raine, raine mauritius, jahoda, smoking and pregnancy
• crime prevention - wilson and kelling broken windows (key)

  an essay consisting of:

  • history of policing
  • criminal behaviour developing
  • future suggestions
• crime prevention - wilson and kelling broken windows (key)

  history:

  • police were meant to maintain order in communities
  • changed from maintaining order to fighting crime
• crime prevention - wilson and kelling broken windows (key)

  crime developing:

  • if a window is broken and left unrepaired, all the rest will be broken
  • residents don't fix any issues in the community
  • leads to a tipping point when communities cannot recover
  • punishments for petty crimes are not enforced, inviting in more serious crimes
  • the area is 'broken'
• crime prevention - wilson and kelling broken windows (key)

  future suggestions:

  • police should focus on primary role of maintaining order
  • police should focus on areas that are at tipping point
• crime prevention - wilson and kelling broken windows (key)

  however...

  • police might reflect bias
  • could treat areas or people unfairly
• crime prevention - ernest jones

  • posters about littering contained either flowers or eyes
  • the eyes posters reduced littering more