OLET2601 Psychology Of Crime M1 PDF

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Psychology Of Crime Module 1 Summary...

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OLEO2601: Psychology Of Crime - Module 1 Introduction Psychology of Crime investigates the interplay between psychology and the criminal legal system. In particular, it focuses on a diverse array of topics including: ➔ Perpetrators and defendants ➔ Interviewing ➔ Vulnerable suspects ➔ Eyewitness memory ➔ Rehabilitation of offenders ➔ Expert evidence This unit aims to provide you with an introduction to some of the topics studied in this field Importantly, by doing this unit, you will be able to describe and critically evaluate key empirical studies and theories in forensic psychology What To Expect Psychology of Crime consists of 8 cases (3 for the OLEO, which are extended on in the OLET plus 5 additional ones). Note that the OLET ONLY runs in April and September intensives. Each module will ask you to read through a case file describing a crime (note that these case files can be graphic at times, and hence upsetting). While reading through the files, you will be provided with some required readings (articles, book chapters). You will also be asked to make some decisions as if you were the investigator. At the end of each module you will have to complete a test, assessing the readings in each module. You have one attempt for each quiz. Make sure you are well prepared before attempting each quiz. For the OLET, which ONLY runs in April and September intensives, you are expected to complete at least 2 modules a week. Note that if you have not started at least 4 modules by the end of the second week of the intensive, you will be ineligible for special consideration.

Case 1: The Psychology of Crime I Accused: Leon WIlson Offense: Arson and Murder

On Thursday, 26 July, 2017 at about 11:15 p.m. the NSW Police Force received a triple zero telephone call. A house in Redfern had gone up in flames. By the time the police car arrived, the fire brigade was already present. The officers were informed that Ellen Brown, a woman who was in the house, had died due to smoke inhalation. The officers took the name of the two witnesses. On Tuesday, 30 July, the two witnesses of the fire were invited to the police station to make a statement. The witnesses were two Asian males.

Witness 1 (John Nguyen) statement: “I was with my brother, David, at Bar Cleveland the entire evening. I only had a few drinks because I had to be present at an exercise class early the next morning. We left the place at around 10:45 p.m. When we left the bar and started walking home along Cooper Street we saw two men. We were able to see their profiles very clearly, as they were close to a lamp post. I paid very close attention to them. They were close to the house that later burnt down; we were at the street corner, at Walker St and Cooper St. They were just hanging around. The distance between us was about 70 metres. One of them was white. I think the other was black. The white man wore a baseball cap. The black man wore one of those gold neck chains. The white man took a lighter out of his pocket and did something with it. The black man held a petrol can or something like that in his hand. As a shooting instructor I was trained to observe details. They also call me Eagle Eye”.

Witness 2 (David Nguyen) statement: “At about 10:45 p.m we left Bar Cleveland. On Walker Street we saw two men standing near the house. They wanted to set fire to the house with petrol. They emptied a whole can full of petrol and then one of the two men threw a burning match onto it. That one man was white, the other was Samoan, I think. I cannot describe them precisely, but I am sure I would recognise them”.

Detective Jones, who was head of the investigation, found evidence consistent with the witness statements. The fire department’s technical examination showed the fire was most probably set alight with petrol. Under the supervision of Detective Jones, files and criminal records were consulted. Twenty men with criminal records were living in close proximity to the fire. Their portrait photos were present in the police database.

The Nguyen brothers were asked to come to the police station. Together with the Nguyen brothers, Detective Jones looked at all the mugshots of all the potential criminals from the surrounding area. In total, the brothers were shown forty pictures of twenty criminals; there were two pictures of each criminal, one ‘full face’ and one ‘three quarters.’ Arriving at the picture of Leon Wilson, John stated: “Hey that could be him!” David replied “Yes, yes, he could be very well the one who did it. Isn’t that the guy who is often at the bar all by himself”? Jones looked through Leon Wilson’s criminal record. He was arrested for drunk driving, for insurance fraud and once for violent behaviour. On the morning of Friday 9th of August, Leon Wilson was relaxing and reading the newspaper when someone rang the doorbell. Leon was home alone. His wife was at work and his 10 year old son, Kevin, was attending school. Leon opened the door. Two officers asked him if he would please come with them to the police station. Leon agreed. When they arrived at the police station, Leon was asked to enter a room. At his left hand side two men came and stood next to him. At his right hand another three men joined his side. They were instructed to look straight ahead, not to make faces and to keep their mouths shut. The room contained a one way screen. At the other side of that screen, the Nguyen brothers were ready to see whether the man they saw during the night of 26 July was present. The brothers were instructed as follows: “When I draw the curtain, you will see six men in a row. You point out the man you saw on the 26th of July and give us the correct number”. The brothers agreed. The curtain was drawn. David: “Hey you also got Michael Smith from the Shooting Club! He wasn’t the one.” John: “I think it is number 4.” David: Now that you mention it, that’s the man from the pictures. Yes it is number 4!” “Well done.” The supervising police officer nodded. Jones concluded that the case was almost at a close. “You can call the crown prosecutor”, he said to one of his colleagues. ______________________________________________________________________ Leon called his lawyer. Yes, he had been in trouble with the law before, but he did not set fire to that house, and he surely did not kill poor Ellen Brown. He had no reason to; he did not even know the poor woman!

His lawyer, Sebastian Smith, was an up and coming name in the legal community. He had seen cases like Leon’s before. Some pretty questionable decisions had been made during the investigation and Sebastian thought he knew exactly how to address these mistakes. It was imperative that the jury and judge hear from an expert during the trial on how things can go wrong during police investigations and specifically on what went wrong during the investigation of Ellen Brown’s murder. The expert Sebastian was after, was an expert in the psychology of crime. However, when he used that in a google search a lot of other terminology came up; Forensic Psychology, Legal Psychology, Criminal Psychology. Sebastian was slightly confused, what were all those different fields of Psychology? And which one should he use? Further searching brought him across the website of the American Psychological Association. They defined forensic psychology as “The application of clinical specialties to the legal arena. This definition emphasizes the application of clinical psychology to the forensic setting… emphasizing the application of clinical skills such as assessment, treatment, evaluation to forensic settings.” (https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2013/09/forensic-psychology.aspx) While this was a start, it was not quite what Sebastian was after. Leon was not arguing he committed a crime due to a psychological disorder. He claimed he was innocent, and mistakes were made during the investigation! Surely there were other aspects that psychologists looked at. And indeed, soon after Sebastian found a broader description saying that: “Experimental Forensic Psychologists draw on research from a number of field of psychology to explain and understand some of the processes and people involved in the legal system” ______________________________________________________________________ This seemed to be exactly what Sebastian was after. To be sure, Sebastian decided to read further into the field of forensic psychology. He had so many questions! He wanted to know: What is the role of a Forensic Psychologist? What is the History of forensic psychology? How does Forensic psychology relate to his field-- the Law? Case 1: The Psychology of Crime I - Introduction To Psychology Reading What Is Forensic Psychology? ➔ No accepted definition of the field ➔ Also referred to as legal psychology or criminological psychology A narrow definition:

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Focus on certain aspects of the field while ifnroing the other, potentially important aspects Might focus on clinical aspects of the field while ignoring the experimental research that many psychologists conduct Ultimately decided forensic psychology should be defined narrowly to include the primarily clinical aspects of forensic assessment, treatment, and consultation

According to this definition, only individuals who should call themselves forensic psychologists are those individuals engaged in clinical practice (i.e assessing, treating or consulting) within the legal system) Broad definitions are less restrictive: - A research endavour that examines aspects of human behaviour directly related to the legal process - The professional practice of psychology within, or in consultation with, a legal system tht embraces both civil and criminal law - Narrow solely focuses on the application of psychology - Broad definition does not restrict forensic psychology to applied issues - It focuses on the research that is required to inform applied practice in the field of forensic psychology - Research frequently originates in areas of psychology that are often not connected with the forensic area, such as; - Social - Cognitive - Personality - Developmental psychology

The Reality Of Reality TV ● Role TV has in shaping perceptions and attitudes of viewers towards crime-related matters ● Introduction of crime-based reality TV shows Is this influence by shows problematic? ● Do these TV shows present an accurate portrayal of crime and our legal systems response to it? ● Eg Cops ○ Offers a very particular and select vision of policing ○ Can be seen as a constructed version of reality with its own biases, rather than a neutral record ○ Sequence of events is not presented in real time ○ Considerable editing is involved ○ Stories selected are delivered in a way to ensure certain audience reactions ○ Uses a range of storytelling techniques to encourage viewers to identify with the police but not suspects

The Roles Of A Forensic Psychologist Forensic psychologists are always interested in issues that arise at the intersection between psychology and law ● What differs across definitions is the focus forensic psychologists take ● Can take the role of a clinician or researcher ● In reality these roles are not mutually exclusive ○ One individual can take on more than one role eg a clinician, researcher and legal scholar

The Forensic Psychologist As A Clinician Clinical forensic psychologists are broadly concerned with mental health issues as they pertain to the legal system ● Include both research and practice in a wide variety of settings ○ Schools, prisons and hospitals ○ Often concerned with the assessment and treatment of persons with mental disorders within the context of the law ● Research side ○ Frequent task might involve validation of an assessment tool that has been developed to predict the risk of an offender being violent ● Practical side ○ Frequent task → assessment of an offender to assist the parole board in making an accurate determination of whether the offender is likely to pose a risk to the community if released ● Other issues clinical psychologists are interested in include: ○ Divorce and child custody mediation ○ Determinations of criminal responsibility (insanity) and fitness to stand trial ○ Providing expert testimony on questions of a psychological nature ○ Personnel selection ○ Conducting critical indicent stress debriefings with police officers ○ Designing and conducting treatment programs for offenders Clinical forensic psychologist must be a licenced ● Forensic specialisaiton Similarities between forensic psychology and forensic psychiatry ● Both clinical foresnic psychological and psychiatrists are trained to assess and treat individuals experiencing mental health issues who come into contact with the law ● Both involved in nearly every component of the CJS ● Engage in similar research Differences between forensic psychology and forensic psychiatry ● Psychiatrists are medical doctors who can prescribe medication ○ Undergo training that is different and leads to distinctions

● Psychiatrists general reliance on a medical model of mental illness, psychologists tend to view mental illness as a product of an individual's physiology, personality and environment Other Forensic Differences Forensic Anthropology ● Examine remains of deceased victims to determine key facts about them Forensic Linguistics ● Examine the spoken and written word in an attempt to assist criminal investigators Forensic Chemistry ● Study the chemical aspects of crime scenes, which include an analysis of paint particles, dyes, fibres and other materials Forensic Ondontology ● Dental aspects of criminal activity → identifying deceased victims through dental records and determining if bite marks were made by an adult or child Forensic Pathology ● Examine the remains of dead bodies in an attempt to determine time and cause of death through physical autopsy Forensic Entomology ● Concerned with how insects can assist with criminal investigations ● Help determine when someone died based on an analysis of insect presence (diff types of insects present on corpse at different points in time) ● Insect development (certain insects attracted to corpses soon after death develop predictable set cycles) Source: Decaire, 1999 The Forensic Psychologist As Researcher ● Experimenter or researcher ● Concerned with mental health issues ● Found in variety of CJS settings ● Concerned with more than just mental health issues ● Any research issue that relates to law or the legal system ○ Effectiveness of risk-assessment strategies ○ What factors influence jury decision making ○ Developing and testing better ways to conduct eye-witness lineups ○ Evaluating offender and victim treatment programs ○ Studying impact of questioning style on eyewitness memory recall ○ Examining effect of stress management interventions on police officers

Clinical forensic psychologists differ in training from experimental psychologists ● Progams in social, cognitive, personality or developmental psychology ● Research in forensic psychology is eclectic and requires expertise in areas such as memory processing, decision making, and organisational issues

The Forensic Psychologist As Legal Scholar ● Less common ● Engage in scholarly analyses of mental health law and psychologically oriented legal movements ● Applied work center around policy analysis and legislative consultation The Relationship Between Psychology And Law ● Forensic psychology can be approached from different angles ● Three primary ways in which psychology and the law can relate to each other ○ Psychology and the law ○ Psychology in the law ○ Psychology of the law ○ Clinical and experimental FP are involved in the first two more than the third ● Psychology of the law is the domain of the legal scholar role Psychology And The Law ● Psychology is viewed as a separate discipline → examining and analysing various components of the law from a psychological perspective ● Research ○ Examines assumptions made by the law or our legal system ○ “Are eyewitnesses accurate?” ○ “Do certain interrogation techniques cause people to falsely confess?” ○ “Are judges fair in the way they hand down sentences?” ○ “Is it possible to accurately predict whether an offender will be violent when released from prison?” ● When working within the area of psychology and the law → FP attempt to answer these questions so the answers are communicated to the legal community Psychology In The Law ● Knowledge can be used in legal system by psychologists, lawyers, judges, and others ● Involves use of psychological knowledge in the legal system ● Can take different forms ○ Psychologist in court providing expert testimony

■ Eg eyewitness may have incorrectly identified the defendant from police lineup ○ Police offender using their knowledge of psychology in an investigation ■ Eg base their questioning strategy during an interrogation on their knowledge of various psychological principles that are known to be useful for extracting confessions Psychology Of The Law ● Use of psychology to study the law itself ○ “What role should the police play in domestic disputes?” ○ “Does the law reduce the amount of crime in our society?” ○ “Why is it important to allow for discretionary decision making in the CJS?” ● A set of skills from multiple disciplines and is often and sometimes crucial History Of Forensic Psychology ● Relatively short history → late 19th century ● Early days → not referred to as FP and most psychologists conducting research did not formally identify as a FP ● Research formed building blocks of an emerging field that continues to be strong today

Early Research: Eyewitness Testimony and Suggestibility ● Late 19th century → research in North America and Europe ● First experiments by James McKeen Cattell at Columbia Uni NY ○ Psychology of eyewitness testimony ○ Found answers were often inaccurate ● Wilhelm Wundt → developed first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany ● Other psychologists began studying eyewitness testimony and suggestibility ○ Alfred Binet → numerous studies and shows testimony provided by children was highly susceptible to suggestive questioning techniques ○ Found free recall resulted in the most accurate answers and highly misleading questions resulted in the least accurate ● William Stern → studies examining suggestibility of eyewitnesses ○ “Reality experiment” now commonly used by eyewitness researchers to study eyewitness recall and recognition can be attributed to Stern ○ A person’s emotional arousal can have an impact on the accuracy of that person’s testimony Early Court Cases In Europe ● Around the time research was being conducted → psychologists in Europe started to appear as expert witnesses in court ● Much of the testimony they were providing dealt with issues surrounding accuracy of eyewitness reports

○ Eg pre-trial publicity on memory → could influence the testimony of witnesses by causing retroactive memory falsification ■ Witnesses confuse actual memories of events with events described by the media Advocates Of Forensic Psychology In North America ● 1908 publication of Hugo Munsterberg’s ‘On The Witness Stand’ ● Considered to be father of FP ● Argued psychology had much to offer the legal system ○ Could assist with issues involving eyewitness testimony, crime detection, false confessions, suggestibility, hypnotism and crime prevention ● Instrumental in pushing North American psychologists into the legal arena

Forensic Psychology In Other Areas Of The Criminal Justice System ● FP instrumental in establishing the first clinic for juvenile delinuents in 1909 ● Psychologists began using psychological testing for law enforcement selection purposes in 1917 and 1919 saw the first forensic assessment laboratory (to conduct pretrial assessments) set up in a US police agency ● After this, psychologists in the US began to be more heavily involved in the judicial system as well Case 1: The Psychology of Crime I - Continued After reading up on forensic psychology, Sebastian was even more convinced that he needed to find an experimental psychologist to assess the investigation done by the police. The first person he called was a lecturer at a university in Sydney. Her expertise was eyewitness ide...