FORENSICS

1. FORENSICS

2. TURNING TO CRIME Let’s revise the factors that might turn this......... ......to this.

3. Kohlberg (moral development) Cognition Farrington (families) Gudjonsson & Bownes (cognition Yochelson & Samenow (thinking patterns Upbringing Sutherland (Learning from others) Brunner (genes) Raine (brain dysfunction) Wikstrom & Tafel (Poverty) Biology Daly & Wilson (gender)

4. 1. UPBRINGING POVERTY FAMILIES PEER PRESSURE

5. DISRUPTED FAMILIES Longitudinal study Crime caused by: intergenerational transmission large family size poverty poor parenting (Farrington)

6. Differential association • Nine principles • Criminal behaviour is learned not innate • Criminal behaviour occurs when an individual defines a situation as appropriate for violating laws LEARNING FROM OTHERS (Sutherland)

7. POVERTY Three types of criminal: Propensity-induced(personality characteristics) Lifestyle-dependent(living a high-risk lifestyle) Situationally-limited (well-adjusted but may offend if situation arises) Cross-sectional study (Wikstrom and Tafel: Peterborough Youth Study)

8. 2. Cognition Moral Development Criminal Thinking Patterns Social Cognition

9. Moral development(Kohlberg) MORAL DILEMMAS eg Heinz and the drugs for his wife

10. Mental hospital patients with verdicts of NGRI • Similarities in thinking patterns including: • Superoptimism • Loving excitment • Lacking empathy • Restlessness • Irritability • Dissatisfaction Yochelson and Samenow: CRIMINAL THINKING PATTERNS

11. Gudjonsson and Bownes (Social Cognition) 80 prisoners in N.Ireland Attribution of blame for criminal behaviour Internal/external/mental element (freedom to act)

12. 3. Biology Genes & serotonin Brain Dysfunction Gender

13. Tumours in amygdala and hypothalamus linked with lack of fear and increased aggression Prefrontal lobes of brain control impulsive behaviour Biological predispositions to violence may be switched on or off by good or bad environmental influences – multifactorial, less reductionist Raine Brain dysfunction

14. Brunner GENES Single Dutch family Male family members with a genetic mutation had borderline retardation and reacted aggressively when angry, fearful or frustrated. Disturbance in MAOA levels resulted in disturbances in serotonin Turning to crime

15. More crime committed by males in all cultures – biological influence • Risk-taking in young males linked with attracting female attention and competing against other males. • Instant gratification sought as they expect to live shorter lives due to their risky behaviour. Gender Daly and Wilson

16. MAKING A CASE Let’s revise how the police gather evidence

17. Vrij (detecting lying Interviewing suspects loftus (weapon focus) inbau (interrogation) gudjonsson (false confessions) Interviewing witnesses geiselman (cognitive interviews Bottom-up Top-down Profiling frowd&bruce (recognising faces Railway rapist

18. 1. Interviewing suspects Detecting lying False confessions Interrogation It was me! I did it!

19. Detecting lying: Vrij • 56 Dutch police officers • Real life footage of murder case press conferences where the speaker was later proven to be the killer • Police officers thought they were better at detecting lying than they were • Ability to detect lying was not related to experience • Confidence in detecting lying was related to experience

20. Interrogation - Inbau • Intended to create a situation where the suspect feels he must admit his guilt • When speaking, they are ignored or interrupted unless they say what the interrogator wants • Ultimately offered two alternatives, both admitting guilt but one alternative seems more acceptable than the other and appears to offer a way out 9 steps!

21. False confessions - Gudjonsson Voluntary confession Coerced internalised confession Coerced compliant confession It was me! I did it! 160 suspects Did not support the hypothesis that vulnerable people were more likely to confess False confessions linked with drug use and legal representation

22. 2. Interviewing witnesses Weapon focus Cognitive interviews Recognising faces

23. Cognitive interviews: Geiselman Study found a significant improvement in accuracy and amount of information recalled using these techniques – with NO additional information made up

24. Weapon focus - Loftus • Ps saw people in a restaurant queue • Cashier was handed EITHER a cheque or a gun was pointed • Witnesses in the gun condition remembered less Weapon focus means that when there is a weapon involved in a situation people are less likely to remember details of the crime

25. Recognising faces – Frowd & Bruce FAMILIAR FACES are recognised using internal features (eyes, nose, mouth) UNFAMILIAR FACES are recognised using external features (ears, brows, hairline) Therefore people describing a suspect will concentrate on different features from those trying to recognise them from a photofit.

26. 3. Profiling Bottom up Top down Railway rapist

27. Top – down: USA HAZELWOOD, RESSLER Takes established types of criminal and applies them to new crimes Typologies come from interviews with 36 American serial killers and sex criminals Organised / disorganised

28. Bottom – up: UK • Canter • Looks at each crime individually and builds up evidence piece by piece • Behavioural consistency • Geographical profiling • Marauders/commuters • Circle theory

29. Case study: railway rapist • Illustrated criminal consistency • Be able to explain some of the points in Canter’s profile and how he came up with them

30. PERSUADING A JURY Let’s revise factors that affect the decision a jury makes

31. Majority influence (Asch) Reaching A Verdict Expert witnesses (Krauss & Sales) Minority influence (Moscovici) Hastie (story order) Persuading A Jury Pickel (inadmissible evidence) Witness attractiveness (Castellow) Shields (Ross) Witness Appeal Pennington & Hastie (story order) Witness confidence (Penrod & Cutler

32. 1. Persuading A Jury Expert witnesses Story order Inadmissible evidence You cant’ say that!!

33. Story order - Hastie Evidence to be presented in chronological order or witness by witness? Witness by witness might capitalise on primacy / recency effects Story order was shown to be more convincing to a jury

34. Pickel – inadmissible evidence • By drawing attention to it, it makes it harder for the jury to ignore it • But they seem to make their own decision according to fair play • Backfire effect Means evidence that cannot be taken into account by the jury, like previous convictions or hearsay If the jury hears it, is it better if the judge explains why they must ignore it? You cant’ say that!!

35. Expert witnesses – Krauss & Sales Juries are more likely to be persuaded by clinical opinion of expert witnesses than by actuarial evidence, even though actuarial is based on statistics and therefore more factual This was the study with the two similar doctors and the cross-examination sheets!

36. 2. Reaching A Verdict Majority influence Order of testimony Minority influence Beginning Middle End

37. Majority influence - Asch Think about the effects on jury members if most people are saying one thing. Does the Asch study really tell us anything about complicated jury decisions?

38. Minority influence - Moscovici • One single confederate saying the incorrect colour of blue or green slides affected the opinion of others. • Generalisability to jury situations?

39. Order of testimony - Hastie Beginning Middle Again! End

40. 3. Witness Appeal Witness attractiveness Witness confidence shields

41. Shields - Ross Effects on the jury of a child giving evidence from behind a shield in the courtroom, which makes them feel more comfortable When Ps saw a whole sex abuse trial, there was no difference in conviction rates whether the child was in open court or behind a shield. When the trial was stopped immediately after the child’s evidence, the defendant was more likely to be convicted when the child gave evidence in open court – so putting them behind a shield may disadvantage the child

42. Witness confidence – Penrod & Cutler Confident witnesses are more believable Witnesses who are more confident are NOT more likely to be right

43. Witness attractiveness - Castellow Defendants are more likely to be convicted if the victim is attractive Unattractive defendants are more likely to be convicted HALO EFFECT

44. AFTER A GUILTY VERDICT Let’s revise what we should do with prisoners who have been found guilty

45. Probation (Mair & May) Alternatives Recidivism (Gillis & Nafekh) Restorative justice (Sherman & Strang Death penalty (Eberhardt) Suicide risk (Dooley) Imprisonment Cognitive skills (Cann & Friendship Anger management (Ireland) Prison situation (Zimbardo) Ear acupuncture (Wheatley) Treatment programmes

46. 1. Imprisonment Recidivism Prison situation Suicide

47. Prison situation - Zimbardo The situation in prison causes bad and/or violent behaviour

48. Depression and suicide - Dooley Certain factors predispose people to think of suicide in prison – such as isolation, psychiatric diagnosis and being on remand Many cases of death by self-inflicted injury in prisons are still not classified as suicides

49. Recidivism – Gillis and Nafekh Planned behaviours on release from jail are important Packages of support including drug rehabilitation and literacy courses can reduce recidivism

50. 2. Alternatives Death penalty Probation Restorative justice