Forensic Psychology Read online

  Table 11.2

  Chapter 13 Table 13.1

  Chapter 15 Table 15.1

  Chapter 18 Table 18.1

  Table 18.2

  Table 18.3

  Table 18.4

  Table 18.5

  Chapter 19 Table 19.1

  Table 19.2

  Table 19.3

  Chapter 21 Table 21.1

  Table 21.2

  List of Illustrations

  Chapter 1 PHOTO 1.1 Aggressive individuals generate fewer responses than non-aggressive people, suggesting they have a limited repertoire from which to draw.

  PHOTO 1.2 Where there is a gang culture, joining one of the groups can provide some protection from being victimised.

  PHOTO 1.3 In recent years there has been a spate of mass killings by gunmen in the US.

  Chapter 2 PHOTO 2.1 At ages 6–12, neighbourhood and family factors are particularly salient, while at ages 12–18 school and peer factors dominate.

  PHOTO 2.2 Bowlby argued that it was very important for a child to have a continuous, warm, loving relationship with a mother figure during the first five years of the child’s life, and especially during the first two years.

  PHOTO 2.3 Eysenck viewed offending as natural and even rational, on the assumption that human beings were hedonistic, sought pleasure and avoided pain.

  FIGURE 2.1 The Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) theory

  Chapter 3 PHOTO 3.1 Psychopaths have problems with recognising facial expressions of emotion in others, with particular deficits observed for the expression of fear.

  PHOTO 3.2 The amygdala has been assumed for some time as being the neural structure that is most critically involved in the processing of emotional facial expressions, and expressions of fear in particular. It lies at the anterior pole of the temporal lobe, which is shown here in green.

  PHOTO 3.3 Oxytocin levels were found to be grossly elevated in those convicted of serious offences.

  Chapter 4 PHOTO 4.1 It could be anyone . . . the lack of easily recognisable symptoms mean that it is very difficult to tell who is a psychopath.

  PHOTO 4.2 The greater the amount of smoking by the mother during pregnancy, the greater the risk of criminality for the child in later life.

  PHOTO 4.3 Prolonged separations from parents, combined with frightening threats from parents/caregivers, lead children to feel a dysfunctional level of anger.

  Chapter 5 PHOTO 5.1 Whilst all forms of maltreatment have been found to have an effect, some studies suggest that psychological maltreatment or emotional abuse has the most negative impact.

  PHOTO 5.2 Early studies showed that boys were more likely to develop externalising symptoms, such as aggressive behaviour and conduct disorders, while girls were more likely to develop internalising symptoms such as depression.

  FIGURE 5.1 Conceptual model discriminating child-maltreating and non child-maltreating families (taken from Dixon, Browne, & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2009)

  PHOTO 5.3 As with other forms of interpersonal violence, rape has been associated with PTSD, depression, sleep disturbances, anxiety and fear, substance misuse, and social adjustment problems.

  Chapter 6 PHOTO 6.1 Witnesses who experience “weapon focus” attend to the weapon but fail to notice details of the offender’s appearance.

  PHOTO 6.2 Intoxicated witnesses report less than their sober counterparts, but their accuracy did not differ one day or one month later.

  PHOTO 6.3 Loftus and Palmer (1974) showed participants films of road accidents and found that when questioned later, the severity of the verb used (“smashed” vs. “bumped”) influenced the estimates of speed of the vehicle involved.

  Chapter 7 PHOTO 7.1 Police officers may interview witnesses in less than ideal conditions.

  FIGURE 7.1 Components of the Cognitive Interview

  PHOTO 7.2 People are sceptical about children's ability to provide accurate eyewitness accounts.

  FIGURE 7.2 Stages of the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

  PHOTO 7.3 Many crimes against the elderly go unreported.

  Chapter 8 PHOTO 8.1 Leo(1996) concluded that accusatorial interviewing had been strongly influenced by the Reid technique.

  PHOTO 8.2 Mandatory recording is regarded by many researchers as one of the keys to improved interviewing.

  PHOTO 8.3 Rapport is widely believed to both safeguard innocent suspects and increase information and co-operation from the guilty.

  Chapter 9 PHOTO 9.1 People tend to associate lying with an increase in smiling and self-manipulations, such as hand/finger and leg/foot movements.

  PHOTO 9.2 The polygraph measures at least three physiological systems: typically galvanic skin response, cardiovascular activity and breathing patterns.

  PHOTO 9.3 fMRI has been used recently to study the brain activity taking place during deception.

  Chapter 10 FIGURE 10.1 Three different crime linkage scenarios

  PHOTO 10.1 Information about how offenders behave at crime scenes, whether that comes from witness/victim accounts or CCTV footage, is used by crime analysts to conduct crime linkage.

  PHOTO 10.2 Dr. Thomas Bond provided the UK police with an opinion regarding Jack the Ripper’s physical appearance, likely dress, state of mind and motivation for a series of murders in London in 1880.

  Chapter 11 PHOTO 11.1 IPV has been increasingly understood as a public matter and social problem since the 1970s.

  PHOTO 11.2 Stalking constitutes a range of unwanted and repeated actions directed towards a specific individual that induce fear or concern for safety or that induce harassment.

  PHOTO 11.3 The relationship between exposure to violent models during childhood and adult IPV is weak, and is influenced by a range of additional factors, most notably childhood conduct disorder and antisocial personality traits.

  Chapter 12 PHOTO 12.1 There is no universally agreed definition of terrorism, but a widely accepted pragmatic definition suggests the term “terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups, or clandestine agents”.

  PHOTO 12.2 Since the events of 9/11 we have seen a fundamental legal shift in the meaning of “involvement in terrorism” to one of mere association as opposed to having a more firm involvement in the planning, preparation or execution of a terrorist act.

  PHOTO 12.3 Whilst the individual is deliberately killed by the act of suicide, the social consequences of the act itself often reverberate across time, which from the perspective of the terrorist makes it a highly effective technique.

  Chapter 13 PHOTO 13.1 In the inquisitorial approach, prior to trial, a full judicial investigation is conducted including interviewing witnesses and examining the defence case.

  PHOTO 13.2 In the civil courts in Britain and in the inquisitorial system of mainland Europe, judges, rather than juries, make decisions.

  PHOTO 13.3 There are numerous aspects that pertain to both process and the individual that might impact upon the outcome of jury decision-making.

  Chapter 14 PHOTO 14.1 The purposes of pre-court preparation include helping child witnesses to feel more confident about giving evidence and helping them to understand the legal system.

  PHOTO 14.2 The “live link” enabled children in England and Wales to sit in a separate room and have their live testimony relayed to the court via a closed- circuit television link.

  PHOTO 14.3 Successive postponements of trial can have an adverse impact on the memory of vulnerable witnesses, such as the elderly and young children.

  Chapter 15 PHOTO 15.1 Case histories show that mistaken eyewitnesses are often confident in their identification and more than one eyewitness can make the same mistaken identification.

  PHOTO 15.2 In the London Dungeon study (Valentine & Mesout, 2009) only 18% of visitors who reported feeling anxious in the dark, disorienting environment of the labyrinth, identified the actor from an array.

  PHOTO 15.3 Witnesses tend to be less accurate in recognising a perpetrator of an et
hnic origin different from their own.

  Chapter 16 PHOTO 16.1 The expert has no role in determining issues of fact as this is a key responsibility of the court and, depending upon the circumstances, either a jury or a judge.

  PHOTO 16.2 Court rulings in the civil courts are made on the basis of judging the “balance of probability”.

  PHOTO 16.3 Upon being called to give evidence, the expert will be required to give their name, business address, relevant qualifications and experience.

  Chapter 17 PHOTO 17.1 Under the general political obligation that binds individuals to each other and to the state, there is a necessary reciprocity: punishment then restores a proper balance.

  PHOTO 17.2 Even when police are not available to carry out arrests, there is no convincing evidence of upward surges in crime.

  PHOTO 17.3 Special programmes have been designed for offenders.

  Chapter 18 PHOTO 18.1 Should a prisoner be released? Keeping him/her in prison unnecessarily could be seen as an infringement of human rights, but underestimating risk and releasing someone back into the community could lead to further victims.

  PHOTO 18.2 Manualised programmes have now been developed for a wide range of offenders, including violent offenders.

  Chapter 19 PHOTO 19.1 The effective treatment of dangerous offenders has important implications for society in general and the offenders themselves.

  PHOTO 19.2 A sexual offence occurs when an individual forces another to engage in sexual behaviour, exposes their genitals or sexually touches someone against their will.

  Chapter 20 PHOTO 20.1 Adolescent-limited offenders get involved in criminality due to drug use and parental stresses.

  PHOTO 20.2 Therapeutic interventions addressing the issues that have led to criminal behaviour.

  Chapter 21 PHOTO 21.1 It is a basic requirement, that the process of assessment must be understood by the clients completing it.

  PHOTO 21.3 Cognitive behavioural anger treatment involving offenders with ID have yielded positive outcomes.

  PHOTO 21.2 The purpose of treatment is to equip ID offenders with thinking skills that will promote alternative, prosocial means of approaching situations in which the person is at risk of offending.

  Chapter 22 PHOTO 22.1 Forensic mental health services have a dual responsibility in treating mental disorder and in managing and minimising risk.

  PHOTO 22.2 The term “autistic spectrum disorder” reflects the wide variation in challenges and strengths possessed by each person with autism.

  PHOTO 22.3 Acquired brain injury can be associated with antisocial behaviours because of its impact upon cognitions, emotions and increase in impulsivity.

  Chapter 23 PHOTO 23.1 Rehabilitation is a multifaceted process involving re-entry, and ultimately reintegration, into social networks and broader society.

  PHOTO 23.2 Offenders respond well to practitioners who demonstrate an interest in them, and their capacity to turn their lives around.

  PHOTO 23.3 Most studies examining the relationship between employment and recidivism have simply considered whether employment decreases the likelihood of further offending and few studies have investigated whether obtaining employment increases time to reoffend.

  Contributors

  Anthony R. Beech, University of Birmingham, UK

  Erica Bowen, University of Coventry, UK

  Franca Cortoni, Université de Montréal, Canada

  Leam A. Craig, Forensic Psychology Practice & the University of Birmingham, UK

  Graham M. Davies, University of Leicester and University of Birmingham, UK

  Louise Dixon, University of Birmingham, UK

  David P. Farrington, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge. UK

  Dawn Fisher, St. Andrews Healthcare and the University of Birmingham, UK

  Heather D. Flowe, University of Loughborough, UK

  Nathalie M. G. Fontaine, Université de Montréal, Canada

  Nuwan Galappathie, St. Andrews Healthcare, Birmingham, UK

  Steven M. Gillespie, Newcastle University

  Michelle Ginty, St. Andrews Healthcare, Birmingham, UK

  Pär Anders Granhag, University of Gothenberg, Sweden

  Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis, University of Bath, UK

  Leigh Harkins, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Canada

  Maria Hartwig, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, USA

  Ruth Hatcher, University of Leicester, UK

  Clive Hollin, University of Leicester, UK

  David J. La Rooy, Royal Holloway University of London, UK

  William R. Lindsay, Castlebeck, Darlington and University of Abertay, UK

  Erik Mac Giolla, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

  Lindsay C. Malloy, Florida International University, USA

  Ruth Mann, Rehabilitation Services Group, National Offender Management Service, UK

  James McGuire, University of Liverpool, UK

  Amanda M. Michie, Lothian NHS Trust, Edinburgh, UK

  Ian J. Mitchell, University of Birmingham, UK

  Allison P. Mugno, Florida International University, USA

  Benjamin Nordstrom, University of Pennsylvania, USA

  Emma J. Palmer, University of Leicester, UK

  Adrian Raine, University of Pennsylvania, USA

  Hannah Ryder, University of Leicester, UK

  Jagjit Sandhu, St. Andrews Healthcare, Birmingham, UK

  Emma Sleath, University of Coventry, UK

  Harriet M. J. Smith, Nottingham Trent University, UK

  John L. Taylor, Northumbria and Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria University, UK

  Max Taylor, University College, London, UK

  Matthew Tonkin, Birmingham City University, UK

  Maria M. Ttofi, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge. UK

  Tim Valentine, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

  Tony Ward, University of Auckland, New Zealand

  Jayson Ware, Offender Services and Programs, Corrective Services, NSW, Australia

  Helen L. Westcott, Formally, International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research, the Open University, UK

  Jacqueline M. Wheatcroft, University of Liverpool, UK

  Daniel T. Wilcox, Wilcox Psychological Associates and the University of Birmingham, UK

  Gwenda M. Willis, University of Auckland, New Zealand

  Jessica Woodhams, University of Birmingham, UK

  Preface to Third Edition

  Welcome to the Third Edition of Forensic Psychology: Crime, Justice, Law, Interventions. Forensic psychology continues to be a popular option at undergraduate and higher degree level: interest in the interface between psychology and law continues to grow. In this new edition, we have sought to retain the focus on European and British models of justice, while acknowledging the rather different traditions of research and practice emanating from the United States.

  This Third Edition builds on the success of the second and retains the same editorial team and many of the scholars who contributed to the earlier edition. All the topics from the Second Edition are retained but in some instances, a new writing team has brought a fresh perspective to the topics concerned. Examples include the treatment of eyewitness evidence, interviewing witnesses and suspects and the role of the psychologist as an expert witness. Two new chapters have also been added to address emerging issues in forensic research and practice: (1) an extended treatment of the concept of psychopathy and (2) interventions with female offenders. We have retained our policy of teaming established authors with younger researchers, who bring with them enthusiasm and knowledge of the needs of today’s students.

  Given these changes, the structure of the text remains essentially the same. An introductory chapter by the Editors provides an overview of the history of forensic psychology, both in relation to the courts and the prevention and treatment of offenders and takes in career paths, a
s well as relevant organisations and societies. Part 1 covers the Causes of Crime from a range of different but complimentary perspectives, while Part 2 is devoted to Investigating Crime and the actual and potential role psychological research can play in assisting the police in their enquiries. Part 3 looks at psychological perspectives on The Trial Process, from the standpoint of both court officials and the witnesses who must give their best evidence. Finally, Part 4 considers the challenge of Dealing with Offenders, with separate treatments of important groups, including those with learning disabilities and the mentally disordered. Fittingly, the text ends on a positive note, looking at the impact of the “Good Lives” movement on steering offenders away from crime toward more productive and fulfilling lives.

  As before, Forensic Psychology: Crime, Justice, Law, Interventions has been published under the aegis of the British Psychological Society’s Textbooks in Psychology series. The book’s dedicated website has also been thoroughly updated, with additional student quiz questions and links to forensic sites of particular interest to psychology students. Instructors and lecturers can also access PowerPoint presentations covering each of the chapters to augment their lectures. All the main chapters retain the popular “Case Studies” feature, where theory blends with practice, together with topics for essays and discussions, plus additional recommended reading. An added attraction in the new edition is that most illustrations and figures are now in colour.