Forensic and Legal Psychology Final Test (Part 2: Previous Notes)
Studies show what percent of wrongful convictions involve false confessions?
20%-30%
How does stress effect memory?
High stress events lead to less accurate memories
Why theoretically might judges be better?
Judges are viewed as perfectly impartial
How do juries process info?
Mathematical models Explanation-based models
Does science or law have more tolerance for uncertainty?
Science
Individualization
"....to the exclusion of all others"
Use of "as to"
"As to any question to which an objection was sustained, you must not speculate as to what the answer might have been or as to the reason for the objection." "As to" is problematic -> literary, somewhat anachronistic, meaning is vague
What is profiling?
"Criminal profiling is the process of using information from the crime and crime scene to create a profile or portrait of the unknown perpetrator."
R-CRAS item example
"Delusions of the time of the alleged crime "-(0) no info -(1) delusions absent -(2) suspect delusions -(3) definite delusions that contributed to but weren't the predominate force in the commission of the alleged crime -(4) definite controlling delusions, on the basis of which the alleged crime was committed
Positive Comparison Test (PCT) example
"Did you kidnap Samantha?"(tell the truth) (-) "Did you kidnap Samantha?"(lie)
Simple match example
"Glass found on the defendant is consistent with the glass found at the crime scene"
Comparison question test (CQT) example
"Have you ever lied to get out of trouble" (-) "Did you kidnap Samantha?"
Relevant-irrelevant test (RIT) example
"Is the sky blue?" (-) "Did you kidnap Samantha?"
Qualitative statement example
"It is possible that the bite mark came from the suspect" "The bite mark left on the victim strongly matches the defendant"
Admissibility - three-prong test - Dyas v. United States (battered woman syndrome)
"Must be so distinctly related to some science, profession, business or occupation as to be beyond the ken of the average layman." "The witness [must] have sufficient skill, knowledge, or experience in that field or calling as to make it appear that his opinion or inference will probably aid the trier in his search for truth." Expert testimony is inadmissible if "the state of the pertinent art or scientific knowledge does not permit a reasonable opinion to be asserted even by an expert."
Use of double or triple negatives
"She did not misunderstand me"
Match plus statistics example
"The size 10 shoe impression left at the crime scene matches the defendant's shoe size. Over 5 million people in the US wear size 10"
Preinstructions
"This defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty" Decreases conviction rate
Rape (Department of justice revised definition)
"the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim"
Perebooms argument against compatibilism
(1) If one agent's decision is manipulated by another agent, then that first agent's action is not freely willed. (2) There is no difference between a manipulation by another agent and causation by a causal factor external to the agent. (3) On determinism, all of an agent's actions are determined (causally influenced) by at least some factors beyond that agent's control. (4) Therefore, on determinism, no agent can be said to freely will their actions (or be morally responsible for them). (from 1, 2 and 3) (5) Compatibilism holds that free will and moral responsibility are compatible with determinism. (6) Therefore compatibilism must be false. (from 4 and 5)
MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA)
22-item test Bar fight vignette for the first 16 test items
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (2008)
**
Competency to Stand Trial Screening Test (CSTST)
22-item, sentence-completion test (NIMH)
Since 1900 how many people were wrongfully executed when innocent
23
Nonlethal violence (intimate partner violence)
1 in 5 women will be assaulted by partner; 1 in 14 men likely to suffer abuse
Stockl et al. (2013) (intimate partner violence)
1 in 7 homicides and specifically 1 in 3 female homicides are caused by an intimate partner
What percentage of cases (that actually go to trial) is the insanity defense used?
1%
Of the 1% of cases that the insanity defensed is used what percent is successful ending in NGRI
25%
State court requires what type of verdict (misdemeanor cases)
26 states require unanimous verdict
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) - Investigative interview protocol; how many phases
3 phases
GBMI is permitted in how many states
20
When avoiding something (ironic processes)
1. conscious processes actively help to draw attention away from thing to be avoided 2. unconscious processes actively monitor for information that is to be avoided Problem: the unconscious processes are actually increasing the information we want to avoid
When there are cross-racial identifications how much more likely are misidentifications?
1.5 times
Civil trials in state courts require what kind of verdict
1/3 of states use majority
HCR-20 (SPJ assessment)
10 historical 5 dynamic/clinical 5 risk management items
Size of a jury
12 people
Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment) Participants
176 preschoolers enrolled in private day-care centers 2 age groups (Early preschoolers (3-4 years old) Preschoolers (5-6 years old))
When was there a change in overt physicality in confessions?
1930's
Notorious cases of child maltreatment
1982: Kern County child abuse cases, CA 1983 - 1990: McMartin Preschool, CA 1988: Thurston County ritual abuse case, WA 1989 - 1995: Little Rascals Day Care Center, NC 1991: Orkney child abuse scandal, Scotland 1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ
How long should interrogations last?
2 hours
Around what percent of people confess when interrogated?
39% - 45% (another 13% - 16% make damaging statements)
In the example of R-CRAS what would John Hinkley Jr. Score?
4
Kassin and Neumann (1997) set up
4 types of trials (murder, rape, assault, theft)4 types of evidence (no evidence control, weak circumstantial evidence plus: confession, eyewitness ID, or character testimony)
1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ
4 year old during a rectal temp check by nurse("That's what my teacher does to me at school" "Her takes my temperature") Social workers and therapists collected testimony from 51 children from the day care centerLetters sent to parents Social worker sessions with parents Group sessions with children
Since 1900 how many people were wrongfully convicted?
416
State court requires what type of verdict (criminal cases)
44 require unanimous
Split juries
50/50 guilt-innocent Tend to end with not guilty vote
What are the differences between 12 and 6 person juries
6 Person juries are more variable and less predictable and decide cases faster 12 Person juries give consistent verdicts and have less variability, deliberate more, generate more arguments, better recall evidence, and better representation of the community
How long do false confession interrogations typically last?
6 hours or longer
Grove, Zald, Lebow, Smitz, and Nelson Results
64 showed the actuarial method outperforming the clinical method 64 showed equivalence of methods 8 favored the clinical method
Errors in death penalty cases
68% of death sentences reversed due to errors at trial
Independent polygraph research classification rates
74% correctly classified as guilty (TP) 68% correctly classified as innocent (TN) 16% classified as guilty but are actually innocent (FP) 21% classified as innocent but are actually guilty (FN) 10% - 30% typically cannot be classified
What percent of jurors believe it would be helpful to hear from an expert on interrogations?
75%
What percent of false confessions occur in murder cases?
80%
What happened when the death sentence was reversed and the cases were retried?
82% given lesser punishment 7% found not guilty
What percent of false confessions occur in rape cases?
9%
Directive prompts
A cued-recall prompt that focuses the child's attention on info already mentioned and requests additional info of a specific sort, typically using wh-questions (who, what, when, where, how)
Hierarchical Compatibilism
A decision can be said to be free if it is caused by a first-order desire (e.g. I want some chocolate) that is reflexively endorsed by a second-order desire (e.g. I want to want some chocolate).
How might a video of the confession help?
A lot of important detail (including non-verbal info) is visual Objective record of events Reduces note taking Can clear false allegations of police abuse
What is memory?
A neural representation (an electrochemical pattern) of an event
authentic coerced false confession
A result of a long or intense interrogation during which a suspect becomes convinced, even temporarily, that she or he may have actually committed the crime.
What changes did Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 make
A shift in the burden of proof Eliminated the volitional (control capacity) prong Limited the role of the expert Mental illness had to be severe
What is the Reid technique?
A system for interrogation in 9 main steps Formalized coercion technique
Cued invitation prompts
A type of invitation that refocuses the child's attention on details she/he mentioned of uses them as cues to prompt further free-recall of info
Individual interest in risk assessment
Interest in being protected from harassment and arbitrary arrest and detention
Which insanity test would the R-CRAS theoretically be most relevant to?
ALI because of volitional prong
Problems with fMRI
Activation of parieto-frontal and limbic areas does not mean someone has lied Not everyone shows the same neural response to lying (where are the cutoffs?) Incredibly expensive
Psychopathology
Actual disorders like schizophrenia
STATIC-2002R
Actuarial assessment
Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R)
Actuarial assessment Risk of recidivism and nonsexual violence 10 domains assessed (criminal history, education/employment, financial (family/marital), accommodation, leisure/recreation, companions, alcohol/drug problem, emotional/personal, attitudes/orientation)
Einhorn results
Actuarial formula achieved modest success at prediction No relationship between the clinicians' predictions and survival time Not only was the actuarial method better -> it was able to harness the predictive value of the information even though it was the clinicians that provided it
Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG)
Actuarial risk assessment Based on data from 618 men with prior histories of significant violence, initially confined at a facility in Canada Historical predictors
Recovery from rape is two stage process
Acute crisis phase Reorganization phase
What roles do psychologists contribute to law?
Advisors Evaluators Reformers
Style of inquiry (law)
Advocate for client Argue what will win the case not what you believe is true I'm right and you're wrong
Challenges to predicting behavior
Base rate/prior probabilities Human behavior is complex (or models don't always account for these effects or their measures can be unreliable)
Risk factors of a false confession
Age (32% are under age of 18) Mental illness (more typically in the voluntary - authentic type)Intellectual impairment Low self-esteem Poor memory High anxiety
Mental health costs of intimate partner violence
Alcohol and drug abuse Eating and sleep disorders Physical inactivity Poor self-esteem Post-traumatic stress disorder Depression Anxiety Thoughts of suicide and attempted suicide
Megan's Law (1996)
Amended Wetterling to require community notification to the public
1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ Convictions How did she win her appeal?
Amicus brief
Deception
An act that is intended to foster in another person a belief or understanding which the deceiver considers false False communication that tends to benefit the communicator
Invitation prompts
An open-ended request that the child recall info about the incident Can be formulated as a statement, question, or imperative
Brutalization effect
An outcome of capital punishment that enhances, rather than deters, the level of violence in society. The death penalty reinforces the view that violence is an appropriate response to provocation.
Three-Drug Protocol for lethal injection
Anesthetic (usually sodium thiopental, until pentobarbital was introduced at the end of 2010) Pancuronium bromide (a paralytic agent, also called Pavulon) Potassium chloride (stops the heart and causes death)
Who can falsely confess?
Anyone
General Electric v. Joiner
Appellate courts refer to trial court
Criticisms of Profiling
Arm chair thinking Untested Use of non-randomized data Lack of valid and reliable measures Falsifiability Ambiguous and general speculations Prodigious use of typologies Flawed basic assumptions
Profilers have typologies specific to...
Arsonists Rapists Pedophiles Female serial killers
Instrumental Coerced false confession
As a result of a long or intense interrogation, a suspect falsely confesses to a crime to end the interrogation or because he or she becomes convinced that confession is his or her best option.
In what situations are risk assessments made
By psychotherapists In the workplace For sex offendersFor the death penalty Parole Commitment hearings
Classic demonstration of normative influence
Asch's line studies
Relevant-irrelevant test (RIT)
Asks a series of relevant and irrelevant questions to determine deception but is subject to error
Insanity looks at what...
Assess defendant's mental state at the time of the crime
Organized murder characteristics
At least average in intelligence Interpersonally competent Skilled work preferred Sexually competent Inconsistent childhood discipline Controlled mood during crime Precipitating situational stress Follows media accounts of his crime High geographic mobility
When is competency relevant?
At trial
What could be goals of an interrogation?
Attain an alibi Get new evidence Record a confession Remove a person as a potential suspect
John Hinckley Jr.
Attempted to assassinate Reagan
What other modes can instructions be presented in
Audio Flow chart
Some previous "forgotten" events are real
Authentic ones are usually unprompted Trauma -> one time event
Acute battering stage (battered woman syndrome)
Battered-hitting, slapping, kicking, choking, use of objects or weapons Verbal threats and abuse
Base rate/prior probability (problem with predicting behavior)
Bayes theorem
How should experts give testimony?
Be clear Go slow if necessary Be specific to the case facts Be repetitive
ALI - MPC - substantial capacity test - or Brawner Standard
Because of mental disease or defect, he/she lacks the substantial capacity to either:-appreciate the wrongfulness of conduct-or to conform conduct to the requirements of law
Reports of children likely contaminated/unreliable if...
Begin interview with belief that abuse has occurred Interviews repeated with biased interview style Delay between alleged abuse and interview
Disorganized murder characteristics
Below average in intelligence Interpersonally incompetent Prefers unskilled work Sexually incompetent Harsh childhood discipline Anxious mood during crime Minimal situational stress Minimal interest in news media crime Lives/works near crime scene
What percentage of insanity defense cases involve murder?
Between 10% and 23%
How do we decide on death?
Bifurcated trial process Aggravating vs. mitigating factors
Bend-over-backwards effect
Black defendants can be treated too leniently
McClesky v. Kemp (1987)
Black man, killed white cop Jury chose death penalty McClesky argued sentencing process was administered in a racially discriminatory way (Baldus studies)
Ways to improve eyewitness accuracy
Blind lineup Bias-reducing instructions Unbiased lineup Confidence ratings Sequential lineups Video recording Expert testimony Cognitive interview
Dr. John Augustus Larson
Blood pressure and breathing polygraph Developed standardized approaches to using polygraphs
Dr. William Marston
Blood pressure polygraph
Federal prison
Breaking federal law
Historical types of execution
Breaking wheel (bludgeoned) Boiling to death Gibbeting (hanged in chains) Guillotine Hanged Shot Asphyxiation Pressing Electrocution Burned Injection
Cognitive interview
Build Rapport Using open-ended questions Recreate the context of the original event and ask the witness to report in detail the crime Ask for more details Reads statements back and asks for omission or errors
Sexual violent predator civil commitment (SVP)
Commit certain dangerous sex offenders to state-run detention facilities following the completion of their sentence Commitment time is typically indefinite Periodic reviews are conductedIf criteria is no longer met -> must be released
Examples of aggravating factors
Committed killing in the perpetration of a felony Victim is public servant Torture
Which polygraph test is better?
CQT better than RIT
What is the most common evaluation by forensic psychologists
CST
Contrition stage (battered woman syndrome)
Calm stage (this stage may decrease over time)Partner may deny violence, say he/she was drunk, say he/she is sorry, and promise it will never happen again
Why isn't lethal injection more humane for prisoner?
Can feel like drowning or burning Botched executions
Falsifiability
Can the claim be disproved?
Does deterrence through the law or correctional system work?
Can't randomly assign people to go to prison or not Some recidivism estimates may be inflated Having some punishment appears to be useful No strong evidence general deterrence works
Olympic Bomber
Caught wrong person at first Not accurate profile
Unconscious transference ex:
Chapple case Dr. Donald Thompson case
1982: Kern County child abuse cases, CA
Claims of Satan sex ring; 60 children testifying they had been abused. Over 30 convicted and most cases later overturned. Two died in prison.
1983 - 1990: McMartin Preschool, CA
Claims of wide ritual abuse stemming from one case Years of trials and no convictions
Do jurors prefer actuarial or clinical?
Clinical
Two methods forensic psychologists use to predict violence
Clinical and actuarial
Why do jurors prefer clinical judgment?
Clinical testimony is easier to understand for jurors; can't understand math
Alternative Methods to polygraph
Cognitive load Lying is more cognitively demanding
Stereotype + Suggestion condition Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
Combined the experimental interventions given to both of the above experimental groups
Clinical prediction at its core
Combines and processes info in one's own head The ultimate decision is a human
Insanity is an issue when
Commission of the crime
Reconciliation
Common understanding and agreement Attempt to be satisfied with verdict
For competency to stand trial (CST) the defendant must be able to
Communicate with your counsel Act appropriately Make appropriate decisions
What ways have psychologists, sociologists, and criminologists studied the death penalty
Compare states with it to nearby states without it Change in murder rate as DP decreases murder rate
Specific CST measures
Competency to Stand Trial Screening Test (CSTST) The Competency to Stand Trial Assessment Instrument (CSTAI) Georgia Court Competency Test (GCCT) The Interdisciplinary Fitness Interview (IFI/IFI-R) MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA)
Too many embeddings
Complex sentences are often constructed by combining two or more simple sentences More embedding makes sentences harder to process
Problems with classifying "matches"
Conclusions drawn vary depending on the type of evidence and specific forensic evaluator Many statements are highly subjective and meaningless Error rates, false positive rates, etc. are either not known in some cases and rather presented and understood by jury Exaggerate claims (Can't truly exclude all other sources Falsely perceive match is certain)
Types of releases for NGRI individuals
Conditional release (essentially parole) Unconditional release
What are the three roles an expert can take for expert testimony
Conduit-educator Philosophy-advocate Hired gun
Confidence ratings
Confidence statement at time of identification (before you think you picked right)
Relationship factors in predicting intimate partner violence
Conflict or dissatisfaction in the relationship Economic stress Disparity in educational attainment or income -> woman has a higher level of education or income than her male partner Sexual infidelity/suspected infidelity Jealousy
Normative influence
Conforming out of a desire to be liked
Neural circuit proposed for implicit memory
Connections only go in one direction
Reliability
Consistency of a measure
Story model
Construct a story of the crime and evidence
Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment) Results
Control condition (Preschooler's - no errors Early preschooler's- largely void of errors) Stereotype condition (Preschooler's - small error rate Early preschooler's - small to moderate error rate) Suggestion condition (Preschooler's - small to moderate error rate Early preschooler's - large error rate) Stereotype + suggestion condition (Preschooler's - Moderate error rate Early preschooler's - HUGE error rate)
What are the four conditions Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
Control condition Stereotype condition Suggestion condition Stereotype + Suggestion condition
Ronald Cotton
Convicted of rape by victim who identified him
Strengths of Geographic Profiling
Could help narrow our search and direct patrols more efficiently
Who should be the safeguard for juveniles?
Court appointed attorney or child advocate
Sell v. U.S.
Court case decided that government can force medicate mentally ill defendant to render him competent to stand trial
Geographical profiling (criminal spatial mapping)
Criminals often stay in and are likely to be caught in a geographical comfort zone Can use data from where past crimes were committed to predict where they might live Computer programs and statistical techniques
Legal critique (battered woman syndrome)
Courts disagree on if it's a justification or excuse (Courts fear that juries will misconstrue BWS testimony as suggesting that the defendant possesses a diminished capacity or lack of responsibility for the act) Paints women as irrational sufferers of a mental health disorder incapable of self-control Men and women held to different standards
Do courts allow profiling as evidence
Courts usually reject testimony based on the defendant fitting a general profile Same with psychological autopsies Courts want to know about that case not many cases like it
In the story model jurors/juries assess stories based on.....
Coverage Coherence Uniqueness Goodness of fit
What happened after cops could no longer overtly be physical with suspects?
Covert physical acts (deprivation, intimidation, isolation)
Death qualified jurors
Cowan et al (a) Cowan et al (b)
Cowan et al (1984a) found
Created juries that were all death qualified versus juries that had some Witherspoon excludables Death qualified juries were more likely to convict Juries with Witherspoon excludables had better recall of the evidence, took the deliberations more seriously, and were more critical of witnesses
Profiling Model are based on what logic?
Crime scene info -> offender type -> behavioral and personality characteristics
Modern statistical approaches to profiling model
Crime scene info -> statistical model applied -> basic demographics
Why aren't perceived costs/punishments more powerful?
Criminals may process rewards and punishments differently
Method of science
Data Egalitarian (individualistic) Future oriented
What trilogy effected expert testimony?
Daubert Trilogy
What cases are in the Daubert trilogy?
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. General Electric v. Joiner Kumho tire v. Carmichael
Cowan et (1984b) found
Death qualified juries interpret evidence more favorable to the prosecutor Death qualified juries paid more attention to aggravating factors and less receptive to mitigating factors
Sentencing/penalty phase
Deciding between death penalty and life with no chance of parole
Actuarial method in Leli and Filskov study
Decision rule based on previous research (results from patients change in intelligence as measured by the Wechsler‐Bellevue Intelligence Scale)
What are the pressures of interrogation?
Decrease regulatory processes Short-sightedness
GBMI sentences
Defendants who pleaded insanity and were found GBMI received harsher sentences than their guilty counterparts
Preponderance of evidence
Defense has to prove that it's more likely than not that the defendant is incompetent
Mission
Eliminate certain class of people (e.g., prostitutes, particular racial groups) or achieve a defined objective
Social isolation
Deprive them of emotional support making them feel alone
Major challenge to compatibilist
Derk Pereboom
Rapport building phase (National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) - Investigative interview protocol)
Describe a birthday
Three strikes laws
Determinate sentencing Longer or life sentence with third felony conviction
How prevalent is rape?
Difficult to estimate National Violence Against Women Survey (17.6% of the surveyed women & 3% of the surveyed men reported having experienced a completed or attempted rape in their lifetime Estimates vary widely Some research considers the lack of verbal consent to be rape Methodology can be controversial)
How common is intimate partner violence?
Difficult to estimate There are okay estimates of extreme physical (e.g., homicide) but less precise estimates on less extreme forms
What factors affect eyewitness memories
Diguises Duration of eyewitness's exposure to the crime
Reid Technique
Direct confrontation Shift blame by offering excuses (theme development)Minimize the frequency of denials Overcoming objections (accused will often give a reason why he or she did not or could not commit the crime) Reinforce sincerity Offer alternatives Pose the "alternative question", giving two choices for what happened; one more socially acceptable than the other Once the suspect chooses an alternative, the confession has begun Lead the suspect to repeat the admission of guilt in front of witnesses Document the suspect's admission
Why use expert testimony as a solution to false confessions
Disputed confession can be reviewed by an expert Discuss research on false confessions Things to look for in false confessions Can review the video taped confession and talk about it
Validity
Does it measure what it says it measures
Coverage (story model)
Does story account for evidence presented?
Why doesn't DARE work?
Doesn't have peer engagement Doesn't develop social skills Doesn't teach behavioral norms Sometimes incorrect info is communicated
What should you do when being interrogated?
Don't talk with police Always get a lawyer
Exception to not allowing profiling in court
Drug courier profile Exclusive use of public transportation, immediately making a telephone call after deplaning, routinely fly to or from cities considered to be narcotics-source cities (Detroit, Miami, etc.)
Arizona v. Chapple
Drug deal gone wrong Two witnesses convicted Dolan Chapple Saw him originally in photo lineup Didn't identify him A year after the crime they identify him as Dee
What happens if the defendant is found incompetent to stand trial
Drugs to get them competent
M'Naghten rule
Due to defect of reason, from disease of teh mind, he/she doesn't know:-the nature of the quality of the criminal act he/she committed- or that the act was wrong
CST is defined in what court case?
Dusky v. U.S.
Use of passives in subordinate clauses
E.g., "A movie is going to be watched by us tonight" OR "I thought that John had been kissed by Mary."
Explanation-based models
Emphasize jurors' cognitive organization or representation of the evidence Heuristic-systematic model Story model
Probability Theory
Enables the user to make decisions that take into consideration conditions of risk
How are science and law similar?
Each has a code of ethics Each has passionate advocates Each wishes to contribute something Each is involved in our everyday lives
In what process of the memory model is info lost?
Each process
Who has studied the death penalty and believes it is a deterrence
Economists
Testimony can.... (rape trauma syndrome)
Educate jurors about victim reactions Disabuse common juror misconceptions
Are NGRI individuals more or less dangerous compared to other felons when they get out?
Either no difference or NGRI individuals recidivate less
Can we actually detect lies (studies)
Ekman and O'Sullivan (1991) Kassin, Meissner, and Norwick (2005) Bond and DePaulo (2006)
What impact do attitudes and expectations have on memory?
Elements typical of crime scripts but not actually presented to participants become part of people's memories Having scripts is generally good, but can negatively impact memory accuracy
What was the Sam Stone scenario Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
Entered each of the 8 day-care classrooms, and enacted the same script before the students in each group Entered the classroom and said hello to a teacher, he was introduced by the teacher, he commented on the story that was being read to the children by the teacher ("I know that story; it's one of my favorites!"), and strolled around the perimeter of the classroom. Finally, he departed, waving goodbye to the children. In each case, the entire event was timed and lasted approximately 2 min.
What point of view should there be in a video recording?
Equal-focus perspective
Einhorn actuarial method
Equation based on the same histological dimensions that the pathologists thought were important Exploratory techniques were done on the first 93 casesThe remaining 100 cases were used to cross-validate
Science is based on promoting
Evidence
Inconclusive
Evidence is contaminated, incomplete, or cannot be analyzed
What is forensic evidence?
Evidence relating to law Might be scientific but might not be
What style of deliberation produces more careful and probing discussions
Evidence-driven style
Second prong of Manson Criteria
Examine five criteria in deciding whether the ID was so unreliable that it should be excluded at trial
The issue of insanity does what?
Excuse defense to criminal responsibility Due to mental illness -> lack moral responsibility -> not be punished
Common criticisms of determinate sentencing
Expensive Sentence imposed during time when they may age out
What are the pathways for influence of psychology on law?
Expert testimony Amicus briefs Legislation Education (cross-disciplinary training) Through the public
Serial position effect is what type of memory effect
Explicit memory
Exposure to mug shots does what
Exposure to more faces decreases accuracy
Memory model
External inputs -> encoding -> storage -> retrieval
Contextual Bias
Extraneous influences (emotion, expectations, motivation) causing erroneous decisions Detective says that he has a suspect and he needs you to match up his bite mark
Pinizotto and Finkel Critics
Extremely small samples Couldn't rule out alternative hypotheses Lack of control (self-selection, time spent on case)Accuracy rates not classification rates
Weapon focus
Eyewitnesses focus on one important aspect of an event and ignore details Some information is never even encoded in the first place because it is not attended to -> memory process most effectd is sensory
Who is more at risk for intimate partner violence?
Fast life history strategy
1991: Orkney child abuse scandal, Scotland
Father charged with sexual abuse of children. Judge: "these proceedings are so fatally flawed as to be incompetent"
Unconscious Transference
Face seen in one context transferred to another
Four types of prompts in child interviews
Facilitator Invitation Cued invitation Directive
Estimator Variables
Factors outside legal system control
Mitigating factors
Factors that reduce the blameworthiness of the defendant The jury can receive mitigating information that would not be allowed in the guilt phase In some jurisdictions, even if one juror finds one mitigating factor then life in prison not death Others say, "If the mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors or are of equal weight... sentence the defendant to life imprisonment"
System variables
Factors under legal system control
Why can GKT only be used in a small number of cases?
Facts may be publicized Need enough to question them on
How do we explain the phenomenon of false memories?
False memories Can be implanted - like by therapists in the 90s
What distinguishes science?
Falsifiability
Results of Sabrin study
Female students - the counselor's prediction and the actuarial method were approximately equal Male students - the regression equation predicted 8% more variance
Bureau of Justice Statistics on intimate partner violence
Females are killed by intimate partners or former partners roughly 9 times more than by strangers
Life history theory (intimate partner violence)
Finite resources -> Tradeoffs -> Reproductive strategy -> Personality and behavior Slow LH strategy Fast LH strategy
Determinate sentencing
Fixed or determined (like predetermined range) prison term with specified date of releaseIdea here is to reduce judicial and parole board discretion and have harsher sentences
Indeterminate sentencing allows for
Flexible sentencing and parole board discretion
Idiographic
Focuses on a specific individual
Nomothetic
Focuses on aggregations -> generalizations
Bias-reducing instructions does what
Forces witnesses to rely on own memory Reduces guessing
Ambiguous and general speculations result in....
Forer effect
What did Drizin and Leo (2004) found about the power of confessions?
Found 125 proven false confessions where they confessed then plead not guilty, 81% of the time they were convicted
Kassin, Meissner, and Norwick (2005)
Found students slightly outperformed detectives at lie detection Detectives were more confident
Pinizotto and Finkel
Four groups- Professional profilers, detectives, clinical psychologists (no experience in criminal behavior), and students Homicide case and sex offense case Included written profiles and answered questions in specific areas of prediction such as employment, age, sex, and education level of the offender
What underlies the assumption of retribution
Freewill
Compatibilism (similar to soft determinism)
Freewill is compatible with determinism Regardless of whether determinism is true we have freewill (typically -> Yes freewill, yes determinism)
Hard determinists or incompatibilists
Freewill is not compatible with determinism Since we know determinism to be true there is no freewill Freewill is an illusion
Why are some people skeptical that someone could even falsely confess?
Fundamental attribution error
Death penalty legal history
Furman v. Georgia Gregg v. Georgia Atkins v. Virginia Roper v. Simmons Ring v. Arizona and Hurst v. Florida Kennedy v. Louisiana Baze v. Rees
Which is better GKT or CQT?
GKT
Two types of deterrence
General Specific
Types of therapy
General counseling CBT
Is the behavioral consistency assumption supported?
Generally no Small effects for a couple behaviors
Alternative profiling techniques
Geographical profiling (criminal spatial mapping)
What does profiling do?
Get inside the mind of the killer
How are science and law different (three ways)
Goals Method Style of inquiry
Neural circuit proposed for explicit memory
Goes in multiple directions
Therapists' role in implanting false memories
Guided imagery + dream interpretation -> imagine abuse happened -> source monitoring errors
Bifurcated trial process
Guilt phase Sentencing/penalty phase
Alternative Procedures to the polygraph tests
Guilty Knowledge test (GKT)
Guilty Knowledge test (GKT)
Guilty person will recognize something from the crime (+ arousal) but an innocent person will not
Psychologist Richard Ofshe tested this hypothesis... (Paul Ingram's case on repressed memories)
He told Ingram that a son and daughter had accused him of forcing them to commit incest The children actually said this did not happen Go and pray on the ideaIngram produced a full, detailed written confession of thisIngram refused to believe the incident wasn't real, "[i]t's just as real to me as anything else".
Examples of trace evidence
Hair, clothing fibers, tool marks, saliva, semen
Determinists can be either
Hard determinists or incompatibilistsor Compatibilists
Why might video recording be useful
Hear the actual instructions given to a witnessJudge the similarity of the fillers
Example of a visionary criminal
Herbert Mullin
Types of violence risk assessment (actuarial) predictors
Historical Dynamic Risk management
Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool - Revised (MnSOST-R)
Historical Institutional
Profiling assumptions
Homology assumption Behavioral consistency assumption
Why is deception so common?
Host-parasite interactions Competition for mates Fertilization assistance Competition for resources Female-male interactions Predator-prey interactions
Recovered memory therapy
Hypnosis, sedatives, probing questions, visual imagery, and generally suggesting questioning
Society interest in risk assessment
Interest in being protected from violent individuals
First prong of Manson Criteria
Identification must be shown to be flawed
Strategies for lie detection
Insisting on suspect-questioner eye contact (do not use as a cue to lying) Requiring reverse storytelling Asking for spatial information through drawing
Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment) errors
If the children thought Sam had soiled the teddy bear or ripped the book Witnessed - when the interviewer actually said "did you see it yourself"
Stability -> temporary vs. permanent
If viewed as a permanent state of being for them vs. temporary actions = longer sentence
Internal and external causes
If viewed as more a result of personality vs. situational factors = longer sentence
Controllability/uncontrollability
If viewed that they could have controlled their actions = longer sentence
Freewill
If you could replay the tape of life and go back to a moment of decision at which everything -every molecule - was in exactly the same position, you could have decided differently
Idea of retribution
If you do something bad you deserve to be punished You should get your just deserts This is one reason why some people get harsh sentences including the death sentence
False memory effect
If you read or hear a list of words you will most likely recite something that is associated
Loftus (repressed memories)
Imagination inflation -> construction of false childhood memories Memory of being lost in a shopping mall at about the age of five (25% to over 30% were successfully implanted with false memory) Participants told to imagine playing inside at home after school, hearing a strange noise outside, running toward the window, tripping, falling, reaching out and breaking the window with their hand....and other details (Later asked about this event -> about a quarter of participants said it really happened) 27% falsely remembered spilling punch at wedding 33% recalled more distressing event (e.g., animal attack)
Verdict driven style
Immediate vote Discussion is focused on changing views of minority voters
Angelina Napolitano (1911) (Battered woman syndrome)
Immigrant to Canada Murdered her husband (took an axe and hit him four times in the neck and head while he slept) Argued that she had been repeatedly abused by her husband and that he had stabbed her six months prior Judge ruled the evidence inadmissible Found guilty (But granted parole 11 years later)
Cognitive control
Impairment in verbal abilities, awareness of the criminal behavior, and capacity for planning
Issues in the death penalty when it comes to jurors
Instructions for death penalty have low comprehension (so tend to involve racial bias) Jurors aren't told everything about a life sentence, they think they can get parole if not given death Emotions; anger causes biases in favor of prosecution
Acute crisis phase (rape trauma syndrome)
Intense reaction to trauma
Spanos (repressed memories)
Implanted impossible memories Individuals led to believe they have well-coordinated eye movements and visual exploration skills because they were born in hospitals that hung a particular mobile over their crib To "confirm" half the participants are hypnotized, age-regressed to the day after birth and asked what they remembered and half participates in a "guided mnemonic restructuring" procedure that uses age regression as well as active encouragement to re-create the infant experiences by imagining them The majority of both groups reported remembering these impossible memories and/or other details (face of their doctor, etc.)
Reforming
Improve aspects of CJS Stop executing the intellectually impaired
Can specific and general deterrence reduce criminal behavior?
In theory yes
Goals of incarceration
Incapacitation Deterrence Rehabilitation Retribution
Jury instructions
Incomprehensible jury instructions don't violate the constitution Comprehension rates typically around 50% Re-written instructions 80% comprehension
Does eyewitness confidence increase or decrease over time?
Increase
Accusatorial interrogations
Increase both true and false confessions
Information-gathering interrogations
Increase true but not false confessions Increase true and decrease false confessions
Tension building stage (battered woman syndrome)
Increased tension, anger, blaming, and arguing
Benefits of a cognitive interview
Increases amount of information obtained from eyewitnesses by 35% to 70% Does not contaminate the eyewitness's memory Does not increase eyewitness's confidence
Indeterminate sentencing
Individual convicted gets a range of possible time they will be incarcerated Allows for flexible sentencing and parole board discretion
Clinical method in Leli and Filskov study
Inexperienced and experienced clinicians
Results of Leli and Filskov study
Inexperienced clinicians -> 63% correct identification Experienced clinicians -> 58% correct identification Decision rule -> 83% correct identification
Encoding
Info is placed in memory
Storage
Info is retained in memory
Retrieval
Info stored in memory is found as needed
Open conflict
Informational and normative influence
To types of influence on juries
Informational influence Normative influence
Psychologist Richard Ofshe (Paul Ingram's case on repressed memories)
Ingram was an easily influenced religious person who was heavily biased by his church The confessions were false memories being implanted with suggestion
Kalven and Zeisel (1996) on jury votes
Initial majority leaning in group predicts final jury verdict
What are the costs of false confessions?
Innocent people are arrested The real perpetrator is never caught Decreasing police legitimacy Decreasing cooperation with authorities Decreasing believing good confessions
Letourneau, Levenson, Bandyopadhyay, Sinha, and Armstrong (2010)
Internet notification 6,064 male offenders convicted of at least one sex crime between 1990 and 2004 Registration status did not predict recidivism in any model
Loss of control
Interrogator controls the environment and removes the psychological comfort of familiar surroundings Suspect will feel vulnerable and anxious meaning they have lost control
CST Evaluations
Interview Investigate mental health issues Psychological testing Investigate possibility of malingering Investigate specific areas
1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ Convictions (Amicus Brief)
Interviewer bias Repeated questions Repeating misinformation across interviews Peer pressure or interaction (Children change their answers to be consistent with their peers Emotional tone of the interview Accusatory tone - bad; neutral tone - good) Being interviewed by adults with high status (Likely to comply with agenda of interviewers) Using anatomically detailed dolls Stereotype inducement and suggestive questions
Introductory phase (National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) - Investigative interview protocol)
Interviewer describes why they are there Ground rules (Don't guess - you can say "I don't know" Oath to tell the truth technique The interviewer does not know what happened)
Rape trauma syndrome (Burgess and Holmstron (1974)
Introduced to help people understand the seemingly unusual ways victims act Recovery from rape is two stage process
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) - Investigative interview protocol phases
Introductory Rapport building Substantive
Battered woman syndrome characteristics (Walker)
Intrusive recollections High anxiety Avoidance behavior Disrupted relationships Body image distortions Sexual intimacy issues Hypervigilance
Why does the judge instructing jury to disregard info sometimes have the opposite effect
Ironic processes Psychological reactance
Uniqueness (story model)
Is one story unique in its plausibility (i.e., if multiple stories are plausible, lacks uniqueness)
Goodness of fit (story model)
Is story a good fit with verdict option?
Coherence (story model)
Is story consistent/plausible?
How do we know when a defendant found NGRI should get out of mental facility
Is the person a danger? "whether she/he has improved to the extent that they are no longer a danger to the health and safety of themselves or others"
Perry v. New Hampshire (2012)
Issue of eyewitness evidence revisited but Manson criteria not updated
Is it easy to know when we should advocate for reform?
It is a challenge Don't know if the evidence is good enough and if there is sufficient data
Stress and Trauma
It's complicated... Interference with encoding Working memory effects Stress (arousal) can also enhance memory Trauma -> Typically uncontrolled remembering not forgetting -> inconsistent with repressed memory argument
Freewill says what about the mind?
It's free from the brain
Profiling examples
Jack the Ripper Mad Bomber George Metesky Olympic Bomber
Example of a hedonistic criminal
Jeffrey Dahmer John Wayne Gacy
Rehabilitation types
Job training and education Therapy
Kumho tire v. Carmichael
Judge deals with expert testimony not just scientific test
Inadmissible evidence
Judge instructs jury to disregard info
How insanity is defined depends on what
Jurisdiction and legal test
Liberation hypothesis
Jurors are "liberated" from only using evidence in WEAK cases Use extra-legal factors to determine guilt (Negative pretrial publicity, charge severity, complexity of evidence/trial, personal characteristics (race, sex, SES, attractiveness), prior beliefs/experiences)
Jury Nullification
Jurors can disregard the law and evidence Can use their own reasoning
Less complex evidence...
Jurors make sense of it and draw appropriate conclusions
Very complex evidence...
Jurors rely on credentials, research record, etc.
How do jurors perceive child testimony?
Jurors tend to believe children in abuse cases Hearsay and adult testimony stand in is viewed favorably by jurors Helps explain conviction in cases like State v. Michaels
Ring v. Arizona and Hurst v. Florida
Jury (not judge) must find 1+ aggravating factors beyond reasonable doubt
Jury reform
Jury instructions Preinstructions Presenting instructions in different modes
Death qualification
Jury selection Asked about willingness to vote for death if defendant is found guilty Witherspoon v. Illinois Wainwright v. Witt
Goal of law
Justice Giving each their own conflict solution Prescriptive (tells you what to do)
Caldwell and Dickinson (2009)
Juvenile registration The relationship between being likelihood of re-offending and actual recidivism did not depend on registrationI.e., registration did not make any difference
What study shows how strong confessions are
Kassin and Neumann (1997)
Study on whether or not people can discount coerced confessions
Kassin and Sukel (1997)
Jack the Ripper
Killed 5 people, maybe more Don't know if profile was accurate, never caught
Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas (1976) (battered woman syndrome)
Killed her husband Dr. Abdur Ramad Yussef Ibn-Tamas Argued self-defense 1st trial - expert not allowed to testify about BWS 2nd trial - expert testified to judge. 2 years in prison
Style of inquiry (science)
Objectivity Something isn't true just because you believe it Promote what evidence suggests
Risk management predictors
Lack of adequate housing Lack of job prospects Family environmentInadequate post-release supervision and treatment
Excluded
Large differences between samples
For competency to stand trial (CST) the defendant must understand....
Legal situation Charges Pleas available Penalties if convicted Roles of legal actors
What are the explanations for the problems with cross-racial identifications
Less experience with other races Cognitive resources are allocated to individuals who appear especially relevant to perceivers' functional outcomes (That is, we can tell the difference when we are functionally motivated)
When told about the jury nullification process they treat sympathetic defendants
Less harshly
Majority rule juries advantage/disadvantage
Less hung juries
One Drug Protocol
Lethal dose of an anesthetic
Baze v. Rees
Lethal injection does not inflict unnecessary or wanton pain
Behavioral control
Level and focus of criminal activity, as well as the defendant's capacity to control criminal behavior and engage in responsible behavior
Comparison question test (CQT)
Liars should respond more strongly to crime relevant q's and truth tellers more strongly to the comparisons q's or there will be little difference
Cues of deceptions
Liars talk less Provide less detail Responses were less direct/relevant/clear
Names for freewill
Libertarian freewill Dualism Contracausal
Ex of estimator variables
Lighting conditions during the crime
Organicity
Likely effects of brain damage or mental retardation/intellectual disability
Limitations of Geographic Profiling
Limited to spatial behavior Cannot distinguish multiple offenders with similar behavior Simple decision rules perform about the same as complex computer models
For competency to stand trial (CST) the defendant must help...
Locate witnesses Develop strategies
Reorganization phase (rape trauma syndrome)
Long process of recovery -> lingering fears, lack of enjoyment in sex, difficulty resuming relationships
Prison
Long term state facility
Evaluation
Look at whether a program works, whether work training in prisons helps prisoners to get jobs once they're out, how they can make it better, whether or not the death penalty deters crimeCan say why a program doesn't work
What was the response to economists?
Looked at DP states 60 days before and after execution Found brutalization effect
Reid technique influence strategies
Loss of control Social isolation Certainty of guilt (maximization) Exculpatory scenarios (minimization)
Individual factors in predicting intimate partner violence; woman's increased likelihood of experiencing IPV
Low level of education Exposure to violence between parents - confounded with genes Sexual abuse during childhood - confounded with genes
What were the three conditions of Kassin and Sukel (1997)
Low pressure interrogation (confessed easily) High pressure interrogation (in cuffs whole time, yelling, slamming gun on table, etc.) No confession
Fast life history theory strategy
Lower mating effort High emotional attachment to romantic partners Less impulsive behavior Greater altruism More law-abiding behavior
Slow life history theory strategy
Lower mating effort High emotional attachment to romantic partners Less impulsive behavior Greater altruism More law-abiding behavior
Hedonistic
Lust/thrill - sexual pleasure or personal gain from killing
Assumptions about polygraphs
Lying produces physiological changes Truth telling produces different physiological changes We can detect these physiological changes People don't vary in their physiological response to lying and truth telling People cannot obscure the test People believe it works
Why does the polygraph not have strong predictive abilities?
Lying produces physiological changes and truth telling produces different physiological changes (Somewhat supported) We can detect these physiological changes(Somewhat supported) People don't vary in their physiological response to lying and truth telling (Nope) People cannot obscure the test (Nope) People believe it works (Somewhat supported)
Insanity defense tests
M'Naghten rule Irresistible Impulse Test Durham Rule or Product Rule ALI - MPC - substantial capacity test - or Brawner Standard The Federal Insanity Defense Rule (18 U.S.C. § 17)
Source monitoring error
Occurs when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source
Slobogin MSE (Mental Screening Evaluation)
MSE forces the clinician to focus on issues relevant to assessing insanity -> but, it lacks a clear scoring system or strict procedures for administering the test
Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 did what
Made several changes in federal insanity law
What happens when police ask the same questions many times
Makes people think their first answer was wrong -> change their answer until the interrogator gets the exact response -> Errors are dramatically reduced if a question is only asked once
R-CRAS is useful in detecting...
Malingering
Reliability of the defendant's report of the crime
Malingering or involuntary interference with accurate recall
Example of determinate sentence
Mandatory minimums
Manson v. Braithwaite
Manson criteria
State v. Henderson (2011)
Manson rule does not provide sufficient reliability measure, does not deter, and overstates jury's ability to evaluate eyewitness testimony
Why might the death penalty not work as a deterrent
Many homicides are impulsive Severity of punishment is a weak effect Substance use Actual likelihood of being executed is low
Battered woman syndrome (intimate partner violence)
Maybe the killer (i.e., battered woman) felt they had to do it So BWS testimony is supposed to help the judge/jury understand the state of mind of the battered woman
Case involving the death penalty and race
McClesky v. Kemp
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Measures the summed graded potentials from many thousands of neurons (primarily pyramidal neurons), oriented perpendicularly to the scalp within about 4 cm
What are repressed memories
Memories that have supposedly been unconsciously blocked due to the memory being associated with a high level of stress or trauma
Research shows who is more likely to recidivate
Men Black and Hispanic Younger
Dusky v. U.S.
Mental status exam was insufficientThe defendant must understand the charges against themThe defendant must have the ability to aid their attorney in their own defense
Visionary
Mentally disturbed, psychotic, "crazy"
Grove, Zald, Lebow, Smitz, and Nelson
Meta-analysis of 136 studies
Bond and DePaulo (2006)
Meta-analysis54% correct lie-truth judgments
1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ Accusations
Michaels forced them to lick peanut butter off of her genitals Penetrated their rectums and vaginas with knives, forks and other objects Forced them to eat cakes made from human excrement Made them play duck, duck, goose while naked Amputating children's penises Changing a child into a mouse During school hours over a period of 7 months
1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ Convictions
Michaels indicted on 235 counts of sexual offenses and was convicted
Common differences in sentencing
Minorities, males, and younger -> harsher sentences Young Hispanic males -> highest odds of incarceration Young Black males -> longest sentences Drug and property crimes, females were less likely -> prison Violent crimes, women -> shorter sentences
Wording of questions can lead to...
Misinformation effect
Why isn't DNA perfect evidence?
Mix of DNA Touch DNA is very easy to transfer Contaminated sample Degraded sample
Study on homology assumption
Mokros and Alison
Dynamic predictors
Moods, attitudes, and thought Lack of insight into oneself or others Persistent strong feelings of anger and hostility Lack of responsiveness to treatment
Aggravating factors
More blame worthy therefore eligible for death penalty Typically the jury must find at least one aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt
Example of bias vs. discrimination
More females are nurses so there is a bias (association) in that data towards females but that does not necessarily mean that males are being discriminated againstIf both genders applied and had same qualifications but they specifically pick women it's discrimination
When told about the jury nullification process they treat unsympathetic defendants
More harshly
What does the high rate of false confessions in murder and rape cases suggest?
More likely to involve DNA in these cases and thus say more definitively that the confession was false False confessions are likely underestimated
Potential Solutions to the Problems of Profiling
More realistic predictions Stop relying on typologies Use theory Use data driven approaches including machine learning Use an actuarial/statistical approach for decisions Test things!
Seriousness of crime
More serious = longer sentence
Why is time a factor in confessions?
More time may increase regulatory decline and short-sightedness
Research on stress on memory
Morgan et al.
Garcia-Moreno et al. (nonlethal violence, intimate partner violence)
Multi-country study of over 24,000 participants Lifetime prevalence of physical or sexual partner violence varied from 15% to 71%
Self defense (intimate partner violence)
Must prove that you had a reasonable belief that you were in imminent danger and had no reasonable means of escape
instrumental voluntary false confession
Occurs when the suspect voluntarily admits to a crime he or she did not commit. The goal might be to achieve notoriety or to protect a friend or family member.
Homology assumption
Offenders who have similar crime scene behavior will be similar
What happens when defendant is found NGRI
Secure mental health facility Never a fixed sentence
fMRI
Network of parieto-frontal areas more engaged in when lying (Lying requires more effort)
Are there practical differences in the insanity tests?
No
Can private employers use polygraph tests to hire?
No
Do trial judges understand science?
No
Is bias the same as discrimination
No
Is the lethal injection administered by medical staff?
No
Is there a widely accepted theory on how jurors/juries process info?
No
Does DARE work?
No Doesn't make students less likely to use drugs, actually makes them more likely to smoke and drink
What did court decided in McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)
No evidence specific to his own case that would support an inference that racial considerations played a part in his sentence
Evidence driven style
No initial vote, but thoughtful discussion of the case
Scientific position on repressed memories
No scientific studies showing the process of repressed memories Lots of evidence to suggest they are not real - it's a myth Loftus Spanos
Examples of mitigating factors
No significant prior criminal convictions Under the influence Age at time of crime
Does sex offender registration work?
No strong evidence it worksCaldwell and Dickinson (2009) Letourneau, Levenson, Bandyopadhyay, Sinha, and Armstrong (2010)
Are competency and insanity psychological terms?
No, they're legal terms but they involve issues of mental health
Why are jury instructions confusing?
Nominalizations Use of "as to" Poor discourse structure Technical or legal lexical items Use of passives in subordinate clauses Failure to use modal verbs Use of double or triple negatives Too many embeddings
Facilitator prompts
Nonsuggestive prompt to continue with an ongoing response
Scientific critique of a battered woman syndrome
Not a tightly clustered symptom presentation distinguishable from other types of trauma Three stages (Tension building, acute battering, contrition) not supported Experimenter bias in original research Not akin to learned helplessness (Women use a variety of coping strategies Women increasingly seek out help)
Disadvantages of polygraphs
Not free Can be used to illicit false confessions Not very accurate (although more than human judgment typically)
Expert testimony
Provides research related to eyewitness testimony Provide factors that could be used to evaluate the reliability of an identification Judges can be resistant
Clinical method in Sabrin study
Notes from a preliminary interview, scores on the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, scores on a four variable personality inventory, they could talk with the students, and an eight page individual record filled out by the student which contained information such as books in home, hobbies, availability of a quite place to study, and counselors had access to the two-variable regression equation
1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ (No other "evidence")
Nothing noticed by staff No parent noticed signs of strange behavior or genital soreness in their children No children missing body parts
Nominalizations
Nouns that are derived from verbs Easiest way to create a nominalization is to add the suffix "-ing" to a verb -> nominalizations are more difficult to process than their corresponding verb forms
Characteristics of actuarial prediction
Objective Research based Nomothetic Quantitative
Behavioral consistency assumption
Offenders will show a consistent pattern of offending Would help to link cases and differentiate Crime scene behaviors (e.g., using a gag) need to be infrequent (i.e., rare) and consistent from one crime to the next
Exculpatory scenarios (minimization)
Offer excuses for committing the crime Redefining the act as less serious, shifting blame onto someone else, blaming the circumstances (implies leniency (actions reasonable means consequences minimal))
How might a video recording help?
Often only the confession is recorded not that whole interrogation Bad confession can still affect jury decision making
Failure to use modal verbs
Often state that "it is necessary for you" or "it is your duty" or "you are required" instead of the more direct "you must." "Can" is another model verb
What's the goal of an interrogation for police?
Often viewed as getting the person to confess
Lockett v. Ohio
Ohio law -> aggravated murder = death penalty (except in certain circumstances) Unconstitutional -> jurors/judge should not be prevented from considering mitigating factors
University of Chicago jury project (1950s)
One early part of the project involved audiotaping deliberations of five civil jury trials This was done with the consent of the trial judge and counsel for both sides, but the jurors were unaware that their discussion was being recorded
Substantive phase (National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) - Investigative interview protocol)
Open ended prompts ("Why did you want to talk with me today") No suggestive or biased questioning
Why is the legal system resistant to rewriting jury instructions and other modification instructions?
Opens the doors to appeals Many instructions need to be rewritten. Who rewrites them? Judges don't think it would change outcome More concerned with accuracy than comprehension
What are the five topics of the R-CRAS
Organicity Psychopathology Cognitive control Behavioral control Reliability of the defendant's report of the crime
FBI Model
Organized/disorganized typology
Stages of jury deliberation
Orientation Open conflict Reconciliation
Serial position effect
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list
Poor discourse structure
Overall organization of ideas into coherent and logical sentences and paragraphs Some jury instructions are poorly organized, containing ideas on several different topics and not clearly indicating the relationship between them
Improbably events will elicit what?
P3b (new name for P300)the less probable the event the larger the P3b amplitude
Do jurors use the info given in expert testimony?
Yes
Do victims of intimate partner violence sometimes kill their abuser?
Yes
Correlates of rape on the victim
Physical injury Shame Fear Anxiety Anger Depression Suicidal thoughts
Does deception need to be intentional?
Yes
What is a more established diagnosis than BWS or RTS?
PTSD
Profiling is part what?
Part intuition Part experience
Snook, Eastwood, Gendreau, Goggin, and Cullen
Part review Part meta-analysis
Why is it important to understand a defendant's competency?
Participation in one's own defense optimizes chance of just verdictLegitimacy of legal system undermined when CST standard unfair
Rape trauma syndrome expert testimony less accepted....
Partly problematic because it presupposes a rape occurred (May usurp the role of the jury as fact finder) Opens the door to sexual past of victim - normally shielded by rape shield laws
For battered woman syndrome, after the defense establishes those two things then then must....
Pass an admissibility test and the probative value must outweigh its prejudicial impact
Historical predictors
Past violent behavior Young ageInstability in social relationships Job instability Early maladjustment at home or school Abuse of alcohol and/or drugs Major mental disorder Psychopathy
1988: Thurston County ritual abuse case, WA
Paul Ingram (Sheriff's department) accused by his daughters of Satanic ritual sexual abuse, over almost a decade. Also accused of slaughtering 25 babies. Daughters had been in therapy. The Ingrams were members of a local Pentecostal church that promoted the idea that Satan could control the minds of Christians, cause them to commit crimes, then remove the memories. At a church retreat, a woman who claimed to possess prophetic power told Ingram's daughter that she had been sexually abused by her father. False confession Convicted of rape.
Kassin and Sukel (1997) found
People can't discount coerced confessions
General Deterrence
People get punished for committing crime therefore I should not commit crime
Psychological reactance
People like their freedom Motivated to keep it Told not to do something, you're gonna do it Put more weight on that evidence
What's the main problem with confessions?
People sometimes confess even when not guilty
Pratt et al. (2006) meta-analysis on deterrence
Perceived deterrence effects were small Biggest effect was for certainty (as apposed to severity and swiftness) After you control for self-control, peer delinquency, etc., effects are extremely small That is -> perceived certainty only uniquely predicts a small proportion of the variability
Illusory correlation
Perception of a statistical association between two variables where none exists
Certainty of guilt (maximization)
Persistently confront the suspect with accusations of guilt Limit/stop/dismiss denials Implies threat of punishment False evidence ploys
Profilers tend to focus on...
Personality information
Sex Offender Treatment (Therapy)
Phase 1:-Admit that they committed a sex crime-See sex offending as a current problem-Be willing to discuss the crime and their problems in the context of treatment Phase 2:-Identifying and changing distorted thinking-Victim impact-Practicing and incorporating a model for solving problems-Ongoing evaluation of the inmate and his problem areas
Costs of intimate partner violence
Physical damageMental health
Is PTSD accepted in the scientific community?
Yes
Forms of intimate partner violence
Physical violence Sexual violence Psychological/emotional abuse/verbal Controlling behaviors (sometimes included, WHO(world health organization))
Research on how accurate profilers are
Pinizotto and Finkel Snook, Eastwood, Gendreau, Goggin, and Cullen
Organized crime scene
Planned crime Controlled conversation Scene reflects control Demands submissive victim Restraints used Aggressive prior to death Body hidden Weapon/evidence absent Transports victim
Mad Bomber (George Metesky)
Planted bombs Wrote letter wanting to punish Didn't find him through profile Found him through employee logs
What are causes of error in death penalty cases
Police error Bad forensicsIncompetent attorneys Prosecutorial misconduct Misleading jury instructions
Forensic psychologists must look at what to evaluate insanity
Police reports Statements from friends, relatives, employers, and teachers Criminal history Medical, psychiatric, and hospital records Specific forensic assessments
What does the evidence suggests when it comes to different decisions depending on the insanity test used
Poor comprehension of legal insanity rulesIndividual differences in juror beliefs Consideration of more contextual factors
Witherspoon v. Illinois
Potential jurors who object to the death penalty cannot be automatically excluded from service; however, during voir dire, those who feel so strongly about capital punishment that they could not give an impartial verdict may be excluded.
Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment) Discussion
Pre-event stereotypic information and/or Repeated erroneous suggestions post-event over time = False answers from children Early preschoolers showed the most deleterious effect
Method of law
Precedents (stare decisis) Hierarchical More outcome focused
Purpose of Sabrin study
Predict college freshman academic grades
Einhorn purpose of study
Predicting survival time for Hodgkin's Lymphoma 193 patients who had Hodgkin's Lymphoma and later died
PEACE model
Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure, and Evaluate
What standard is used when determining CST?
Preponderance of evidence
What is the primary cause of false confessions?
Pressures of interrogation
Incapacitation
Preventing crime by keeping offenders under state control
Determinism
Prior events cause future events People aren't morally responsible (didn't choose your genes, parents, or environment)
Informational influence effects what beliefs?
Private and public beliefs
Mathematical models
Probability theory Algebraic theory Stochastic processes Engage in a series of "mental" calculations in which they weigh the relevancy and strength of each independent piece of evidence and translate the resulting score into an assessment of the defendant's culpability
Does the battered woman syndrome work?
Probably not in terms of conviction Greater chance to succeed when used with jury nullification instructions (a reminder that they have the power) Could also examine sentencing
Snook, Eastwood, Gendreau, Goggin, and Cullen Found
Profilers and experienced investigators were slightly better at predicting overall offender characteristics(Evidence they are relying on base rates) Profilers and experienced investigators did not out perform other groups for offender's physical attributes, social habits, history, or cognitive process(Evidence they are relying on base rates) Little to no evidence that profilers can do what they claim to do
Pinizotto and Finkel Results
Profilers had more detailed reports than non-profilers and recalled more details Accuracy of the profilers varied with type of case Profilers were more accurate on the sex offender case Detectives were the most accurate on the homicide case
Kennedy v. Louisiana
Prohibits execution for child rapist, unless child dies
State v. Lawson (2012)
Prosecution must prove identification was sufficiently reliable; encouraged the use of such expert testimony
Match plus statistics
Provide statistics that help contextualize the match evidence = rare/common
Who has studied the death penalty and believes it isn't a deterrence
Psychologists, sociologists, and criminologists
Normative influence effects what beliefs?
Public behavior without effecting private beliefs
What is the least influential pathway of influence for a psychologist to have on the legal system?
Publishing in scientific journals
Modern polygraphs also measure
Pulse and skin conductivity
Specific Deterrence
Punish Jim and this should stop Jim committing crime in the future
Wainwright v. Witt
Put more discretion on judgesIf merely express lack of willingness to consider death as punishment, they can be excluded
Communicating similarity
Qualitative statement Simple match Match plus statistics Individualization Excluded Inconclusive
The R-CRAS emphasizes...
Quantitative factors
Majority rule juries advantages
Quicker
Is lethal injection any more humane?
Yes when it comes to others watching, no for the prisoners
Stereotype condition Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
RAs gave scripted stories about Sam each week, starting a month before visit; Interviewed 4 times post event without suggestiveness (He asked to borrow my Barbie and when he was carrying her down the stairs, he accidentally tripped and fell and broke her arm. That Sam Stone is always getting into accidents and breaking things! But it's okay, because Sam Stone is very nice and he is getting my Barbie doll fixed for me)
Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment) (Method)
Random assignment to 1 of 4 conditions Everyone saw the same event (Sam Stone) All interviewed 4 times after Sam Stone's visitInterviewed one last time - % of children that made 1 or 2 errors was the main DV (Did Sam rip a book up? - correct answer is no)
Mokros and Alison found after examining 100 stranger rapes....
Rapists who offend in a similar fashion were not more similar with respect to age and other demographics
Gregg v. Georgia
Reaffirmed death penalty New conditions include: Bifurcated process and Appellate State Courts must review all death sentence cases
Control condition Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
Received no pre-event information about Sam Stone; interviewed 4 times post-event without suggestiveness
Suggestion condition Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
Received no pre-event information regarding Sam Stone; each time interviewed suggestive interviewing techniques used ("When Sam Stone got that bear dirty, did he do it on purpose or was it an accident?" "Was Sam Stone happy or sad that he got that bear dirty?")
What stage of jury deliberation do juries never get to?
Reconciliation
Memory is what??
Reconstructive
Video recording
Records identification procedures
example of class characteristics
Red trilobal fibers common from Honda Accords
Why might sequential lineups be better
Reduce relative judgment (don't want the person who looks closest)
Blind lineup does what
Reduces unintentional communication
What are the four distinct diagnostic categories behaviors for PTSD?
Reexperiencing traumatic event Avoidance of stimuli associated with event Negative cognitions and moods Heightened arousal or hypervigilance
Jacob Wettering Act (1994)
Registry of sex offenders required
All types of polygraph tests rely on...
Relative arousal
Qualitative statement
Relative strength of match
Advantages of polygraphs
Relatively cheap (compared to EEG and fMRI)Potentially used as a bogus pipeline If they worked could rule out a suspect If they worked could confirm suspicions of detectives
Polygraph Tests
Relevant-irrelevant test (RIT) Comparison question test (CQT) Positive Comparison Test (PCT)
Why does actuarial almost always equal or out-predict clinical
Reliability Validity
Why are eyewitness IDs so problematic?
Relies on memory (memory isn't perfect)
Why do people support profiling?
Repetition of messages Media Label of expert Reasoning errors People want to believe
Why was there a change in overt physicality?
Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement
Paul Ingram case (repressed memories)
Repressed memories of being sexual abuse perpetrator Psychologist Richard Ofshe
Baldus Studies
Revealed a racial bias in the Georgia death penalty system Defendants charged with killing white victims were 4.3 times as likely to receive a death sentence as defendants charged with killing black victims Black defendants were 1.1 times as likely to receive a death sentence as other defendants
Repressed memories (80s and 90s)
Rise of recovered memories of sexual abuse - a major cause was therapists using these suggestive techniques (up to 25% were using them)
How do forensic psychologists evaluate insanity
Rogers Criminal Responsibility Assessment Scales (R-CRAS)
Heuristic-systematic model
Rules of thumb on the one hand and more careful scrutiny of the available information on the other
Can they force a defendant found incompetent to stand trial to take drugs?
Yes, if dangerous Yes, even if not dangerous (Sell. US)
SARA (Sposal assault risk assessment)
SPJ assessment
Alternatives to actuarial and clinical
SPJ/guided professional judgment
Ballew v. Georgia
Said 6 members of a jury was okay but no less
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
Same machine as the EEG Complex electroencephalographic waveforms related in time to a specific sensory event To get a "clear" measure of the event (i.e., to counter noise effects), the stimulus is presented repeatedly (responses are averaged)
Studies on actuarial vs. clinical
Sabrin Leli and Filskov Einhorn Grove, Zald, Lebow, Smitz, and Nelson
Retrieval inhibition/retrieval induced forgetting
Selectively retrieving some information inhibits other informationWhen you are asked specific questions and only give those details other details are forgotten and when asked again you won't remember that unused info
What are reasoning errors
Self-serving bias Hindsight bias Illusory correlation
The Competency to Stand Trial Assessment Instrument (CSTAI)
Semi-structured comprehensive interview (13 areas)
The Interdisciplinary Fitness Interview (IFI/IFI-R)
Semi-structured interview Designed for joint administration by attorney and MHP
Supermax
Serious violent criminals
Considerations for sentencing
Seriousness of crimeInternal and external causes Controllability/uncontrollability Stability -> temporary vs. permanent
Tunnel Syndrome
Set on looking for someone who fits the profile and not anyone else
1989 - 1995: Little Rascals Day Care Center, NC
Seven people charged; 100's of counts; most charges reversed
Power-control
Sexual pleasure from domination over helpless victim
Jail
Short term facility About a year
Angelique Lyn Lavallee (1986) (battered woman syndrome)
Shot and killed her common law partner Kevin Rust Psychiatrist testified ("was a final desperate act by a woman who sincerely believed that she would be killed that night") Acquitted of second-degree murder on the basis of self-defense Verdict was overturned by a majority of the Manitoba Court of AppealSupreme Court (Canada) (The woman's experience and perspective is relevant to inform the reasonable person's standard required for self-defense)
Ekman and O'Sullivan (1991)
Showed 10 video tapes, asked to figure out when lying vs. telling the truth Accuracy 50%
P-300 Wave
Sign of recognition Protocol based on GKT A function of suppressing a lie
Specific Forensic Assessment of insanity
Slobogin MSE (Mental Screening Evaluation)
Does incapacitation reduce crime
Some evidence Diminishing effects over time
Does specific deterrence work?
Some studies support it on some crimes (like domestic violence) Other studies say no or that it has criminogenic effect
Hired gun
Someone who is willing to carry out any task or assignment from his employer without moral scruples.
Why are parents not always a good safeguard for juveniles?
Sometimes they work against the child
Unconscious transference is similar to...
Source monitoring error
Disorganized crime scene
Spontaneous crime Minimal conversation with victim Scene is random/sloppy Sudden violence to victim Minimal use of restraints Sex after death Body left in view Weapon/evidence present Body left at scene
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Standards and judges as gatekeepers
Amicus briefs
State v. Michaels (1993) Legal briefs submitted by a "friend of the court" for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. These briefs attempt to influence a court's decision.
Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
Stereotypes and repeated suggestive questioning Participants
Technical or legal lexical items ex:
Stipulate
What is the best predictor of jury verdict?
Strength of evidence
Physical damage costs of intimate partner violence
Stress-related conditions
How do we reduce error in fingerprinting and DNA?
Strict procedures to reduce mishandling, improper storage, and contamination Do actual research Strict certification requirements Random blind laboratory checks Reduce certain communication between detectives and forensic examiners (evidence should be independent) Create a more neutrally motivated laboratory
Mock juries
Student samples vs. community samples Juror vs. jury
Characteristics of clinical predictions
Subjective More intuition based Idiographic Qualitative
Research on organized/disorganized typology shows...
Subset of organized features typical of most Disorganized features much rarer and do not form a distinct type
Furman v. Georgie (1972)
Supreme court ruled death penalty unconstitutional in its current state Death was administered too haphazardly Asked states to revise current statutes to fix this issue
Morgan et al.
Survival training with soldiers High/low stress mock interrogation
Unbiased lineup
Suspect should not stand out from "fillers"Use mock witnesses(People given descriptions and if more than 16-17% (or 2 out of 12) choose the suspect then it is biased)
Short-sightedness
Suspects focus more on short - vs. long-term goals (getting out of the interrogation vs. prison)
Elements of a successful rehab program
Teach interpersonal skills Provide individual sessions Make use of behavior modification techniques Combine in-prison therapeutic treatment with follow-up in community treatment Use cognitive-behavioral therapy
Example of a power-control criminal
Ted Bundy
Example of a mission criminal
Ted Kaczynski
Dynamite charge
Tell them to go back and deliberate more Might pressure jurors to swing toward majority
Forer effect
Tendency of people to rate sets of statements as highly accurate for them personally even though the statements could apply to many people
Three stages of battered woman syndrome (Walker)
Tension building Acute battering Contrition
What are the two types of reliability
Test-retest reliability Inter-rater reliability
Three general elements of Sexual Violent Predator Civil Commitment (SVP)
That the person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense That the person suffers from a mental abnormality and/or personality disorder, which causes him/her serious difficulty controlling his/her sexually violent behavior That this mental abnormality and/or personality disorder makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility
Einhorn clinical method
The clinicians were three well known pathologists one of whom was internationally recognized as an expert in this area Using nine histological dimensions that the pathologists rated as important (based on the biopsy) and a global rating of severity the pathologists predicted survival time
Kansas v. Hendricks
The court found that the SVP law did not violate substantive due process and double jeopardy requirements
Philosopher-advocate
The expert makes concessions to the adversarial climate of the courtroom and allows personal values to shape testimony
Conduit-educator
The expert regards his or her own field as the first priority
What are the five criteria of the Manson criteria?
The eyewitness's opportunity to view the perpetrator at the crime sceneThe degree of attention the eyewitness focused on the perpetrator The accuracy of the witness's description of the perpetrator The time elapsed between the witness's identification of the suspect and witnessing the crime The certainty of the witness's identification of the suspect
Behavior is determined by...
The interaction of intrinsic and environmental effects
Could an expert reliably tell which answers were false? Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment)
The majority could not reliably tell overall whether the events reported by the children had occurred or not, nor could they identify which children were on the whole most accurate
Georgia Court Competency Test (GCCT)
The original version - 17 items Rapid identification of IST
Base Rate
The overall probability of an event (in a population of interest in a given period of time) or the frequency of the event you are trying to predict
What else besides personality info determines behavior
The situation Behavior is context dependent
We conform when (informational influence)
The situation is ambiguous There's no time to think Others are experts
Cross race effect
The tendency for people of one race to have difficulty identifying members of a race other than their own.
Self-serving bias
The tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
Hindsight bias
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
To introduce an expert to testify about battered woman syndrome the defense must establish that...
The victim is a battered woman The jury would be aided by expert testimony to explain her behavior
Likely explanation for forgotten events
These individuals experienced trauma, may have dissociated, and then may have avoided thinking about it -> they eventual forgot until something cued their memory These individuals might also have bad memories in general
What did economists have to say about the ways the death penalty was studied
They have no considered systematically the actual enforcement of the death penalty
Without expert testimony what happens with jurors?
They overestimate how accurate eyewitnesses are
Do jurors actually use polygraph evidence?
They say yes but research says no
Mathematical Models are often thought of as...
Think and adjust
Two types of death by lethal injection
Three drug protocol One drug protocol
Majority rule juries disadvantages
Took less time discussing evidence and more time voting Stopped when majority reached More likely to exert normative influence Those who hold minority opinion talk less Felt less informedFelt less certain of verdict
Why are detectives not great deception detectors?
Training More susceptible to confirmation bias
What are solutions to false confessions?
Training in good interrogation techniques and not using bad techniques (Reid)Reshape the goal of interrogation to info gathering Make it more of a dialogue Video recording Time limits Safeguard vulnerable suspects Expert testimony
Rogers Criminal Responsibility Assessment Scales (R-CRAS)
Translate insanity into 25 quantifiable variables, grouped into five topics
Advisors
Trial consultant, expert tests, briefs, etc.Look at whether the defendant has severe mental health issues, whether they are competent to stand trial, whether they have psychopathic traits, whether the court needs to be informed on some issue
Who is the gatekeeper of expert testimony?
Trial judges
Goal of science
Truth (though uncertainty is inherent) Descriptive and explanatory
Cognitive techniques for deception detection
Truth tellers get angrier if you call the a liar Truth tellers have richer spatial recollections Truth tellers find it less mentally taxing to tell their stories in reverse
Ex of implicit memory
Trying to teach someone how to ride a bike
Manson criteria
Two prong test
Actuarial method in Sabrin study
Two-variable equation -> college aptitude test score and high school grade record
Ex of system variables
Type of lineup
6 person juries in criminal cases always require what kind of verdict
Unanimous
Federal court requires what type of verdict?
Unanimous
Atkins v. Virginia
Unconstitutional to sentence intellectually-disabled defendants to death
Roper v. Simmons
Unconstitutional to sentence someone to death for crimes committed while under the age of 18
Why might the memories of children be more problematic?
Under age of 5, children have difficultly distinguishing imagined from real events Ability to encode, store, and retrieve information not fully developed Greater risk for inaccuracy with suggestive or biased questioning
How we study juries
University of Chicago jury project Mock juries
Bayes theorem
Updating a belief/hypothesis/parameter estimate with new info LOOK AT NOTES FOR MATH
Actuarial prediction at its core
Use formula/equation, algorithm, decision rule, or other statistical tool to compute data and reach a decision
Purpose of Leli and Filskov
Use intellectual testing to predict the diagnosis of progressive brain dysfunction
Informational influence
Using others as a source of info
Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI)
Usually additional alternative verdict to guilty, not guilty, and NGRI Defendants go to prison (for typical time) and get treatment or put in MHF until they are not dangerous then transferred to prison
Prevalence of abuse (child maltreatment)
Varies by jurisdiction and through different measures
Who has the burden of proof for insanity?
Varies by state
Orientation
Verdict driven style Evidence driven style
Problems with duration of eyewitness's exposure to the crime
Very brief exposures do not allow for explicit memory We tend to overestimate exposure rates
Research on Holmes and Holmes typology shows..
Very little evidence
Ralph Tortorici
Video we watched
Sequential lineups
View one person or photo at a time
Holmes and Holmes (model of profiling)
Visionary Mission Hedonistic Power-control
Deception detection is the idea that
We give away a clue like a nervous tick
Race effects
We treat our own race more lenient More likely to give death sentence in cases involving black or latino defendants who killed white victim
Physical attractiveness effect on jurors
Weak effect Attractiveness to facilitate crime flips the effect
Eyewitness confidence is
Weakly correlated with accuracyHighly correlated with persuasiveness
Short Tandem Repeats
When a pattern of one or more nucleotides is repeated directly adjacent to each otherD7S820 (repeats of GATA)
When is non-evidence based info used?
When evidence is ambiguous
Leichtman and Ceci (1995) (Child Maltreatment) maintained
When the interviewer offered a counter suggestion like "you didn't really see them do it, did you"
Kassin and Sukel (1997) looked at what
Whether the confession was voluntary Whether the confession influenced their decision
Simple match
Whether the two samples share characteristics
If race is salient in case
Whites decrease harshness toward black defendants
Uxoricide
Wife killing
Volitional
With deliberate intention
Does the Manson Criteria Help?
Witness overestimation of view time Does not get at biased questioning and lineup procedures Confidence is not a good predictor of accuracy
Mental health costs of intimate partner violence are higher in what gender?
Women
Eyewitness recall can be shaped by...
Wording of questions
Can public employers use polygraph tests to hire?
Yes
Do abusers in intimate partner violence sometimes kill their victims?
Yes
Do job training and education reduce recidivism?
Yes
Individual factors in predicting intimate partner violence; man's increased likelihood of committing IPV
Young age Low level of education and low IQ More controlling men -> violent against their partners (first coercive control then violence)
Test-retest reliability
a method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions
Law is based on promoting
client interests
Judges and juries are more likely to disagree with...
close cases not difficult cases
Class characteristics
common to a category
Kassin and Neumann (1997) found
confession had highest conviction rate
Legally and morally wrong
defendant must also be unaware that the act is condemned by society
Legally wrong
defendant must be unaware that the act is against the law
PTSD primary diagnosis
for people suffering from aftereffects of extreme trauma
What are the four types of false confessions?
instrumental coerced, instrumental voluntary, authentic coerced, authentic voluntary
If juries hang and inform judge what can judge do
judge can provide a dynamite/Allen charge
Decrease regulatory processes
less able to control thoughts, feelings, and behaviors when pursuing goals
Judges and juries think judges can be
less biased
Inter-rater reliability
measure of agreement among observers on how they record and classify a particular event
Memory is...
malleable
The freewill argument says that people are...
morally responsible
authentic voluntary false confession
occurs when someone suffering from delusions confesses to a crime with little or no pressure from interrogators
Criticism of indeterminate sentencing
person with the same crime can get a different sentence or spend different amounts of time incarcerated
Science is...
reproduciblepeer reviewed
What is DNA
the double-helix structure that holds an organism's entire genetic sequence
Fundamental attribution error?
the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
Determinate sentencing became popular because
to reduce sentencing disparitiesTo reduce leniency of indeterminate sentencing
Guilt phase
trial that is held to determine the outcome of the charges pending against a person
Individual characteristics
unique to that person or object