Comprehensive set of revision notes for AQA A-Level Psychology - Forensics. Achieved an A* and secured a place at the University of Oxford. Based off of the AQA syllabus.
Cultural issues – what is considered a crime in one culture may not be judged as such in another. For
example, in the UK having more than one wife is the crime of bigamy, however in some cultures it is
not a crime, as polygamy is socially acceptable.
Historical issues – what is considered a crime changes over time. For example, a parent’s right to
smack their child was only made illegal in 2004 – before this it was not classified as a crime.
Homosexuality is culturally and historically specific.
Ways of measuring crime
Official statistics – government records of the total number of crimes reported to police and
recorded in the official figures.They are a useful ‘snapshot’ of the number of crimes occurring across
the country and in specific regions. Allows government to develop crime prevention strategies and
directs resources to those areas most in need.
Victim surveys – record people’s experience of crime over a specific period. Households are
randomly selected to take part in the survey, which asks people to document the crimes they have
been a victim of in the past year.
Offender surveys – involves individuals volunteering details of the number and types of crimes they
have committed. These tend to target ‘likely’ offenders based on ‘risk’ factors such as previous
convictions, age range, social background etc.
Evaluation
Official statistics – have been criticised as unreliable in that they significantly underestimate the true
extent of crime. So many crimes go unreported by victims or unrecorded by police that only around
25% of offences are included in the official figures. The other 75% make up the ‘dark figure’ of crime.
Crimes may not be reported/recorded due to police recording rules. For example, Nottinghamshire
are more likely than other regions to record thefts under £10, which may explain an apparent ‘spike’
in thefts in this area.
Victim surveys – these are more likely to include details of crimes that were not reported to the
police and so are thought to have a greater degree of accuracy than official stats. For example, in
2006/7, official stats suggested a 2% decrease in crime, whilst the British Crime Survey saw a 3%
increase. That said, it does rely on accurate recall – ‘telescoping’ may occur where a victim
misremembers an event as happening within the past year when it didn’t.
Offender surveys –provide an insight into how many people are responsible for certain offences (as
a small group of people may have committed many crimes). However, responses may be unreliable
as people may want to conceal serious crimes or exaggerate for reasons of bravado. Targeted nature
also means that ‘lower-class crimes’ such as burglary are overrepresented and ‘middle-class crimes’
such as corporate crime are unlikely to be included.
, Offender profiling: The top-down approach
Originated in the USA as a result of work carried out by the FBI in the 1970s. Offender profilers who
use this method will match what is known about the crime and the offender to a pre-existing
template developed by the FBI. Murders or rapists are classified in one of two categories on the
basis of evidence:
Organised
Planned the crime in advance, so victim is deliberately targeted and will often reflect that the
killer/rapist has a ‘type’
Maintain a high degree of control during the crime and may operate with detached surgical
precision
Little evidence or clues left behind
Above average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation
Socially and sexually competent
Usually married with children
Disorganised
Show little evidence of planning, suggesting the offence may have been spontaneous
Body is usually still at the scene
Little control
Lower than average intelligence, in an unskilled job or unemployed
History of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
Live alone and close to the crime scene
Evaluation
Only applies to particular crimes – it is best suited to crime scenes that reveal important details
about the suspect, such as rape, arson and cult killings. More common offences such as burglary
and destruction of property do not lend themselves to profiling because the resulting crime
scene reveals very little about the offender. Therefore a limited approach to identifying a
criminal.
Based on outdated models of personality – the typology classification system is based on the
assumption that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consistent
across situations and contexts, and that behaviour is driven by stable dispositional traits rather
than external factors that may be changing. Means the approach, which is based on ‘static’
models of personality, is likely to have poor validity.
Evidence does not support the ‘disorganised offender’ – Canter analysed 100 murders in the
USA. Found that although there was a distinct ‘organised’ type, there was not a distinct
‘disorganised’, which undermines the classification as a whole. Nevertheless, it is still widely
used by professional profilers in the USA.
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