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AQA A Level Psychology_ Forensic Psychology.
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AQA A Level Psychology_ Forensic Psychology.
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AQA A Level Psychology: ForensicPsychology
Defining Crime - correct answer-○ Crime is any act that violates law, results in punishment
by state
○ Influence of Culture:
◘ Varies country to country depending on laws of country - illegal to have more than 1 wife.
◘ Changes over time- homosex illegal till '69, illegal in some countries still.
◘ Def of crime is social construction related to dom morals/ values of partc cult at partc time
✔ Most behaviours are universally identified as unacceptable - murder, rape, theft
✘ Still cult variations e.g. French crime of passion may lead to more lenient sentence for
murder if acted from strong and unplanned impulse
How are official statistics used to measure crime? - correct answer-○ Most countries prod
annual crime stats
○ Based on any incident report to pol, or when discovered/observed by pol,
○ National Crime Reporting Standard begun 2002, records any reported incident, whether or
not recorded as crime
✘ Only certain number fo crimes reported due to fear, not serious enough, avoid victim
stigma, not even aware.
✘ Walker 42% of crime reported in Brit Crime Survey rep to police 'dark figure'- stats rep.
part of criminal activity.
✔ Trends still seem to line up & in agreement- increase in vehicle theft.
How are victim surveys used to measure crime? - correct answer-○ People identify crimes
committed vs them in a set period of time, 50,000 households randomly chosen, complied in
Crime Survey for England and Wales
○ Interviews 16+, fixed set of questions in relation to general attitudes, all data confidential
✔ Prov info of dark figure, depend on honesty of crime still may not (stigma- rape or trivial)
✔ more consistent than stats when making time comparisons as vary w/ changes in law &
reporting practices.
✘ Only 75% of those contacted participate, final sample biased- only those willing to
respond, those w/ time, interest in upholding law
✘ no. of crimes rep. by each capped at 5, may underestimate amount of crime, 3 mill may
not be included in overall figure (Farrel and Pease)
How are offender surveys used to measure crime? - correct answer-○ Offending, Crime and
Justice Survey carried out between 2003-2006
○ Consisted of ppl 10 - 65 yrs
○ increase knowledge about young ppl & crim behaviour.
○ Produce info about extent of offending, anti-social behaviour and drug use, focus was on
criminal behaviour and relevant contextual data, self-report on crimes they have committed
✘ Lack of accuracy
✘ Underplay crim involvement and other behavi (drug use)
✔ OCJS report said ppts honest in answers (Hales)
, Outline the top-down approach to offender profiling - correct answer-○ Qualitative approach
to offender profiling due to looking at overall pictures and typologies, created from interviews
and analysis of crime details/scenes creating behavioural categories Favoured by FBI
(American approach)
○ Based on police exp and case studies, not psych theory
○ Suitable for extreme/unusual crimes e.g. murder/rape/ritualistic crimes
○ Behavioural Science Unit began researching family bg, personalities, crime and motives of
serial killers in 70s
○ Interviewed 36 imprisoned serial killers
○ Insight gained, analysis of crime details, with police experience, create classification
system for various crimes e.g. organised or disorganised?
○ Organised:
◘ Detached surgical precision during crime
◘ Lil evid left behind
◘ Plan in advance
◘ Socially and sexually competent
◘ Above avg intelligence
◘ Vic delib targeted
◘ Married/children
◘ Skilled, prof occupation
◘ Offender has 'type'
○ Disorganised:
◘ Unskilled/unemployed
◘ Live alone, close to where crime took place
◘ History of social and sexual dysfunction
◘ Lower than avg IQ
◘ Body found at scene of crime
◘ Attack impulsive, unplanned
○ Douglas, 6 stages to process:
1. Profiling Inputs; description of crime scene, bg info of victim, details of crime (weapon,
cause of death), all info even if trivial included, poss suspects not considered- may bias info
collected
2. Decision process models; decisions about data & organised into patterns: Murder type
(mass, spree, serial), time factors (short/long time, night day?) and location (crime scene
same as murder scene?)
3. Crime Assessment; crime organised or disorganised.
4. Criminal Profile; Constructed included hypotheses about likely bg, habits, belief, used to
decide strategy of catching & how they will be interviewed.
5. Crime Assessment; writte
Evaluate the top-down approach - correct answer-✘ Only applies to certain crimes
✘ can measure usefulness of approach by seeing how close profile is to actual offender,
Alison, based on outdated models of personality
✘ Canter claimed evid doesn't supp disorganised offender, analysed 39 aspects of serial
killings by 100 US killers, showed no clear division between org and disorg, found org
subsets and lil evid for disor
✘ Too simplistic (Grover Godwin)
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