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156 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Inquistorial legal system |
a legal system in which the law is codified (i.e. written down), judges play an active role in the proceedings, experts are called by the court, and the lawyers' role is, in part, to assist the court; it is used in many European countries |
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Adversarial legal system |
a legal system in which two sides-the defence representing the accused versus the prosecution(Crown) representing the people-present their position before an impartial judge or jury, who attempt to determine the truth of the case; it is used in North America |
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stare decisis |
a term meaning "let the decision stand"; The doctrine of stare decisis states that judges are bound to decide like cases alike |
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appellant |
the party bringing an appeal |
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respondent |
the party responding to an appeal |
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actus reus |
the act that constitutes a criminal offence; Latin for "guilty act" |
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mens rea |
the mental state of the perpetrator at the time of the offence; Latin for "guilty mind" |
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summary offence |
a less serious criminal offence that carries relatively minor penalties |
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indictable offence |
a more serious criminal offence that may carry very serious penalties |
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electable offence |
a indictable offence that can be heard in provincial court or in superior court, at the discretion of the accused |
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hybrid offence |
a criminal offence that can proceed as a summary offence or indictable offence, at the discretion of the Crown |
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justification |
the accused admits having committed the offence, but argues that it was justified(e.g. self-defence) |
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excuse |
the accused admits having committed the offence but argues that there is a legal excuse for the act (e.g. provocation) |
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negating the actus reus |
a situation in which the accused admits to having committed the offence but argues that the actions were not under voluntary control |
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negating the mens rea |
a situation in which the accused admits to having committed the offence but argues that the requisite mens rea was absent |
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admissibility |
determination of whether or not evidence can be heard |
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weight |
determination of how important evidence is deemed to be |
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expert evidence |
opinion evidence provided by a witness with specialized knowledge |
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criminal law |
law that relates to crime and involves prosecution by the government of a person who has been charged with a crime |
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adjudicative competency |
the umbrella term that encompasses all types of criminal competencies; most commonly referred to as fitness to stand trial |
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competency to proceed |
a general term that refers to the ability of a defendant to proceed through the criminal adjudication process |
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competency to be sentenced |
refers to the ability of an accused to understand the sentencing process and the reasons why he or she is being sentenced |
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competency to waive the right to counsel(proceed pro se) |
refers to the ability of a defendant to waive the right to be assistance of counsel and to proceed without an attorney(self-representation) |
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fitness (or competency) to stand trial |
refers to the ability of defendants to understand the nature and object of criminal proceedings and to assist counsel in their own defence |
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competency to be executed |
refers to the necessity that defendants understand they are to be put to death and understand the reasons why |
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criminal responsbility |
refers to the mental state of the accused at the time of the crime |
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not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder(NCRMD) |
a defence in which a person is not held criminally responsible for an act committed while suffering from a mental disorder that made the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or of knowing that it was wrong; colloquially known as the insanity defence |
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M'Naghten standard |
the historical standard for insanity that allowed defendants to be acquitted if they did not know what they were doing or that it was wrong |
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unstructured clinical judgement |
one of three approaches to risk assessment, and the least effective in predicting violence; in this approach clinicians use their best clinical judgement to gauge the likelihood that the examinee will be violent in the future; the risk markers that are taken into consideration vary by clinician, as does the weighting of each of the relevant factors for each specific case |
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actuarial decision making |
one of three approaches to risk assessment, based on actuarial data |
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structured professional judgement |
one of three approaches to risk assessment; in this approach, a specific array of risk markers is considered, and clinicians are also able to introduce their professional experience; structured professional judgement instruments are based on research identifying predictors of future risk that do not tell evaluators how risk factors should be weighted or combined and cannot be used to estimate the probability of future harm |
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psychopathy |
a personality style epitomized by a blatant disregard for others, both behaviourally and emotionally |
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risk management |
a crucial component of risk assessment that refers to the strategy of attempting to reduce the probability that an individual will be violent by describing the conditions under which that individual's risk for violence may increase and those under which it may decrease |
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antisocial personality disorder(APD) |
a personality disorder consisting of a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others |
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malingering |
the false production or exaggeration of symptoms of mental illness or cognitive deficit with the intention of obtaining some secondary gain |
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civil forensic assessment |
a psychological evaluation intended to assist decision making in matters of civil law |
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civil law |
law which is focused on regulating the day-to-day conduct of human affairs and, in particular, attempting to prevent and resolve conflicts between parties
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civil commitment |
involuntary treatment or hospitalization of individuals on the grounds that they pose a risk to themselves or others on account of mental disorder |
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parens patriae powers |
powers that allow government to act as guardian or caretaker for individuals who are deemed unable to make decisions about their own health and welfare because they are physically or mentally ill |
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police powers |
powers that give police the authority to control people who threaten public order, whether or not they are physically or mentally ill |
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criminal commitment |
incarceration following conviction for a criminal offence |
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least restrictive alternative principle |
the principle that holds that the goal of protecting the person or the public must be accomplished in a way that minimizes any infringement on the person's rights and freedoms |
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casual nexus |
the connection between a mental disorder and the risk that an individual may harm self or others |
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actuarial instruments |
highly structured tests that tell evaluators exactly which risk factors to consider and how to combine them to estimate the probability of future harm; they are based on research indicating factors that are predictive of criminal behaviour, which are assigned a numerical weight and combined into a risk scale that yields a total score or a specific estimate of the probability of violence |
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Classification of Violence Risk (COVR) |
an actuarial instrument designed to estimate the likelikood that a person discharged from an emergency psychiatric unit will commit an act of physical violence within the next 20 weeks |
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HCR-20 |
an instrument to guide evaluations of risk for actual, attempted, or threatened physical harm of other people in institutional and community settings |
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parenting capacity evaluations |
a psychological assessment of an individual's suitability to act as a caregiver for children |
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"tender years" doctrine |
the perspective that mothers should be granted custody due to their special abilities when it came to rearing young children |
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best interests of the child principle |
the perspective that legal decisions should provide children with childbearing environments that are most likely to ensure optimal development in light of their unique needs and circumstances |
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child maltreatment |
the abuse or neglect of children by parents or other people in a position of power, trust, or responsibility |
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child abuse |
the commission of acts that deliberately or recklessly threaten the safety and well-being of children |
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child neglect |
the omission of acts, deliberately or recklessly threatening the safety and well-being of children |
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CAP Inventory |
a self-report instrument to screen parents for risk of child abuse |
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insanity acquittee |
an accused individual who raised a defence of insanity( NGRI or a similar defence in the United States; NCRMD in Canada) and was acquitted of the crime because of his or her mental state at the time of the crime |
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recidivism |
engaging in criminal behaviour after being punished for engaging in criminal behaviour |
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dialectical behaviour therapy |
a specific type of cognitive behavioural therapy that incorporates distress tolerance, acceptance, and mindful awareness to address dysfunctional emotions, behaviours, and cognitions |
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relapse prevention training |
a behavioural self-control treatment that teaches individuals how to anticipate and cope with the potential for relapse |
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cognitive-behavioural therapy |
a psychotherapeutic approach that uses explicit, goal-oriented, systematic procedures to address dysfunctional emotions, behaviours, and cognitions |
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social skills training |
a type of treatment teaches individuals specific skills they lack or that will compensate for missing skills |
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mentally disordered offender(MDO) |
an offender who has been diagnosed with a major mental illness |
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parole |
an early, conditional release of an inmate who is supervised in the community and must comply with specified terms and conditions of release |
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probation |
a period community supervision over an offender in lieu of incarceration; it may include conditions of release, which, if violated, may result in imprisonment or new charges |
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recent complaint doctrine |
a law that was in force in Canada until 1983, which stated that in all cases involving sexual offences, if the victim did not complain at the first available opportunity, the trier of fact was required to assume that the complainant was not credible or had consented to having sex |
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children's suggestibility |
the degree to which social and psychological factors affect the way children remember, retrieve, and report details about the past |
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commission errors |
reporting false details |
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open prompts |
prompts or questions that allow a response that is minimally constrained by the question (e.g. "tell me more about that") |
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closed prompts |
prompts or questions that constrain the possible responses (e.g. "Who was driving the car?" or "Was it Tuesday or Wednesday?") |
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competence |
a question of admissibility of testimony |
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truth-lie discussion |
an examination into a child's understanding of concepts like "truth," "lie," "promise," and the morality of telling the truth; this is done in some jurisdictions before a child is permitted to testify in court |
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credibilty |
the emphasis or weight the trier or fact places on an individual's testimony |
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testimonial support |
a procedure that deviates from traditional courtroom testimony in order to reduce the trauma of testifying and to help the witness provide a full and candid account of the allegation; for example, using screens to block the complainant's view of the accused |
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transfer(waiver) to adult court |
a legal procedure that allows a youth to be tried in adult court and sentenced as an adult |
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Youth Criminal Justice Act(YCJA) |
Canada's criminal code that applies to the youth between the ages of 12 and 18 |
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life-course-persistent offenders |
offenders with behavioural problems and antisocial behaviour that begin in early childhood, continue into adolescence, and often persist into adulthood |
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adolescent-limited offenders |
young offenders whose first offence occurs during adolescence and who typically do not have early childhood antisocial and behavioural problems |
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psychosocial maturity |
"the complexity and sophistication of the process of individual decision-making, as it is affected by a range of cognitive, emotional, and social factors |
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risk assessment |
an assessment approach based on the identification of factors shown to predict future delinquent or criminal behaviour |
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co-morbidity |
the presence of two or more types of mental disorder |
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meta-analysis |
a statistical analysis of a large number of empirical studies |
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primary prevention |
interventions that occur before a problem develops and that are directed at a general population rather than specific individuals |
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secondary prevention |
interventions directed at specific high-risk individuals, but that occur before more serious problems have developed |
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tertiary prevention |
interventions with individuals that usually take place long after the initial problem has developed, with the goal of preventing further criminal behaviour |
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estimator variables |
factors that may affect eyewitness testimony and that are not under the control of the criminal justice system |
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system variables |
factors that may affect eyewitness testimony and that are under the control of the criminal justice system |
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eyewitness's suggestibility |
the tendency of eyewitnesses to be easily influenced by suggestion |
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weapon focus effect |
the phenomenon whereby a witness's memory for details is impaired by the presence of a weapon |
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Enhanced Cognitive Interview(ECI) |
a method of interviewing witnesses to enhance the correct recall of information |
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own-race bias |
the phenomenon whereby within-race identifications are significantly more likely to be accurate than cross-race identifications |
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unconscious transference |
inaccurately attributing a face to a different context |
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blank lineup |
a lineup in which every member is known to be innocent of the offence in question |
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fundamental attribution error |
the tendency to overemphasize dispositional or personality-based explanations for an individual's behaviour while minimizing situational or external |
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Reid Technique |
a method for interrogating suspects and assessing their credibility using a nine-step process for eliciting a confession |
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maximization |
an interrogation technique in which an interrogator uses "scare tactics" designed to intimidate a suspect into a confession |
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minimization |
an interrogation technique in which an interrogator gives a suspect a false sense of security by offering face-saving excuses or moral justification, blaming a victim or accomplice, or playing down the seriousness of the charges |
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investigative bias |
occurs when an investigator assumes a suspect is guilty and conducts an interrogation with the goal of obtaining a confession to confirm this assumption of guilt |
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false confessions |
occur when individuals confess to a crime they did not commit or exaggerate involvement in a crime they did not commit |
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voluntary false confession |
occurs when an innocent person confesses without being prompted by the police |
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coerced-compliant false confession |
occurs when suspects who wish to escape from the stress of the interrogation, avoid a threat of harm or punishment, or gain a promised or implied reward confess to a crime they did not commit |
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coerced-internalized false confession |
occurs when innocent suspects who are coerced, tired, and highly suggestible actually come to believe that they committed the crime, and confess |
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compliance |
the tendency to go along with people in authority |
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suspect's suggestibility |
the tendency of a suspect to internalize information communicated during an interrogation |
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police forces |
organizations that maintain public order and safety by ensuring compliance with laws, rules, and regulations |
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police psychology |
the application of psychological theory and research to law enforcement |
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assessment domain |
activities associated with the development, implementation, and evaluation of procedures for evaluating individuals, primarily law enforcement applicants, officers, and administrators |
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intervention domain |
activities associated with provision of clinical services to law enforcement personnel |
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operational domain |
activities associated with supporting and enhancing the work of law enforcement officers, including investigation and incident management |
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consulting domain |
activities associated with supporting and enhancing the administration of law enforcement agencies |
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KSAOs |
the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal characteristics required to perform well as a law enforcement officer |
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job analysis |
the process of identifying the relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities required for various positions within a law enforcement agency |
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intrinsic cognitive load |
the inherent complexity of the information police trainees are learning |
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extraneous cognitive load |
the unnecessary demands placed on police trainees' mental information-processing resources as a result of the learning materials and instructional methods used by instructors |
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germane cognitive load |
the efforts of instructors to help trainees develop relevant schemas, cognitive structures, or "mental maps" they can use to organize the new information they acquire into meaningful concepts |
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situational awareness |
a cognitive process that involves understanding the immediate physical environment |
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criminal profiling |
an investigative method that attempts to identify the personality, behavioural, and demographic characteristics of unknown criminal perpetrators based on an analysis of offence-related behaviours either in the case at hands or in similar cases |
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deductive analytic techniques |
methods of inferring characteristics of a perpetrator from a review of the evidence surrounding a particular offence series of offences |
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inductive analytic techniques |
methods of inferring a perpetrator's characteristics from knowledge of general patterns of criminal behaviour, as reflected in scientific theory and research |
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criminal investigative analysis |
the use of offence motivational typologies to infer offender characteristics |
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investigative psychology |
the use of psychological theories and offender typologies to analyze offence behaviour and personal characteristics of offenders |
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behavioural evidence analysis |
a deductive approach in which profilers make rational inferences about the personal characteristics of perpetrators based directly on the facts of the case at hand |
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geographic profiling |
a method that uses criminological theory, quantitative analysis of geospatial data, and typologies of offender mobility to determine the personal characteristics of perpetrators |
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justice |
the moral correctness, fairness, peace, and harmony of people's collective conduct |
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legal decision making |
a fixed and formal process used to decide the facts in a dispute and to decide on the appropriate interpretation and/or application of laws in the circumstances |
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operational decision making |
a process that is often rapid and informal using personal knowledge, skills, and abilities to determine the most appropriate course of action |
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trier of law |
the legal decision maker who decides the proper interpretation and application of law in a dispute |
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trier of fact |
the legal decision maker who decides the facts relevant to a dispute |
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jury |
a group of people convened to make a legal decision by functioning as a trier of fact |
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juror |
a person who sits on a jury |
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venirepersons |
members of the public who are gathered for jury selection; a venireperson may become a juror in an upcoming trial |
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mock jury research |
simulations whereby people are presented with legal information and asked to act like jurors when considering the information |
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alternates |
extra jurors selected in case some selected jurors are not available to be sworn in on the first day of the trial |
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peremptory challenges |
the right to dismiss a potential juror without explanation |
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challenge for cause |
a power granted by a judge that allows potential jurors to be asked a few specific questions related to a particular source of bias |
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continuance |
a judicial order to delay a trial |
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voir dire |
a trial within a trial, in which specific questions of laws are decided, including whether potential jurors are biased |
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change of venue |
change the location of a trial |
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charge to the jury |
a set of special instructions given to the jury at the end of a trial concerning the decisions to be made in the case at hand |
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hung jury |
a jury that is unable to reach a proper decision within a reasonable time frame |
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jury nullification |
occurs when a jury acquits an accused in spite of clear evidence of guilt because it does not believe the law should apply in the circumstances |
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paradigmatic models |
models of legal decision making that assume people's thought processes are mechanical or rule-governed in nature |
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narrative models |
models of legal decision making that assume that triers of fact construct stories to help them remember, organize, and evaluate evidence |
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story model |
a particular narrative model of decision making that assumes that triers of fact proceed through three stages of legal decision making: story construction, verdict representation, and story classification |
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correctional psychology |
the application of psychological theory and research to the correctional system |
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bail |
security, usually cash or property, provided for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial |
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offender risk assesssment |
the process of identifying risk and protective factors for crime |
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risk factor |
a condition, behaviour, or other factor that increases risk for future offending |
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decision theories |
a family of theories which posit that the decision to commit a crime is voluntary and purposeful |
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offender risk management |
the process of preventing crime by influencing risk and protective factors |
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monitoring |
evaluating changes in risk level over time |
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treatment |
the provision of interventions intended to improve an offender's psychological adjustment |
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supervision |
placing restrictions on an offender's rights and freedoms |
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victim safety planning |
improving the security resources of potential victims |
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risk principle |
the view that the level of services provided to offenders should be based on their level of risk to reoffend |
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need principle |
the view that offender services should offender services should target causal risk factors |
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responsivity principle |
the view that services for offenders should be delivered in a way that maximizes their effectiveness; this provides for cognitive behavioural treatment that is tailored to an individual's learning style, motivation, abilities, and strengths |
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ethic of control |
the philosophy that offenders should be detained in a safe and just manner |
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ethic of care |
the philosophy that offenders should be provided with the services needed to help become law-abiding and productive members of society |
