Forensic Psychology: Exam 2

Front 1

What are two goals of treatment?

Back 1

-Reduction of symptoms of mental illness
-Reduction of criminal recidivism

Front 2

Punishment may have a _____ priority than treatment.

Back 2

Higher

Front 3

What kind of treatment is administered most often in prisons and jails?

Back 3

the administration of psychotropic medicine

Front 4

What type of issues do we typically look at when we look at violence? What are criminal risk factors?

Back 4

persons who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression, mania, or bipolar disorders, and persons who met the criteria for substance abuse or dependence

Front 5

One of the risks for violence is substance abuse/ dependence but what disorders also increase risk factor?

Back 5

schizophrenia, major depression, mania, and bipolar disorder

Front 6

What is the primary form of treatment used to target criminal offenders and psychiatric patients with personality disorders? (textbook chapter 4)

Back 6

dialectical behavior therapy and relapse training

Front 7

What type of treatment has the most promising research outcomes at this point?

Back 7

behavioral in nature,

Front 8

What personality disorder is typically associated with violent behavior risk?

Back 8

antisocial and psychopathy

Front 9

What is the most important component of any treatment program in the judiciary system?

Back 9

the follow up or monitoring of program completers

Front 10

What is the most important component of any treatment program in the judiciary system?

Back 10

the follow up or monitoring of program completers

Front 11

How many competency evaluations are conducted annually in the U.S.?

Back 11

60,000

Front 12

What factors have been associated with successful maintenance of conditional releases?

Back 12

White, married, and employed (predictive of success)

Front 13

There was a research study by Wells Wright and Bradfield in 1999, they were talking about misleading information and how it tends to affect the accuracy of eyewitness memory, know those factors

Back 13

1) When the strength of the original memory trace is weaker rather than stronger (like too much time has gone by or they didn’t observe for very long)
2) When the misinformation is not recognized as being incorrect at the time (like details over the central gist of the event)
3) When the misinformation is being delivered by a credible source (like a police officer)

Front 14

In the research study by Wells Wright and Bradfield, there were three general sources of identification errors in photo spreads and line-ups, what are those three?

Back 14

Instructions
Structure
Procedure

Front 15

What does confidence in your eyewitness identification have to do with your perception of them and how is confidence affected by the individual? What happens overtime with their confidence level? Confidence v. actual testimony in the courtroom, how does the jury perceive their confidence?

Back 15

Highly confident witnesses are persuasive with jurors, and confidence tends to increase over time, confidence increases his or her persuasiveness but not the accuracy

Front 16

When it comes to how much time an eyewitness was actually able to observe the alleged perpetrator or the crime scene, there is one commonality about eyewitnesses and their perception of that time, what is that?

Back 16

There is a tendency for people to overestimate the duration of brief events and to underestimate the duration of lengthy events. Thus, since the majority of crimes occur during a brief period of time, witnesses tend to overestimate the amount of time they were exposed to a perpetrator. Overestimates tend to be three or four times the actual length of the event (i.e. Actual time is 30 seconds, estimated time is 2 minutes).

Front 17

There were different types of line-ups in our textbook, (the walk-up, picture book..) when no possible person in the line-up is guilty, what kind of lineup is that?

Back 17

Blank line-up

Front 18

Eyewitness evidence plays a significant role in what number of criminal cases annually?

Back 18

75,000

Front 19

We talked about the weak hair nursery school, and eyewitnesses, eyewitness testimony, primarily child testimony, what does the research that came out of this suggest? Children v. adults

Back 19

children under 5 were sensitive to repeat and coercive questioning and that erroneous answers increased dramatically when leading, the testimony of the children was highly suggestive and coercive. However, adults seem to believe children in sexual abuse cases due to the fact that they believe that children lack the sexual sophistication to fabricate such allegations

Front 20

When would you use a mock witness? What are you trying to do if you’re using a mock witness? (mock witness procedure)

Back 20

Mock witness is someone who has never seen the perpetrator, they are given the eye witness’s description of the perpetrator and then shown the lineup and asked to select the person who they think matches the description. In theory, if there are six members of the lineup who match the description given by the eye witness, the mock witness should select each member of the lineup one-sixth of the time

Front 21

How does eyewitness confidence affect the judge and juries perception?

Back 21

Witnesses confidence increases the judge and juries perception of accuracy

Front 22

What does research say about expert testimony and eyewitness identification?

Back 22

Courts have become more open to allowing expert testimony on eyewitness identification when the evidence relies heavily on the testimony of a single witness. Results of studies indicated that presentation of expert testimony at trial caused participants to place less evidence on eyewitness confidence as an indicator of accuracy and sensitized participants to the importance of considering factors that may reduce or enhance eyewitness accuracy.

Front 23

Looking at research on false confessions, what does age have to do with it? What is the research on youth with false confessions?

Back 23

careful interviewing of child witnesses is necessary to minimize the possibility that the child will be influenced by the interviewer or by any possible suggestions implanted during the interrogation

Front 24

What does research show about people’s ability to detect deception? In particular, police officers?

Back 24

-Assumption detectives can distinguish truthful suspects by relying on verbal or non-verbal cues not supported by evidence
-77% of interrogators reported they could detect deception
-Police no more accurate than lay people in detecting lies, but are more confident
-Even with training, accuracy is only slightly better than change

Front 25

If you’re being interrogated, what does your vulnerability level have to do with anything and how would you describe your vulnerability level? (Interrogative interviews and vulnerability)

Back 25

younger suspects are more vulnerable to interrogation tactics, personal and situational risk factors can contribute to false confessions

Front 26

What are personal risk factors and system risk factors for increasing the likelihood of a false confession?

Back 26

Some individuals are more susceptible to respond interrogative coercion by being more complaint or more suggestible. Intelligence, drug or alcohol use and stress are other personal risk factors that may increase likelihood of a false confession. In contrast situational risk factors involve techniques used to extract the confession, the time of day the interrogation was conducted or the length of the interrogation. People also tend to believe that confessions stem from individual rather than situational factors. This is known as a fundamental attribution error , this is the tendency to overemphasize dispositional or personality based explanations for an individual’s behavior while minimizing situational or external causes

Front 27

Be able to talk about the fundamental attribution error, and how that plays in with confessions. (against situational factors)

Back 27

this is when people tend to believe that confessions stem from individuals rather than situational factors. This suggest that jurors would interpret a confession as reflecting the actual guilt of a defendant and discount the possibility of external causes, like coercion

Front 28

What does Hugo Munsterberg have to do with eyewitness testimony and confessions?

Back 28

Wrote a seminal book (On the Witness Stand); was perhaps the first psychologist to write about the false confession phenomenon. Munsterberg was convinced that a man who had been hanged for murder had falsely confessed to the crime. The pressed at the time heard of Munsterberg’s comments on this case and he became the target of news stories and editorials attacking his view. It is that it is possible that people do falsely confess remained difficult to accept until a number of cases surfaced beginning in the 1960’s showing that false confessions can and do occur.

Front 29

We talked about a percentage of people who use their Miranda rights, they give you a fraction, be familiar with that but also see what the textbook says about the police themselves and how they estimate it?

Back 29

1/5 of suspects exercise their Miranda rights

Front 30

We know people can be coerced into confessions, the innocence project has specific recommendations to avoid coercion into a false confessions, what is that recommendation?

Back 30

Innocence Project recommends videotaping entire custodial interrogation

Front 31

What is an investigative bias?

Back 31

Presumption of guilt; investigators will develop a theory about a crime, presume a suspect is guilty and conduct the in goal of obtaining a confession that fits that theory of the crime.

Front 32

How are juries used throughout the world? (brief summary)

Back 32

the majority of trials by jury take place in the United States

Front 33

Tell me about Canadian jury research

Back 33

-The law strictly prohibits jurors in criminal trials from ever discussing their deliberations or decisions.
-Limits the scope of questions that can be asked of potential jurors, allows fewer peremptory challenges, and has a complex system for challenging by cause in criminal matters.

Front 34

What can be used to remove a prospective juror without having to specify a reason?

Back 34

Peremptory challenge

Front 35

What is when the opposing party is allowed to respond and the judge then decides whether to exclude a juror, this would be based on an argument that the juror could not serve impartially, there are no limits for challenge for cause?

Back 35

Challenge for cause

Front 36

What is a Grand Jury?

Back 36

o Large panel considers allegations of crimes
o Ranges from 11 or 12 23
o Hears evidence and decide whether is issue indictment

Front 37

What is a Petit Jury?

Back 37

o Small group serves as trier of fact in criminal or civil trail under guidance of judge
o Ranges from 5 or 6 12 or 15
o Hears evidence and makes decision (verdict/liability)

Front 38

What is Voir Dire?

Back 38

-Mini trial where venirepersons are sworn as witnesses and answer questions intended to reveal potential bias
o Peremptory challenge: no reason required
o Challenge for cause: based on argument
-Questions and exclusions limited by laws of jurisdictions to maintain representativeness.

Front 39

What are some things that a judge can do to avoid bias because of pretrial publicity?

Back 39

a. Change of venue: Moving the trial to another jurisdiction that has not been exposed to publicity.
b. Judicial instruction (aka. charge to the jury): Instructing the jury to disregard information they obtained outside of the trial.
c. Continuance: Delaying the start of the trial.

Front 40

What is the process of finding a jury?

Back 40

-Identify large pool of venirepersons
o Criteria: Adults, nation citizens, residents of jurisdiction
o Identifies through official records to ensure representativeness
-Select short list of actual jurors
o Group is subpoenaed to attend court
o Potential jurors may be excluded

Front 41

What are the conditions under which you can be automatically excluded from the jury?

Back 41

1. Not US citizen older than 18 or has resided in jurisdiction for < 1 year
2. Unable to read, write, understand English sufficiently
3. Unable to speak English
4. Incapable by mental or physical infirmary
5. Pending charge punishable by > 1 year
-May be excluded is personal attitudes/ beliefs may bias their judgment

Front 42

What is the difference between using a consultant and an attorney picking his/her own jury?

Back 42

SJS (scientific jury selection) is typically used in cases in which the defendant or plaintiff has the funds to afford the cost of trial consultants. Research concludes that the SJS doesn’t affect the outcome in a specific case.