Forensic Psychology & Social Context of Crime - Week 1 PDF

CPS2822: Forensic Psychology and the Social Context of Crime Week 1 Dr. Kalliopi Megari Academic Director of MSc in Clinical Psychology City College, University of York Europe Campus 1 Module Info Class code (G...

CPS2822: Forensic Psychology and the Social Context of Crime Week 1 Dr. Kalliopi Megari Academic Director of MSc in Clinical Psychology City College, University of York Europe Campus 1 Module Info Class code (Google Classroom): mpewyaq Assessment  Ground Rules and Expectations for In-Class Discussions We are We listen to We nurture We respectful and learn and seek and embrace acknowledge presume to understand differing our biases and positive intent, before perspectives, work to grow motive, and responding. thoughts, and past them behavior. comments. rather than pretending they don’t affect us. CITY College, Psychology Department  Affiliations ◦ Lecturer and program leader of postgraduate program in Clinical Psychology at University of York City College in Thessaloniki, Greece ◦ Postdoctoral researcher of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece ◦ Head of the center of creative activities of children with disabilities, Municipality of Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, Greece ◦ Editor in Chief Journal of Psychiatry & Mental Health ◦ General Secretary of Board of directors & Ethics Committee President Hellenic Neuropsychological Society ◦ Leader of Rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients working group of NeuroCOVID International Neuropsychology Taskforce SIG Affiliations ◦ PIAC Community Outreach Subcommittee of AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION Membership ◦ Engagement Committee of American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA). ◦ National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) Ambassador of Leadership and Ambassador Development Program (LEAD) ◦ Global Membership Committee member of International Neuropsychological Society Affiliations ◦ Lecturer at University of Ioannina, & University of Western Macedonia Greece ◦ Prison of Thessaloniki Diavata. School of second chance. Counseling psychologist ◦ Global Engagement Representative, International Neuropsychological Society, SLC ◦ University General Hospital of Thessaloniki AHEPA, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Outline Forensic psychology ▪ definitions Forensic psychologists ▪ knowledge and skills The social context of crime ▪ Knowledge about crime ▪ Crime statistics ▪ The extent of crime and criminality ▪ International variations in justice systems What Is Forensic https://youtu.be/HMPIvOUv qPA Psychology? The British Psychological Society Forensic Psychology Definitions ◈ Forensic psychology literally is psychology to do with courts of law ▪ Applied more widely than courts, including all aspects of the criminal justice system (cjs) ◈ Early (narrow) definitions ▪... that branch of applied psychology which is concerned with the collection, examination and presentation of evidence for judicial purposes. (Gudjonsson & Haward, 1998,p. 1) ▪ … the provision of psychological information for the purpose of facilitating a legal decision. (Blackburn, 1996, p. 7) ◈ Broader (contemporary) definitions ▪ …deals with the psychological aspects of legal processes, including applying theory to criminal investigations, understanding psychological problems associated with criminal behaviour, and the treatment of criminals. (British Psychological Society, 2017) ▪ …refers to professional practice by any psychologist working within any sub-discipline of psychology (e.g., clinical, developmental, social, cognitive) when applying the scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge of psychology to the law to assist in addressing legal, contractual, and administrative matters. (American Psychological Association, 2017) CITY College,– Psychology Department  Forensic psychology is anything where psychological principles/ideas are applied in a criminal justice context. What causes How can we improve How can we stop offending decision-making in How can the police offenders committing behaviour? courtrooms by judges and effectively investigate crime? crime? juries? The Criminal Justice / Offending Process Key Themes of the Module The contribution that psychology has made to the Criminal Justice System (CJS): Exploring why and how people commit crime Understanding how psychology contributes to police investigations And how psychology can help us to understand how people behave within the CJS and the processes that shape that behaviour. The role of the psychologists Some of the things done by psychologists in the context of the law (practitioners): 1. A mediator psychologist employed by a law firm to mediate between parties to resolve legal disputes. 2. A social psychologist dealing with civil cases such as commercial litigation. The psychologist conducts surveys of roleplaying ‘jurors’ in order to assess what might work in a real trial. 3. A counselling psychologist who works on the assessment of potentially violent behaviors for the US secret service. For example, threats of violence are often made to the national leaders – which ones are to be taken seriously? 4. A correctional psychologist who assesses the competence of prisoners to stand trial and makes suggestions about possible treatments for offenders. 5. A clinical psychologist in private practice who works as a consultant to police departments. Researchers Knowledge and Skills In the UK, it has been suggested that forensic psychologists (i.e., all chartered forensic psychologists) should possess the following knowledge and skills (DCLP Training Committee, 1994): ◈ An understanding of the conceptual basis of their work context in terms of (a) the psychology relevant to the study of criminal behavior; (b) the legal framework including the law and structure of the criminal justice system. ◈ An understanding of the application of psychology to (a) criminal investigation processes; (b) legal processes; (c) custodial processes; (d) treatment processes (for both offenders and victims). ◈ A sufficiently detailed understanding of the psychology relevant to the following individuals, including adults and children where appropriate (a) offenders; (b) victims; (c) witnesses; (d) investigators. ◈ An understanding of the practical aspects of forensic psychology in terms of the following: (a) different demands for assessment; (b) processes of investigation, prosecution and defense; (c) decision making in respect of innocence, guilt, sentencing, custody, treatment and rehabilitation; (d) approaches to assessment; (e) professional criteria for report production and giving of testimony. ◈ Combined with extensive practical experience in at least one area of forensic psychology. Criminal Psychology: Definition ◈ The narrow definition suggests that it concerns all aspects of the psychology of the criminal. Difficulty: it seems to focus solely on the offender. ◈ Criminality is not a characteristic of individuals that can be separated meaningfully from the social context of crime and the criminal justice system. Consequently, the field of criminal psychology must be defined in terms of knowledge and skills which substantially overlap those of the forensic psychologist. ◈ The main difference between the two terms is that forensic psychology may involve the civil law as well as the criminal law. Many times the two terms are used interchangeably Other terms: ‘psychology and the law’, ‘legal psychology’, ‘investigative psychology’ Researcher-Practitioner ◈ Late 1940s: The concept of the ‘scientist-practitioner’ was formulated among clinical psychologists seeking to improve both research and practice. Research – practice gap ◈ Employers of forensic and criminal psychologists require that practitioners should participate fully in a research-led discipline. ◈ Practitioners do not just apply psychological knowledge; they are among those who create it. ◈ Appropriately for an applied discipline such as forensic and criminal psychology, the usual and preferred term is researcher-practitioner rather than scientist-practitioner. ◈ Promotion of evidence-based practices: practice should be based on what research has shown to be effective. The Social Context of Crime Forensic Psychology In Pop Culture  Introduction ◈ Our knowledge about crime: ▪ Personal experience ▪ Imagery of crime and the criminal justice system is everywhere-Media portrayal, social media To what extent are media portrayals of crime accurate? Essentially news is about relatively unusual, new or sensational events. Violent crime, including homicide, is disproportionately over-reported in the news media (vs. property crime) ◈ The rates of crime that are estimated from these different statistics vary. ◈ Crime statistics are rarely simply wrong. The fact that they are not always in agreement may indicate that each provides a different perspective on criminal activity. ◈ Each type of statistics has its own value and may be more useful for a particular purpose than others. ◈ Cautious interpretation of any statistic is needed. Legal changes, manipulation to gain political advantages, improvement regarding data collection E.g. if we find more cases of child sexual abuse in the 2020s than in the 1960s, is this due to higher levels of sexual abuse? Department The Extent of Crime ◈ Not easy to specify the reality of crime ◈ Crime index = a composite measure of the number of crimes, based, usually, on the more serious types E.g. in the USA a violent crime index might be an aggregate of murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Broad picture of crime trends The Economic Cost of Crime ◈ The U.S. Criminal Justice System costs more than $200,000 million every year. Crime victims suffer $876,000,000 in lost workdays. The average cost of a criminal career is $1,500,000. Preventing a high-risk juvenile from starting a criminal career is worth about $2,000,000 in savings. The national cost of crime exceeds $1.7 trillion when all costs are incorporated. The Extent of Criminality ◈ White-collar crime a crime perpetrated by ‘a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation’ (Sutherland, 1949, p. 9) (e.g. business or government professionals) Examples: fraud or embezzlement ‘borrowing’ stationery from the office or using the office telephone for private calls (often regarded as acceptable) ◈ It is probable that everyone has committed what may be described as a trivial crime at some point in their lives The extent of criminality in the general population is remarkably high In the U.S., it is estimated that the chances of a person going to prison during their lifetime is nearly 7% The Extent of Criminality ◈ Biases in the criminal justice system and imprisonment rates: 11% for men vs. only 2% for women A black person has a 19% chance compared with 3% for a white person In 2001, over 64% of people in jail were of racial or ethnic minority origin ◈ Other contributing factors Generational factors, racial factors, and school dropout Crime Rates Compared Internationally- Reporting Rates ◈ Prevalence rates are simply the rates of people who report having been a victim of crime or a particular sort of crime in a particular time period. ▪ If they have been robbed twice, for example, this is not recorded in prevalence figures. So prevalence rates give the number of victims of a particular type of crime rather than the numbers of a particular type of crime ◈ Incidence rates reflect the frequency of being victimised and, as such, would provide better estimates of the numbers of crimes committed annually. ◈ The difference is between the number of a particular type of crime per person in the population (incidence) and average number of victims in the population (prevalence) Crime Rates Compared Internationally ◈ Internationally there are noticeable variations between countries and over time in terms of crime statistics ◈ Statistics rapidly go out of date ◈ Anyone reading these comparative crime statistics will have concerns about the comparability of the definition of different crimes in different countries  Activity 1 2 3 4 Visit the United Nations Office Select a category (e.g., Click on the subcategory and Come back to class and on Drugs and Crime data Wildlife Crime, Homicide, etc.) from the from the map select share the data (e.g., Greece portal at and a subcategory (e.g., a country and read the 2004-2018: Serious assault at https://dataunodc.un.org/ Property crime -> Theft) reported statistics country level, number of police-recorded offences, counts and rates per 100,000 population) and your thoughts International Variations in Justice Systems ◈ The variability in criminal justice systems is immense. Not problematic as most people will work solely within one criminal justice system. But be cautious when generalizing findings/ cross national cooperation ◈ Importance of understanding that a given system is just one of many potential ones. ◈ Note that each criminal justice system has many components of which practitioners need to be aware.  Resources Videos Forensic Psychology - is it for you? Any Questions? https://youtu.be/Wj3SAmrDcXo How to qualify as a Forensic Psychologist https://youtu.be/PAxdEAFuhkk Anne Milgram: Why smart statistics are the key to THANK YOU! fighting crime https://youtu.be/ZJNESMhIxQ0 Websites https://dataunodc.un.org/ https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wfpp20/current