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Understanding the offender, offender analysis and case formulation. -…
Understanding the offender, offender analysis and case formulation.
Ethical Interview Techniques
AO1
Forensic psychologists must follow ethical standards set out by the HCPC when interacting with offenders e.g
Understand the application of psychology in the legal system - the forensic psychologist must ensure their formulations and advice given to the courts is non-biased and will not be misused or misinterpreted.
Understand psychological models relating to a range of presentations – the forensic psychologist must keep up to date with new biological/neuropsychology models of criminal behaviour.
A report published in 1991 concluded that many false confessions and miscarriages of justice were the result of police using unethical interviewing techniques during questioning e.g. threats, false promises, physical force. Psychologists were involved in developing a model of ethical interviewing (1990s) for the police to follow. The PEACE model aims to build a rapport (relationship) with the suspect and to make them feel relaxed and not threatened. It is believed that when the suspect is relaxed, they will provide more useful/accurate information.
The PEACE Model: Preparation and planning - plan key questions before the interview to avoid manipulative questions and to offer support (e.g. a guardian if under 16 or an interpreter if not fluent in English).
Engage and explain - actively listen to the suspect/witness so as to offer reassurance.
Account and clarification - using open ended questions to build rapport and encourage conversation.
Closure - giving the suspect a chance to ask questions in order to show respect and offer debrief.
Evaluate - reflect on the interviewer’s performance to build competence in interviewing techniques.
AO3
(+) kebbell et al (2010) - found ethical interviewing to be one type of interview that was effective inb getting a confession from sex offenders
(+) Roberts (2011) - looked at police interviews with terrorist suspects. suggests that ethical interviewing may improve the reliability of the interviewee informational well as how communities view the police
(-) even though PEACE is the interview model by British police, not all aspects of it seem to be used in all situations, eg in Walsh and Milne rapport building and planning were not used that successfully. Therefore, its effectiveness is likely to be limited
(-) Gudjonsson (1992) - argues that some ethical interviewing techniques are naive, and that the social skills approach to questioning should entirely replace more persuasive methods
Psychological Formulation
AO1
Psychological formulations are a form of diagnosis. In criminal psychology they are used to help explain why a person committed an offense and to assess the likelihood of the person reoffending.
Formulations are idiographic (based on an individual person’s own experience rather than general laws about human behaviour). This means the methods/stages used by the psychologist will vary from case to case (some may rely heavily on information from the past; some more from the present).
Offence analysis – understanding the offender and the offence
The forensic psychologist will gather information about the offence and about the offender in order to try to understand the social, biological, emotional and cognitive influences of the offender. This information may come from interviews with the offender and police records.
Functions of offending – applying theory to the offence
The forensic psychologist will apply psychological theory to the information they have gained in order to suggest what purpose the offence has for the offender e.g. Does the offence fulfil a craving they have for a physical or emotional need? E.g. Does the offence reward the person with a sense of excitement or power?
Recommending treatment
The forensic psychologist will make suggestions about treatment or intervention. The treatment should reflect how the offending started, risk of reoffending and how likely the offender is to stick with the treatment programme. The recommendation can change after treatment starts, if the offender does not respond well to the intervention suggested
AO3
(+) Application
can help simplify a lot of complex information which can help professionals make executive decisions about what is best for the individual's future. Can help offenders manage future situations
(+)Hart et al (2011)
found that PE is useful for complex cases so there can be joint working by different authorities in the justice system
(+) Ghaderi (2006)
found that formulation helped with suggesting a treatment plan for bulima and that treatment was better than standard CBT
(+) A strength is that useful for complex cases because it can provide insight into a complex cases of offending. It brings together the work of many agencies and professionals within the criminal justice system and expertise is helpful when deciding the best way forward for the offender. There is a different range of treatment options, case managed effectively which provide the best outcome.
(-) A weakness of psychological formulations is that there is sources of bias. Information related to the events in the function of offending tends to be gathered through clinical interviews with the offender. Offenders Retrospective record events in their life such as their family circumstances maybe for dinner non-reliable. Any confusions will be based on the psychologist's subjective interpretation. This may impact the effectiveness of the diagnosis and treatment
Cognitive Interview Techniques
AO1
Cognitive interviews are a method of interviewing eye witnesses. The aim is to help the witness produce more accurate recall of a crime scene using techniques based on psychological research into memory.
Report everything – the witness is encouraged to report every single detail of the event, even information that may seem unimportant or irrelevant.
Reinstate the context – the witness is asked to imagine all aspects of the crime scene, such as what the weather was like, the time of day and how they felt during the event. It is hoped that these context cues can aid recall by triggering further information.
Reverse the order – the witness describes what they saw in a different chronological order. Evidence suggests this will help the witness to reply less on schemas to make sense of what happened next.
Change perspective – the witness is asked to recall what another person at the crime scene would have seen, from a different angle. It is hoped the witness may be able to recall details they may not have considered important when explaining events from their own perspective.
AO3
(-) Police may be reluctant to use the CI because i takes much more time than the standard police interview.. The CI also requires special training and many forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours.
(+)Milne and Bull (2002) found that using a combination of 'reporting everything ' and 'reinstate the context' produced better recall than any of the other elements.. This confirms police officer's suspicion that at least two of these elements should be used to improve police interviewing of the eyewitness even if the full CI isn't used.
(+) Geiselman et al (1985) found that the CI procedure produced more accurate, detailed memories than the standard police interview technique and interviews conducted under hypnosis.. •This is a strength as it highlights the real practical benefits to the police of using the CI.•It shows that it gives police a greater chance of catching and charging criminals, which benefits society as a whole.
(-) The techniques of the CI aim to increase the amount of correct information remembered.•However, the recall of incorrect information may also be increased.•Kohnken et al (1999) found an 81% increase of correct information but also 61% increase of incorrect information (false positives) when the ECI was compared to a standard police interview.
(-) It has been reported that officers believe the 'change in perspective' component misleads witnesses into speculating about the event witnessed.•Due to this concern, the CI is less frequently used.