Psychobabble

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Rohan is joined by regulars Nerisa and Hannah, and old-timey member, Matthew Thompson, to discuss the psychology of law and order. By way of guiding the conversation we follow a series of hypothetical crimes – a string of deliberately set fires – from the incident through to the jury pronouncing guilt (or innocence).  Dr. Blake McKimmie Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland’s School of Psychology, joins us to discuss the nature of Jury Decision Making (in part 2).

Part 1 looks at the science and the claims of offender profiling. What is done, and how valid is it. It’s certainly true that we look for commonalities between complex events, but how useful is this knowledge in making useful (and valid) prediction about the future, about the offender, or about an offender’s motivation or personal qualities?

Part 1 also looks at forensic evidence. Fingerprints – contrary to popular belief – are not processed by a machine, but by a human. And humans, in many ways, are fallible. How reliable are the processes that collect prints, the people who analyze them, and the conclusions we make based on them?

Part 1 also includes a discussion on eye-witness evidence, the weakness of human memory, and the best (recommended) practices of how to conduct a police line-up.

Part 2 examines the interview and interrogation. What the difference is, and how each is approach by law enforcement. Are police any better at detecting deception than a layperson? Usually not, but they certainly believe their more confident! What kind of outcomes does this deliver, and how wary should we be of any given confession?

Part 2 is joined by Dr. Blake McKimmie, Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland’s School of Psychology. He offers his opinion as a scientist and active investigator of the nature of jury judgement and the decision making process.

Media:

The Synchrotron and Fingerprints – http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100317/full/464344a.html

A Radex. Canter (2011)

Professor David Canter – Profiler - http://www.davidcanter.com/

Professor Elizabeth Loftus - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1236565/

References:
Snook, B., Cullen, R., Bennell, C., Taylor, P., & Gendreau, P. (2008). The Criminal Profiling Illusion: What’s Behind the Smoke and Mirrors? Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35 (10), 1257-1276 DOI: 10.1177/0093854808321528

Canter, D. (2011). Resolving the Offender “Profiling Equations” and the Emergence of an Investigative Psychology Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20 (1), 5-10 DOI: 10.1177/0963721410396825

Taylor, P., Donald, I., Jacques, K., & Conchie, S. (2012). Jaccard’s heel: Radex models of criminal behaviour are rarely falsifiable when derived using Jaccard coefficient Legal and Criminological Psychology, 17 (1), 41-58 DOI: 10.1348/135532510X518371

Bosco D, Zappalà A, & Santtila P (2010). The admissibility of offender profiling in courtroom: a review of legal issues and court opinions. International journal of law and psychiatry, 33 (3), 184-91 PMID: 20416950

Brewer, N., & Palmer, M. (2010). Eyewitness identification tests Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15 (1), 77-96 DOI: 10.1348/135532509X414765

Kassin, S., Appleby, S., & Perillo, J. (2010). Interviewing suspects: Practice, science, and future directions Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15 (1), 39-55 DOI: 10.1348/135532509X449361

Kassin SM, Leo RA, Meissner CA, Richman KD, Colwell LH, Leach AM, & La Fon D (2007). Police interviewing and interrogation: a self-report survey of police practices and beliefs. Law and human behavior, 31 (4), 381-400 PMID: 17253153

Meijer, E., & Verschuere, B. (2010). The Polygraph and the Detection of Deception Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 10 (4), 325-338 DOI: 10.1080/15228932.2010.481237

Mann S, Vrij A, & Bull R (2004). Detecting true lies: police officers’ ability to detect suspects’ lies. The Journal of applied psychology, 89 (1), 137-49 PMID: 14769126

Matthew B. Thompson, Jason M. Tangen, Duncan J. McCarthy (2012). Expertise in Fingerprint Identification Journal of Forensic Science

Tangen, J., Thompson, M., & McCarthy, D. (2011). Identifying Fingerprint Expertise Psychological Science, 22 (8), 995-997 DOI: 10.1177/0956797611414729