| CODE | CRM1012 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Psychology and Investigation | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Criminology | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The most nominal criminological question concerns the reasons why people commit crime. However, the study of crime encompasses more than just the criminal, a sequence of events that starts with the police and proceeds to the courtroom for sentencing. This unit concentrates on the role of psychologists in investigating crime. The unit introduces students to offender profiling, memory and investigative interviewing, eyewitness memory, evaluating evidence, false confessions and the issues pertaining to state of offender's state of mind. The study-unit will be structured as follows: 1. Psychology and Law 2. Offender profiling 鈥� Crime Scene characteristics 鈥� The use of profiling as an investigative tool 鈥� The main assumptions on which profiling is based 鈥� Evaluation of effectiveness of offender profiling 3. Memory and investigative interviewing 鈥� Introduction to psychological knowledge of memory 鈥� Interviewing and interviewing models as information-gathering techniques 鈥� Interviewing children and people with learning difficulties 4. Eyewitness Memory 鈥� Acquisition, retention and retrieval of information 鈥� Witness factors 鈥� Experimental evidence on eye witness memory 5. Evaluating evidence 鈥� The polygraph - a technique used for detecting deception in suspects 鈥� Statement validity assessment - a technique used for judging the credibility of witness statements 6. The psychology of false confessions 鈥� The types of false confessions 鈥� Pressures of interrogation of the suspect 鈥� Suspects making false confessions, the factors that elicit false confessions 7. State of the mind 鈥� Legal issues related to fitness to plead, insanity and diminished responsibility 鈥� The nature of psychological measurement to evaluate mental state 鈥� Assessment of mental state Study-unit Aims: The aims of this study-unit are: i) to introduce students to offender profiling; ii) to review the processes emanating from the knowledge of memory and how to carry out investigative interviewing; ii) to investigate the concept of eyewitness memory; iii) to transmit the processes relating to evaluating evidence; iv) to introduce the psychology of false confessions; v) to cover the legal and psychological measurement issues pertaining to the state of the mind, through an assessment of the mental state. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: i) to understand what constitutes offender profiling; ii) to understand how effective investigative interviewing techniques work; ii) to be knowledgeable on the realities of eyewitness memory; iii) to understand the validity of tools employed in forensic setting; iv) to be able to understand the factors underpinning false confessions. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: i) to identify Crime Scene characteristics; ii) to review interviewing models employed as information-gathering techniques; ii) to evaluate the relative research evidence covered in the unit; iv) to discuss the efficacy of the lie-detection tools; v) to discuss the mental state assessment of offenders. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Bekerian, D.A. and Jackson, J.L. (1997). Critical issues in offender profiling. In J.L. Jackson and D.A. Bekerian (Eds.) Offender Profiling: Theory, Research and practice. (pp.209-220) Chichester: Wiley. - Canter, D. (2000). Offender profiling and criminal differentiation. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 5, 23-46. - Copson, G., Badcock, R., Boon, J., and Britton, P. (1997). Editorial: Articulating a systematic approach to clinical crime profiling. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 7, 13-17. - Davies, G.M. (1996). Children鈥檚 identification evidence. In S.L. Sporer, R. Malpass and G. Koehnken (Eds.), Psychological Issues in eyewitness identification (233-258). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. - Gudjonsson, G.H. (1996). Interviewing: Basic principles and theory. In The psychology of interrogations, confessions and testimony. (pp. 5-23). Chichester: Wiley. - Gudjonsson, G.H. and Copson, G. (1997). The role of the expert in criminal investigation. In In J.L. Jackson and D.A. Bekerian (Eds.) Offender Profiling: Theory, Research and practice. (pp.61-76) Chichester: Wiley. - Gudjonsson, G.H. and MacKeith, J.A.C. (1992). The Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. In G.H. Gudjonsson The psychology of interrogations, confessions and testimony. (pp.260-273) Chichester: Wiley. - Honts, C.R. (1994). Assessing children鈥檚 credibility: Scientific and legal issues in 1994. North Dakota Law Review, 70, 879-903. - Honts, C.R. and Quick, B.D. (1995). The polygraph in 1995: Progress in science and the law. North Dakota Law Review, 71, 987-1020. - Iacono, W.G. and Lykken, D.T. (1997). The validity of the lie detector: Two surveys of scientific opinion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 426-433. - Kassin, S.M. (1997). The psychology of confession evidence. American Psychologist, 52, 221-233. - Kohnken, G., Malpass, R., and Wogalter, M.S. (1996). Forensic applications of line-up research. In S.L. Sporer, R. Malpass and G. Koehnken (Eds.), Psychological issues in eyewitness identification (205-231). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. - Lykken, D.T. (1988). The case against polygraph testing. In A. Gale (Ed.). The polygraph test. (pp. 111-125). London: Sage Publications. - Memon, A., Holley, A., Milne, R., K枚hnken, G., and Bull, R. (1994). Towards understanding the effects of interview training in evaluating the cognitive interview. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, 641-659. - Ruby, C.L. and Brigham, J.C. (1997). The usefulness of the criteria-based content analysis technique in distinguishing between truthful and fabricated allegations. Psychology, Public Policy and Law, 3, 705-737. - Vrij, A. (1998). Interviewing suspects. In A. Memon, A. Vrij, and R.Bull (Eds.). Psychology and credibility. (pp. 124-146). London: McGraw-Hill. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | |||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Janice Formosa Pace |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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