Forensic Psychology
Lecture 1
Introduction
Learning objectives
1. What is Forensic Psychology and how does its approach differ from
the “Law”?
2. Outline the history and context of Forensic Psychology
3. Context: Explain the various sources of information regarding criminality
4. Context: Provide an overview of the extent/impact of crime [emphasising
the importance of statistics
5. Context: Analyse cross-cultural [nation] comparisons regarding degree of
criminality
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What is forensic psychology?
Definitions”
• Psychology – the science of human behaviour
• Forensic psychology – strictly speaking is science of human behaviour
associated with the work of the courts
• Currently, forensic psychology encompasses criminal psychology and is
defined as – psychology applied to the law, the legal system, victims
and criminals [offenders/law breakers]
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Content: Topics in this BESC1429 course
1. Introduction
2. Theories of crime and social content of crime
3. Crime in society and victims of crime
4. Diversity groups and crime
5. Types of crime: Property and person crimes
6. Determining guilt
7. Eyewitness testimony
8. Profiling
9. Courts
10. Prisons
11. Clinical psychological perspectives
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APS definition of Forensic Psychology
APS definition of forensic psychology
• “Forensic psychologists are scientist-practitioners. They apply
psychological knowledge, theory and skills to the understanding and
functioning of legal and criminal justice systems, and to conducting
research in relevant areas. They often work in criminal, civil and family
legal contexts and provide services for litigants, perpetrators, victims,
and personnel of government and community organisations”. Australian
Psychological Society (2017) [Howitt, 2017].
Important concept of this definition - Scientist-practitioner –
a. Scientist - creating knowledge, theory, and skills in an applied area
b. As practitioners – apply this knowledge to all aspects of the criminal
justice system and all individuals involved in the criminal justice system
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Forensic psychology in Australia
1. Australian Psychological Society [APS] – has a specialist college for
forensic psychologists
• [see [Link] – the college is made up of
academic/research and professional psychologists who specialist in
forensic and criminal psychology
• Again, both pure researchers and applied practitioners
2. Australian Psychology Accreditation Council – this is Government body
that accredits and regulates Masters level programs in Forensic Psychology
• [Link]
• Note: Forensic psychologist is a protected title – so only professionals with
the appropriate academic training can call themselves and act as a forensic
psychologist
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The role of other psychologists
However, many other psychologists may become involved with the courts and
the legal system
For example
1. Clinical psychologist – to determine sanity when committing the crime,
competency to stand trial, etc
2. Cognitive psychologist – to determine the reliability of eye-witness
testimony
3. Personality psychologist – how best to interview suspects
4. Educational-developmental psychologists – how to interview child
eyewitnesses
5. Social psychologists – dynamics of group decision making in juries
6. Cross cultural and/or indigenous psychology to interpret cultural
differences in acculturation and [mis]understanding of a foreign host legal
system
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While the law and psychology both involve the understanding of human
behaviour, the two disciplines can be quite incompatible
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What the forensic psychologist needs to understand 1
If you are considering becoming a Forensic Psychologist
1. The context of their work
a. Psychology relevant to discipline – criminals, victims, police, judges,
lawyers and juries
b. Legal framework – the nation’s laws and the structure of the criminal
justice system
2. The application and what psychology can achieve
a. Criminal investigation process
b. Legal processes
c. Custodial processes
d. Intervention/treatment processes – for criminals and victims
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What the forensic psychologist needs to understand 2
3. The psychology relevant to individuals
a. Individual differences – gender, developmental age, culture, etc
b. Offenders – especially their mental health
c. Victims - especially their well-being
d. Witnesses – both eyewitnesses and expert witnesses
e. Criminal justice roles – investigators, prosecutors etc
4. The basic psychological processes
a. Different “legal” requirements of standard psychological assessments
b. Psychological professional demands – report writing, expert testimony
c. Legal processes of investigation, prosecution, incarceration, etc
d. Judge and jury decision making – including innocence/guilt, length of
sentence, role of custody [punishment versus rehabilitation], and risk
management
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End of learning objective 1
Consider
Pause
Reflect – your interest and future role in the area of
Forensic Psychology
Stop and have a short rest break
Play and continue with lecture
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Learning objectives
1. What is Forensic Psychology and how does its approach differ from the
“Law”?
2. Outline the history and context of Forensic Psychology
3. Context: Explain the various sources of information regarding criminality
4. Context: Provide an overview of the extent/impact of crime [emphasising
the importance of statistics
5. Context: Analyse cross-cultural [nation] comparisons regarding degree of
criminality
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History of Forensic psychology 1
Many historical influences from philosophy [Aristotle and deductive reasoning]
and general psychology to Freud [crime is a mental disorder between ID
[biological impulses of sex/aggression], Ego [reality] and Super-Ego
[morality] and Wundt [first academic and research psychologist]
1. [Psychological] research from the 13th century onward that focused on
competence
a. Mental competence [originally named lunatics] – insanity defence that
was broadened to fitness to stand trial and fitness to be executed and
currently is being expanded to hold prisoners that have completed their
sentence but have the intent to commit further crimes [serial killers and
paedophiles]
b. Intellectual competence [originally labelled idiots] – ability to
understand moral reasoning of forming intent
c. Developmental competence – that children may not have the
intellectual decision making to form criminal intent
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History of Forensic psychology 2
2. Wundt’s [first experimental psych] and pupil Munsterberg
a. Munsterberg in 1908 published “On the Witness Stand” which
highlighted memory deficiencies of eyewitnesses and how eye-witness
testimony disproportionately influences jury decision making
b. He also wrote on “Untrue confessions” which focused on how fallible
confessions could be – both normal confessions and ones that were
elicited under police pressure
3. Evolution of developmental psychology and legal implications
a. Pre 18th century children were considered adults and could consent to
having sex
b. 18th century – children were not considered adults, but were thought to
be instigators of sexual encounters with adults
c. 20th century – seen as victims of crime
4. Similar evolution of domestic violence [in most, but not all nations]
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Current status 1
Estimated rates of criminal behaviours
1. When asked, most people in the Western world indicate that
• All crime rates are rising and there needs to be a tightening of the laws
and more server penalties
2. However.
• Overall crime rates appear not to have increased or decreased –
although statistically some crime rates have decreased [homicides] and
others have increased [reporting and convictions regarding child sexual
abuse and domestic violence]
• Why this misconception – see fear of crime [next lecture]
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Current status 2
Current focus on forensic psychology
1. Rehabilitation of offenders
2. Increasing age of competence [current move in Australia from 10 years to
at least 14 years]
3. Restorative justice – for the benefit to both offenders and victims
4. Social-geographical distribution of crime – types of crime, improved
surveillance, re-focus on proximate causes and now prevention [Crime
Prevention thru Environmental Design]
5. Neuropsychological causes of crime – and new chemical treatments
6. Forensic psychologists right to provide expert testimony – previously the
sole domain of medical practitioners [including psychiatry]
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Learning objectives
1. What is Forensic Psychology and how does its approach differ from the
“Law”?
2. Outline the history and context of Forensic Psychology
3. Context: Explain the various sources of information regarding
criminality
4. Context: Provide an overview of the extent/impact of crime [emphasising
the importance of statistics
5. Context: Analyse cross-cultural [nation] comparisons regarding degree of
criminality
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Social context of crime
Overview
1. There are many sources of data regarding crime statistics
2. Crime statistics from these different sources
a. Vary from each other
b. Once understood – all provide a richer understanding of crime in our
society
3. Overall findings
a. Criminal behaviour is quite common
b. Mundane crime dominates crime rates
4. International comparisons are interesting but are challenging because
a. Data collection methods vary
b. Criminal justice systems vary
c. Crime is culture-bound –what each society considers a crime varies
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Sources of information re criminality
• Statistics influence community perceptions, knowledge and attitudes toward
crime
1. Personal experiences
a. Over 90% of Australian adults have been a victim of crime – although
90% of the crimes were property crimes and mostly mundane crimes
b. For the 10% who have been victims of person crimes – there are
i. the added cost of two-fold increase of fear of crime and
ii. hypervigilance regarding avoidance of crime-prone settings
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Sources of information 2
2. Media
a. Formal news
i. Largest proportion of media news stories are concerned with
crime and the criminal justice system
ii. By definition, news reports cover the relatively unusual and the
sensational, hence homicides, and not mundane crime [vandalism]
[Link],
1. violent crimes are disproportionately over-represented
2. no correspondence between media coverage of crime and
either official police records or crime victim surveys
b. Movies, Television
i. The bias toward homicides, etc is even more extreme – with most
crime fiction focussing on “ingenious” plots – created by intelligent
professional writers rather than ordinary amateurs who decide to
commit murder
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Sources of information 3A
3. Victimisation surveys
a. Survey of the general population about their personal experiences with crime
b. Overall findings
i. Reports the highest crime rates
ii. Demonstrates that most crime is mundane [not newsworthy] and property crime [90%]
[Link] around 40% of all crimes are reported to the police [criminal justice system]
c. Advantage of victim surveys
• Identifies crimes that are unknown to police - for example
o victimless crimes such as illegal drug consumption
o Less than 40% of rape/sexual assault/domestic violence crimes are reported to
police but are impacting on society
•
a. Disadvantage
• Challenge to get a representative sample
• Do not report victimless crimes – street graffiti
• Cannot assess homicides – as victim is dead
• Avoid their own criminality – [drug offences]
• For ethical concerns – may not report some sexual offences [child sexual abuse]– even
though there is anonymity and should be no self-blame and no sense of shame/guilt
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Sources of information 3B
Advantage of victim surveys
• Reports crimes that are unknown to police [Official police records] -
for example
o victimless crimes such as illegal drug consumption
o Less than 50% of of these crimes are reported to police but are
impacting on society
Disadvantage of victim surveys
• Challenge to get a representative sample
• Do not report community-based crimes – street graffiti
• Cannot assess homicides – as victim is dead
• Avoid their own criminality – [drug offences]
• For ethical concerns – may not report some sexual offences [child
sexual abuse]– even though there is anonymity and should be no
self-blame and no sense of shame/guilt
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Sources of information 4A
4. Official crime records
a. Law enforcement has a statutory requirement to collect, collate and
report to the Government all things that are considered “criminal”
b. Overall findings from these official police records are what “we”
know about crime in our society
i. Person crimes – homicides, assaults, all property crimes where
victim is physically present – about 10% of all crimes reported
ii. Property crimes – theft, burglary, criminal damage, arson etc –
target of crime focused on [unattended] possessions
iii. Crimes against society – drug and public order offences
iv. Fraud – mainly business
v. Sex offences [including prostitution] – around 2%
vi. Homicides – rare events – around .01% of all crimes – that Is 1%
of 1% of all crimes
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Sources of information 4B
a. Advantages of official crime statistics
i. Use a standardised legal definition of crime
ii. Used to evaluate the CJS performance – reporting rates,
investigation rates, prosecution rates, incarceration rates
[Link] with other sources [especially victim surveys] can develop a
clear understanding of crime in society – eg non-reporting rates or
where criminal justice system may choose not to investigate
b. Disadvantages of official crime statistics
i. Relies on police discretion on what constitutes a crime
ii. Police to do not record or investigate all crimes - only investigating
crimes that will lead to a prosecution and conviction
[Link] data –less than half the crimes are reported to police
[Link] on serious [person] crimes [thus over-reported/represented]
and ignore or spend less resources on mundane property crimes
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Other sources of information 5
5. Court statistics – offences that are processed through various courts –
including conviction rates, appeal rates, incarceration rates
6. Prison statistics – numbers in prisons, characteristics of prisoners [gender,
age, ethnicity, etc], offence categories, length of sentences, parole rates,
recidivism rates
7. Offender surveys – these are social science surveys attempting to
understand criminality from the offenders’ perspective
a. General population – over 95% of participants report committing crimes
– but tend to be trivial and not prosecuted – underage drinking
b. Prison population – generally a measure of crimes that are:
i. Not detected
ii. Detected but not charged
[Link], arrested but not prosecuted
[Link], arrested, prosecuted, but not convicted
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Conclusion
1. Crime statistics – all sources are not incorrect – but provide different
perspectives and the sum [total] add more than each individual source
2. All crime statistics have value – while not all crimes are reported to police,
police performance can still be determined – eg clearance rates
3. Rates of different categories of crimes can be evaluated over time – are
homicide rates increasing or decreasing over time – for example,
a. homicide rates in Australia have steadily decreased over the last 40
years
b. child abuse rates have increased over the last 40 years – but is it
more abuse or is it increased vigilance [mandatory reporting] and
willingness to prosecute etc
c. Rates may change over time due to legal changes
i. Recognizing marital rape
ii. Decriminalizing drug possession
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Learning objectives
1. What is Forensic Psychology and how does its approach differ from the
“Law”?
2. Outline the history and context of Forensic Psychology
3. Context: Explain the various sources of information regarding criminality
4. Context: Provide an overview of the extent/impact of crime
[emphasising the importance of statistics]
5. Context: Analyse cross-cultural [nation] comparisons regarding degree of
criminality
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Extent of crime 1
Importance of statistics
1. People
a. Only 2% of crimes are directly detected by police
b. 27% are reported by eyewitnesses [not victims]
c. Approx. 70% of crimes reported by victims –
– but these crimes only make up 40% of all victimisations –
that is, 60% of these crimes are not reported
2. Hence, it is important for psychologists to study victim decision-making
a. What factors influence the decision that someone has been victimised
b. What factors influence the decision or report or not report a crime
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Extent of crime 2
3. Society
a. How societies define and report crimes varies – for example
i. In some countries homosexuality is illegal
ii. In some countries, domestic violence is always considered the fault
of the female partner
[Link] some countries – marital rape is not defined as a crime
b. Most nations are compared with each other re crime rates using an index
of crimes – but these indexes vary – while all indexes include
homicides, not all include statistics on home invasions and domestic
violence
c. While all nations require official police statistics – because of resource
implications and political concerns – many nations have inadequate
data collection/analysis
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Extent of criminality 1
Some social psychological studies
1. 50% of males and 30% of females reported that in their lifetimes they had
committed one of the following core crimes: burglary, theft, criminal
damage, robbery, assault and selling [illegal] drugs
2. In a natural observation experiment, only 55% of people returned money
they had “found” in an addressed envelope that was “lost” in a public
place
3. 95% of adolescents who were surveyed admitted to breaking the law in
terms of juvenile offences – including underage drinking, shoplifting,
creating graffiti
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Theoretical Implications
Theoretical Implications for psychology and criminology
1. Committing crime is wrong, but is frequent and statistically “normal” in
modern societies – 95% of people in Australia commit crimes
2. These findings question the notion that criminals have some form of
“psychopathology”
3. These findings emphasis the two major theories of crime – evolutionary
theory and social structural theory
a. Evolutionary theory – explains criminality in terms of genetics – that is
criminality is inherent in humans
b. Social Structural Theory – explains criminality in terms of society
structures [social classes] and learning
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Criminals - Individual differences
1. Taking the most stringent criteria [person incarcerated] – around 3% of adult
Australians are likely to be jailed for breaking the law
2. However, increased chances of being incarcerated depending upon
a. Gender – males five times more likely
b. Ethnicity – indigenous people – 17 times more likely
c. Education level – did not complete secondary school – four times
higher
d. SES level – bottom 20% of poor – increased changes of being
incarcerated
e. Mental health – a diagnosable mental disorder increases chances of
incarceration
3. Theoretical explanation – are these individual differences due to inherited
differences or a product of societal/institutionalised discrimination
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Different perspectives 1
How can criminal statistics be interpreted:
• Conservatism is a cultural, social and political philosophy that seeks to
promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values
• Radical thinking refers to understanding things from their roots, seeking to
resolve problems based on basic principles and foundations
o In USA, 30% of convictions and incarcerations are associated with drug
possession and drug trafficking – primarily affecting low SES and minority
ethnic groups
▪ Conservative analysis – such a major crime problem is driven by
Government policy [War on Drugs] and is more about law enforcement
and severity of drug-related sentences
▪ Radical view – such a major crime problem can be reconceptualized as a
failure in drug policy [war on drugs] and Governments should consider
alternatives such as decriminalizing drug usage [see Portugal]
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Different perspectives 2
o Over-representation of indigenous people in Australia [and Black
Americans in USA]
▪ Conservative – racist undertones – the inheritance of criminal
tendencies and current society attitudes/actions [including the
criminal justice system is not biased and just reflects reality
▪ Radical – reflect huge social inequalities and biases in the
community [institutionalised racism] – including reporting crimes,
investigation decisions and court determinations
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Learning objectives
1. What is Forensic Psychology and how does its approach differ from the
“Law”?
2. Outline the history and context of Forensic Psychology
3. Context: Explain the various sources of information regarding criminality
4. Context: Provide an overview of the extent/impact of crime [emphasising
the importance of statistics]
5. Context: Analyse cross-cultural [nation] comparisons regarding
degree of criminality
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International comparisons 1
• Comparisons are interesting but are methodologically questionable
• Reasons include
o Each countries crime index made up of different combinations of
crimes
o Some offenses are weighted more than others – person versus
property crimes
o Laws [what is legal] differs between nations
o In some countries [developing nations] rarely survey remote, rural
areas for crimes
o National surveys are conducted at different times [five year range]
o Reporting different statistics – some report prevalence [crimes
committed within a year] versus some report incidence [frequency of
crimes committed within a year]
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International comparisons 2
• Findings
o Overall remarkable variation in crime rates
o Rates of individual crimes vary and this variation impacts on crime
index = USA [majority of prisoners have been convicted of drug offences]
versus Portugal [had very similar crime index until Portugal
decriminalized personal use of drugs]
o Rates/trends vary in burglaries – for example – continues to increase
in Australia but continues to decrease in USA
• Homicide only statistics seen as the most reliable crime to make
meaningful comparisons
o USA – 5.2 homicides per 100,000 citizens
o Australia – 1.1 homicides per 100,000 citizens
• Can then explore legal and cultural differences that may help explain such
differences [note, cannot be explained solely by evolutionary/genetic
psychology]
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Explaining international variations 1
1. Legal system varies
a. Adversarial system [in UK, USA & Australia] – where police and
prosecutors are against the defence team in terms of attempting to
convince judges and juries of guilt/innocence
b. Inquisition system [in France] – judge involved during investigation –
including what evidence will be used during the court case
2. Jury system
a. Some countries [eg Japan and France] only use judges/magistrates
b. Other countries [eg UK, USA & Australia] make available the jury
system for most major crimes
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Explaining international variations 2
3. Age of criminal responsibility
a. Japan – 20 years of age
b. Australia – the equal youngest at 10 years of age
c. USA – for serious crimes [eg homicides], children can be tried as adults
[in an adult court]
4. Police system
a. National police – in Japan, but also in most nations
b. Two tiered [local and national] – eg France
c. Primarily local [no or small restricted national force] eg
a. in Australia state based with small Commonwealth Police force,
b. in USA, mainly city based
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Explaining international variations 3
5. Different behaviours defined a criminal
6. Prisons – profound differences in penal policies including
a. Bail regulations
b. Sentencing guidelines
c. Parole policy – reduction of sentences for good behaviour within the
prison system
d. Parole decisions re managing risk to community and risk re-offending
Next slide: world map on crime rates – is there a pattern
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Can you detect any pattern?
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Current ABS crime statistics 1A
Recorded Crime – Offenders for 2022
Note: ABS focusses on person crimes]
Key statistics
• there were 369,488 offenders [1.4%] of population] proceeded against by
police in Australia, up 3% from 2020-21
• illicit drug offences decreased for the sixth consecutive year to 50,920
offenders
• The increase in offenders nationally was largely driven by the increase in
COVID-19 related offences in New South Wales.
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Current ABS crime statistics 1B
The three most common person offences were:
1. acts intended to cause injury (23%)
2. miscellaneous offences (17%)
3. illicit drug offences (14%)
a. Illicit drug offences decreased by 19% from the previous year,
the sixth consecutive year that illicit drug offenders have
decreased.
b. The offender rate also decreased and is now the lowest rate
recorded since 2008.
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Current ABS crime statistics 1C
Individual differences
• Sex –
o Three-quarters of offenders proceeded against by police were male.
o Acts intended to cause injury was the most common principal
offence for both male and female offenders
• Age
o The median age of offenders was 31 years
o Most offenders (70%) proceeded against were under 40 years
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Current ABS crime statistics 2A
Recorded Crime – Victims for 2021
Key statistics
• Sexual assault recorded by police increased by 13%.
• Most victims of sexual assault were under 18 years of age at the date
of incident (61%).
• Property offences decreased in 2020 but increased in 2021,.
Homicide and related offences [Australia]
• There were 201 homicides in 2021 [1.1 per 100,000 citizens] compared
to over 25,000 homicides in the USA for 2021 [5.2 per 1000,000]
• This was a decrease of 7% in victims from the previous year. And is at
its lowest annual rate since this statistics\al analysis began 1993.
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Current ABS crime statistics 2B
In 2021, most homicide and related offences:
• were murders (52%)
• occurred at a residential location (63%)
• involved the use of a weapon (61%)
For victims of homicide and related offences:
• the majority (70%) were male
• most were aged 18 years and over (87%)
• More than a quarter (28%) of incidents were family and domestic
violence (FDV) related
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Future implications
Implications – that will be addressed n future lectures
• In terms of the experience of crime – forensic psychologists should shift
their primary focus from offenders to a more balanced view – include
studying the impact of crime on victims
• Any focus on victims and crime prevention should avoid victim-blaming
• Focus on Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
• Broaden research from eyewitness testimony and jury-decision-making
• Focus on radical solutions rather than supporting facilitating the status quo
o Do not just advocate harsher penalties
o Research effective rehabilitation not only in prisons but after prisoners
are released
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Conclusions 1
1. The scope of forensic psychology is currently very broad:
encompassing all aspects of of psychology that relate to all aspects of
CJS [including victims
2. Forensic psychology was one of the first areas of focus in
experimental psychology, but quantitative research [with its deductive
analysis] has limited its future impact – with most focus still on the two
original topics [ eyewitness testimony and jury decision making]
3. There are many data sources regarding criminality, they generate
“contradictory” findings, but with a clear understanding on how
different data is collected allows researchers to gain greater insights
[than just relying on one data source]
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Conclusions 2
4. There are social psychological factors that “prevent” people from
reporting their criminal victimisation to the police
5. Most people admit to committing crimes in our society
a. Negates the abnormal or psychopathology explanation
b. This implies that criminality is either inherent or caused by societal
level factors – see theories next lecture
6. There are two perspectives regarding solutions to criminality: a
conservative/status quo philosophy [more of the same] or a radical
view [refocus on cause and try different strategies]
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Conclusions 3
7. While cross cultural comparisons are intrinsically interesting, there is
so much variation at each step of data collection that any comparisons
are problematic
8. Compared to some [equivalent] countries [eg USA], Australia has
a. A very low homicide rate
b. A person crime rate that continues to decline
9. Most Australians
a. are surprised by Australia’s low homicide rate
b. Believe the rates of all crimes are increasing year on year
Note, these misperceptions and fear of crime [see next lecture]
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