Forensische Psychologie
Hoofdstukken ‘Forensic Psychology; Crime. Justice, Law, Interventions’
Derde druk
Rijkuniversiteit Groningen 2019-2020
, 2
Inhoud
Deel I: oorzaken en gevolgen van delinquent gedrag ............................................................ 3
HOOFDSTUK 1: Psychological approaches to understanding crime. ................................ 3
CHAPTER 2: Developmental and psychological theories of offending ............................... 6
Week 4 ................................................................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER 5: EFFECTS OF INTERPERSONAL CRIME ON VICTIMS.............................. 9
WEEK 1:.......................................................................................................................... 11
HOOFDSTUK 6: Eyewitness evidence ............................................................................ 11
WEEK 2: CHAPTER 15 Identifying perpetrators .............................................................. 14
WEEK 3: CHAPTER 7: INTERVIEWING WITNESSES ................................................... 17
CHAPTER 14: SAFEGUARDING VULNERABLE WITNESSES ...................................... 21
WEEK 5 Chapter 17: Crime and Punishment: What Works? ........................................... 22
Chapter 18: Risk Assessment and General Offender Behavior Programme .................... 24
Week 6:............................................................................................................................... 27
Chapter 11: Interpersonal Violence and Stalking ............................................................. 27
CHAPTER 20: Interventions with Female Offenders........................................................ 32
WEEK 7: ............................................................................................................................. 34
Chapter 19: Treating Dangerous Offenders ..................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 22: INTERVENTIONS WITH MENTALLY DISORDERED OFFENDERS ....... 38
CHAPTER 23: THE REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS: GOOD LIVES AND RISK
REDUCTION ................................................................................................................... 40
, 3
Deel I: oorzaken en gevolgen van delinquent gedrag
HOOFDSTUK 1: Psychological approaches to understanding crime.
1.2 Moral Reasoning Theory
Piaget and Kohlberg six stages of moral reasoning. Gibbs revised this theory and focused
only on the first four stages of Kohlberg’s theory.
Stage 1 & 2: immature moral reasoning, during which reasoning is superficial and
egocentric.
Stage 3 & 4: mature moral reasoning: superficial and egocentric. Societal needs are
represented in stage 4.
Gibbs
What particular features characterise the moral development of offenders. He suggests (1):
developmental delay; (2): self-serving cognitive distortions and (3): social skill deficiencies.
Particular features that characterise the moral development of offenders. (1) Developmental
, 4
delay in moral judgement; (2) Self-serving cognitive distortions and (3) social skill
deficiencies. The main offence-supporting distortion is egocentric bias. This is characteristic
for both immature moral reasoning and the thinking styles of offenders.
Secondary cognitive distortions: 1. Blaming others or external factors rather than oneself for
behaviour that harms other people. 2. Having a hostile attributional bias by which ambiguous
events/social interactions are interpreted as hostile and 3. minimising
consequences/mislabelling one's own antisocial behaviour in order to reduce feelings of guilt
and regret.
Also is there some evidence that offender have social skill deficits that can impact on their
behaviour in social situations.
Social information/processing theory
Describes how individuals perceive their social world and process information about it. The
six steps in this model are:
1. Encoding of social cues.
2. Interpretation and mental representation of the situation.
3. Clarification of goals/outcomes for the situation.
4. Access or construction of responses for the situation.
5. Choice of response.
6. Performance of chosen response.
A number of studies have reported that aggressive individuals have a hostile attributional
style, and so often misinterpret situations as hostile. This tendency is exacerbated when
individuals feel threatened or react impulsively. Aggressive people attribute greater blame to
external factors. They have revenge- and dominance-based goals, rather than prosocial
goals. They also have a limited social repertoire than non-aggressive people.
Aggressive individuals evaluate responses by different criteria, rating aggressive responses
more positively than prosocial responses and having more positive outcome expectancies
and perceptions of self-efficacy for aggression. Aggression is viewed as being more effective
to achieve goals.
Meta-analysis
Longitudinal studies show violent offenders have an early onset of offending behavior and
show considerable continuity of aggression and violence throughout their life.
Social factors and violence:
Clear link between violence and severe abuse in childhood and witnessing family violence.
This association appears to be mediated through the impact of abuse on children’s
psychological functioning, such as problem-solving and coping abilities.
Cognitive-behavioral theory and violence
Hostile attributional bias is one of the strongest findings. There has been found a very strong
relationship with aggressive behavior among children and adolescents and attributional bias.
There is also a relationship between low empathy and violent offending.
Emotion
There are reciprocal relationships between angry emotional arousal and cognitive
processes. Violent acts are angry behaviors. Angry thoughts can be triggered by situational
events. These angry thoughts then increase emotional arousal; and this arousal heightens
the intensity of the angry thoughts. As this cycle continues, the level of cognition and affect
increase in turn, with an increased risk of violence.
Hoofdstukken ‘Forensic Psychology; Crime. Justice, Law, Interventions’
Derde druk
Rijkuniversiteit Groningen 2019-2020
, 2
Inhoud
Deel I: oorzaken en gevolgen van delinquent gedrag ............................................................ 3
HOOFDSTUK 1: Psychological approaches to understanding crime. ................................ 3
CHAPTER 2: Developmental and psychological theories of offending ............................... 6
Week 4 ................................................................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER 5: EFFECTS OF INTERPERSONAL CRIME ON VICTIMS.............................. 9
WEEK 1:.......................................................................................................................... 11
HOOFDSTUK 6: Eyewitness evidence ............................................................................ 11
WEEK 2: CHAPTER 15 Identifying perpetrators .............................................................. 14
WEEK 3: CHAPTER 7: INTERVIEWING WITNESSES ................................................... 17
CHAPTER 14: SAFEGUARDING VULNERABLE WITNESSES ...................................... 21
WEEK 5 Chapter 17: Crime and Punishment: What Works? ........................................... 22
Chapter 18: Risk Assessment and General Offender Behavior Programme .................... 24
Week 6:............................................................................................................................... 27
Chapter 11: Interpersonal Violence and Stalking ............................................................. 27
CHAPTER 20: Interventions with Female Offenders........................................................ 32
WEEK 7: ............................................................................................................................. 34
Chapter 19: Treating Dangerous Offenders ..................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 22: INTERVENTIONS WITH MENTALLY DISORDERED OFFENDERS ....... 38
CHAPTER 23: THE REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS: GOOD LIVES AND RISK
REDUCTION ................................................................................................................... 40
, 3
Deel I: oorzaken en gevolgen van delinquent gedrag
HOOFDSTUK 1: Psychological approaches to understanding crime.
1.2 Moral Reasoning Theory
Piaget and Kohlberg six stages of moral reasoning. Gibbs revised this theory and focused
only on the first four stages of Kohlberg’s theory.
Stage 1 & 2: immature moral reasoning, during which reasoning is superficial and
egocentric.
Stage 3 & 4: mature moral reasoning: superficial and egocentric. Societal needs are
represented in stage 4.
Gibbs
What particular features characterise the moral development of offenders. He suggests (1):
developmental delay; (2): self-serving cognitive distortions and (3): social skill deficiencies.
Particular features that characterise the moral development of offenders. (1) Developmental
, 4
delay in moral judgement; (2) Self-serving cognitive distortions and (3) social skill
deficiencies. The main offence-supporting distortion is egocentric bias. This is characteristic
for both immature moral reasoning and the thinking styles of offenders.
Secondary cognitive distortions: 1. Blaming others or external factors rather than oneself for
behaviour that harms other people. 2. Having a hostile attributional bias by which ambiguous
events/social interactions are interpreted as hostile and 3. minimising
consequences/mislabelling one's own antisocial behaviour in order to reduce feelings of guilt
and regret.
Also is there some evidence that offender have social skill deficits that can impact on their
behaviour in social situations.
Social information/processing theory
Describes how individuals perceive their social world and process information about it. The
six steps in this model are:
1. Encoding of social cues.
2. Interpretation and mental representation of the situation.
3. Clarification of goals/outcomes for the situation.
4. Access or construction of responses for the situation.
5. Choice of response.
6. Performance of chosen response.
A number of studies have reported that aggressive individuals have a hostile attributional
style, and so often misinterpret situations as hostile. This tendency is exacerbated when
individuals feel threatened or react impulsively. Aggressive people attribute greater blame to
external factors. They have revenge- and dominance-based goals, rather than prosocial
goals. They also have a limited social repertoire than non-aggressive people.
Aggressive individuals evaluate responses by different criteria, rating aggressive responses
more positively than prosocial responses and having more positive outcome expectancies
and perceptions of self-efficacy for aggression. Aggression is viewed as being more effective
to achieve goals.
Meta-analysis
Longitudinal studies show violent offenders have an early onset of offending behavior and
show considerable continuity of aggression and violence throughout their life.
Social factors and violence:
Clear link between violence and severe abuse in childhood and witnessing family violence.
This association appears to be mediated through the impact of abuse on children’s
psychological functioning, such as problem-solving and coping abilities.
Cognitive-behavioral theory and violence
Hostile attributional bias is one of the strongest findings. There has been found a very strong
relationship with aggressive behavior among children and adolescents and attributional bias.
There is also a relationship between low empathy and violent offending.
Emotion
There are reciprocal relationships between angry emotional arousal and cognitive
processes. Violent acts are angry behaviors. Angry thoughts can be triggered by situational
events. These angry thoughts then increase emotional arousal; and this arousal heightens
the intensity of the angry thoughts. As this cycle continues, the level of cognition and affect
increase in turn, with an increased risk of violence.
