Introduction – forensic psychology
Goals & practical information
- Up to date knowledge on criminal behaviour, its causes and consequences
- Better understanding of various forensic psychological topic
- Current frameworks concerning legal proceedings, diagnostics, assessment and treatment
- Examen: 20 MPC, 2 open questions
Introduction
- Ed Camper (niet kennen voor examen)
o Model prisoner very calm, intelligent: IQ 140, gentle
o In contrast with what he did
o Still in detention, 84 years. Very tall, 2 meters
o His mother was not loving or pleasant
Parents divorced when he was 7
Father moved out, lived with mother and two sisters
Belittled him, mocked him, ‘you’re a freak, never find a girlfriend’
No cuddles or affection, afraid it’d make him gay
Ed started hating her
Turned into anger and deep hatred
When he was 10 he wanted to kill his mother, but still had love for her.
Strange feelings for him
One of his siters pushed him in the water, almost drowned. He decapitated the head
of the dolls of his sister
Slept in the basement sometimes, mother was afraid he would do something
o At 14 years he runs away in search for his father
His father was okay, but he has a new family now
Ed couldn’t stay, so the sent him to his grandmother
o He didn’t find love from his mother, nor his father
He felt rejected
o Unfortunately, grandmother is like the mother
There is a fight one day, with grandmother, grandfather was
Shoots grandmother in the head and back
1
, Grandfather comes back and Ed kills him too
Because he wanted to cover up?
Rage fit?
o Ed said he just wanted to kill his grandma, to see what if felt like
o Ed felt sorry for his grandfather and didn’t want him to live without his wife
o When released he goes back to live with his mother probs no other options
o When he gets a car, he starts driving around
He starts picking up hitchhikers, young females
Around 150 hitchhikers before it went wrong. He enjoyed being in the presence of
the young women
But he starts to feel sexual urges
Started experimenting: when I say this, what will happen
In 1972 he picks up two young women, drives them to deserted place
Stabs and strangles both of them
Put them in the truck and dropped them in the ravine, after he dismembers them.
Irrematio to the cut off head
Does this to more women, same thing
o One day kills his mom
Also decapitated her.
He screamed one hour to her head.
Then he used her head as a dartboard.
Then cut off her tongue. Hatred that built up all these years
Irrematio to his mother as well
o He didn’t kill after this
The 6/7 girls were leading up to his mother, probs dealing with the inside rage
Killing didn’t have any meaning anymore
Turned himself in
Understanding
- Profiling doesn’t happen that much. Not dominant
o In Sweden it is more prevalent, and US, and Canada.
- FP is not forensic science or law enforcement
o We do not do blood splatter things, no guns, no crime scenes, etc.
o It tries to apply psychological principles to assist the legal system
o Forensic psychologist studies human behaviour
- Forensic comes from forensis = of the forum (a marketplace)
o The forums was also a place where disputes were resolved in public. Like a public
open courtroom
o It means it’s related to the law
History
- Middle ages and earlier: good and wrong related to religion, demons, witches, sinners
- There was individual liability = you are responsible for your deeds
o What if a demon is inside you? Are you still responsible?
- End of middle ages: first use of insanity
- Lombrosco 19th century
o Criminal atavism = criminals represented a reversion to a primitive or subhuman type
of person characterized by physical features reminiscent of apes, lower primates,
and early humans and to some extent preserved, he said, in modern "savages".
o He thought criminals have physical anomalies
o Ex.: If you have a strange face, you might be a serial killer
2
, o ‘In general, thieves are notable for their expressive faces and manual dexterity, small
wandering eyes that are often oblique in form, thick and close eyebrows, distorted or
squashed noses, thin beards and hair, and sloping foreheads. Like rapists, they often
have jug ears. Rapists, however, nearly always have sparkling eyes, delicate features,
and swollen lips and eyelids. Most of them are frail; some are hunchbacked.’
- 19th century: development of theories around insanity and criminal behaviour
- 1879: first laboratory for experimental psychology (Wundt)
o In Lypsich
- 1908: ‘On the witness stand’ a book from Münsterberg
o Series of essays to describe research on eyewitness testimony, false confessions and
uses of psychology in legal problems
o Used psychology for a more fair outcome, an attempt to do so
- 20th century
o Psychologist were more called upon to assist the legal system as an expert to apply
their (rudimentary) knowledge to the legal system as expert (e.g., testifying as expert
witness)
o Psychology = a tool in arriving at fair and just legal outcomes
- Jenkins (1962): court ruled that psychological testimony could be admitted to determine
criminal responsibility (i.e., insanity)
o Forensic psychologists now routinely testify in insanity cases after evaluating
defendants
- From then FP started booming
Stanley Milgram Experiments (1961)
-
- People (actual subject) could apply shocks to ‘subject’ (fake screams) in other room
- Experimenter was there and urged to keep going
- They could give a lethal shock
- People went that far to give the lethal shock; they didn’t know the person in the other room
was fake
- Link forensic psychology: in specific contexts and specific circumstances, everyone could
behave criminally
Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)
- People were guards and prisoners
- After a while, guards started to mistreat the prisoners and escalated quickly
- Things can get out of hand very quickly
- “I offer a psychological account of how ordinary people sometimes turn evil and commit
unspeakable acts. As part of this account, The Lucifer Effect tells, for the first time, the full
story behind the Stanford Prison Experiment, a now-classic study I conducted in 1971. In that
study, normal college students were randomly assigned to play the role of guard or inmate
3
Goals & practical information
- Up to date knowledge on criminal behaviour, its causes and consequences
- Better understanding of various forensic psychological topic
- Current frameworks concerning legal proceedings, diagnostics, assessment and treatment
- Examen: 20 MPC, 2 open questions
Introduction
- Ed Camper (niet kennen voor examen)
o Model prisoner very calm, intelligent: IQ 140, gentle
o In contrast with what he did
o Still in detention, 84 years. Very tall, 2 meters
o His mother was not loving or pleasant
Parents divorced when he was 7
Father moved out, lived with mother and two sisters
Belittled him, mocked him, ‘you’re a freak, never find a girlfriend’
No cuddles or affection, afraid it’d make him gay
Ed started hating her
Turned into anger and deep hatred
When he was 10 he wanted to kill his mother, but still had love for her.
Strange feelings for him
One of his siters pushed him in the water, almost drowned. He decapitated the head
of the dolls of his sister
Slept in the basement sometimes, mother was afraid he would do something
o At 14 years he runs away in search for his father
His father was okay, but he has a new family now
Ed couldn’t stay, so the sent him to his grandmother
o He didn’t find love from his mother, nor his father
He felt rejected
o Unfortunately, grandmother is like the mother
There is a fight one day, with grandmother, grandfather was
Shoots grandmother in the head and back
1
, Grandfather comes back and Ed kills him too
Because he wanted to cover up?
Rage fit?
o Ed said he just wanted to kill his grandma, to see what if felt like
o Ed felt sorry for his grandfather and didn’t want him to live without his wife
o When released he goes back to live with his mother probs no other options
o When he gets a car, he starts driving around
He starts picking up hitchhikers, young females
Around 150 hitchhikers before it went wrong. He enjoyed being in the presence of
the young women
But he starts to feel sexual urges
Started experimenting: when I say this, what will happen
In 1972 he picks up two young women, drives them to deserted place
Stabs and strangles both of them
Put them in the truck and dropped them in the ravine, after he dismembers them.
Irrematio to the cut off head
Does this to more women, same thing
o One day kills his mom
Also decapitated her.
He screamed one hour to her head.
Then he used her head as a dartboard.
Then cut off her tongue. Hatred that built up all these years
Irrematio to his mother as well
o He didn’t kill after this
The 6/7 girls were leading up to his mother, probs dealing with the inside rage
Killing didn’t have any meaning anymore
Turned himself in
Understanding
- Profiling doesn’t happen that much. Not dominant
o In Sweden it is more prevalent, and US, and Canada.
- FP is not forensic science or law enforcement
o We do not do blood splatter things, no guns, no crime scenes, etc.
o It tries to apply psychological principles to assist the legal system
o Forensic psychologist studies human behaviour
- Forensic comes from forensis = of the forum (a marketplace)
o The forums was also a place where disputes were resolved in public. Like a public
open courtroom
o It means it’s related to the law
History
- Middle ages and earlier: good and wrong related to religion, demons, witches, sinners
- There was individual liability = you are responsible for your deeds
o What if a demon is inside you? Are you still responsible?
- End of middle ages: first use of insanity
- Lombrosco 19th century
o Criminal atavism = criminals represented a reversion to a primitive or subhuman type
of person characterized by physical features reminiscent of apes, lower primates,
and early humans and to some extent preserved, he said, in modern "savages".
o He thought criminals have physical anomalies
o Ex.: If you have a strange face, you might be a serial killer
2
, o ‘In general, thieves are notable for their expressive faces and manual dexterity, small
wandering eyes that are often oblique in form, thick and close eyebrows, distorted or
squashed noses, thin beards and hair, and sloping foreheads. Like rapists, they often
have jug ears. Rapists, however, nearly always have sparkling eyes, delicate features,
and swollen lips and eyelids. Most of them are frail; some are hunchbacked.’
- 19th century: development of theories around insanity and criminal behaviour
- 1879: first laboratory for experimental psychology (Wundt)
o In Lypsich
- 1908: ‘On the witness stand’ a book from Münsterberg
o Series of essays to describe research on eyewitness testimony, false confessions and
uses of psychology in legal problems
o Used psychology for a more fair outcome, an attempt to do so
- 20th century
o Psychologist were more called upon to assist the legal system as an expert to apply
their (rudimentary) knowledge to the legal system as expert (e.g., testifying as expert
witness)
o Psychology = a tool in arriving at fair and just legal outcomes
- Jenkins (1962): court ruled that psychological testimony could be admitted to determine
criminal responsibility (i.e., insanity)
o Forensic psychologists now routinely testify in insanity cases after evaluating
defendants
- From then FP started booming
Stanley Milgram Experiments (1961)
-
- People (actual subject) could apply shocks to ‘subject’ (fake screams) in other room
- Experimenter was there and urged to keep going
- They could give a lethal shock
- People went that far to give the lethal shock; they didn’t know the person in the other room
was fake
- Link forensic psychology: in specific contexts and specific circumstances, everyone could
behave criminally
Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)
- People were guards and prisoners
- After a while, guards started to mistreat the prisoners and escalated quickly
- Things can get out of hand very quickly
- “I offer a psychological account of how ordinary people sometimes turn evil and commit
unspeakable acts. As part of this account, The Lucifer Effect tells, for the first time, the full
story behind the Stanford Prison Experiment, a now-classic study I conducted in 1971. In that
study, normal college students were randomly assigned to play the role of guard or inmate
3
