Where Law and Psychology Intersect Issues in Legal Psychology
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Revised First Edition Where Law and Psychology Intersect Issues in Legal Psychology Edited by Shari Schwartz Florida International University Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher Michael Simpson, Vice President of Acquisitions Jamie Giganti, Senior Managing Editor Jess Busch, Senior Graphic Designer Zina Craft, Senior Field Acquisitions Editor Monika Dziamka, Project Editor Brian Fahey, Licensing Specialist Mandy Licata, Interior Designer Copyright © 2016 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information retrieval system without the written permission of Cognella, Inc. First published in the United States of America in 2016 by Cognella, Inc. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Cover image copyright © 2012 Depositphotos/gunnar3000. Interior image copyright © Depositphotos/manfredxy. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-5165-0001-7 (pbk) / 978-1-5165-0002-4 (br) CONTENTS About the Author vii Acknowledgments vii SECTION I: CONDUCTING THE INVESTIGATION Chapter One Offender Profiling 3 By Shari Schwartz Chapter Two Issues in Eyewitness Identification 11 By Shari Schwartz and Rolando N. Carol Chapter Three Investigative Interviewing of Cooperative Witnesses 21 By Rolando N. Carol Chapter Four Police Interrogations and Eliciting Confessions 33 By Shari Schwartz Chapter Five Deception: A Social Lubricant and a Selfish Act 43 By Aldert Vrij SECTION II: IN THE COURTROOM Chapter Six The History and Scientific Value of Forensic Evidence 75 Historical Development of Forensic Scientific Evidence 75 By Donald E. Shelton The Past and Future of Forensic Science and the Courts 78 By Michael J. Saks Setting Forensic Science on a New Path 91 Anonymous Juror Expectations about Scientific Evidence 93 By Donald E. Shelton Chapter Seven Psychology in the Courtroom 107 By Clive R. Hollin Chapter Eight Jury Decision Making 137 The Modern American Jury: A One Hundred Year Journey 137 By Shari Seidman Diamond and Andrea Ryken What’s Going on in There? Jury Deliberations and Trial Outcomes 148 By Sean G. Overland SECTION III: SENTENCING AND CORRECTIONS Chapter Nine The Impact of Sentencing Policies on Corrections 163 By Jeanne B. Stinchcomb Chapter Ten The Death Penalty: A New Focus in the United States 185 By Edith Georgi and Lauren Doyle Chapter Eleven Restorative Justice 203 By Tim E. Newburn SECTION IV: SPECIAL TOPICS IN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE LAW Chapter Twelve Missed Opportunities for Justice 237 By Dana Hirn Mueller and Nadja Schreiber Compo Chapter Thirteen The Psychology of Terrorism 251 By Drew Leins Chapter Fourteen Introduction to Human Trafficking: Definitions and Prevalence 267 By Mary C. Burke Chapter Fifteen Graduate Study and Careers in Legal Psychology 281 By Shari Schwartz ABOUT THE EDITOR Shari Schwartz received her B.S. in psychology from the University of Central Florida, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Legal Psychology from Florida International University. She is a lecturer of legal and forensic psy- chology at Florida International University and Assistant Professor of Psychology and Applied Behavioral Science at Ashford University. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Schwartz maintains an active private practice, in which she has worked on more than 100 civil and criminal cases as a trial consultant, researcher, mitigation expert, and victim outreach expert. Although she consults on many types of cases, her expertise is in death penalty and other homicide cases. She is the proud recipient of the 2011 American Civil Liberties Union Greater Miami Chapter’s C. Clyde Atkins Civil Liberties Award, and the 2011 Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys Miami Chapter’s Rodney Thaxton “Against All Odds” Award for her work on a particular death penalty case. Dr. Schwartz is a frequently invited lecturer at law schools and conferences in the United States and abroad on issues regarding capital mitigation, aggravating versus mitigating circumstances, victim out- reach, eyewitness memory, jury instructions, and many other forensic psychology topics. She maintains an active forensic psychology research program and continues to publish her research in scholarly journals. Dr. Schwartz resides in Miami Beach, Florida, and spends most mornings running along the beach. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There were many extraordinary people who provided support during the writing and editing process of this book and I am extremely grateful to all of them. However, none of this would ever have happened without the amazing team at Cognella Academic Publishing, starting with Acquisitions Editor, Zina Craft, who reached out to me with this incredible opportunity, and Project Editor, Monika Dziamka, who guided me through the process with patience and eloquence. These women are two of the most knowledgeable and kind professionals I have ever worked with. I cannot thank them enough for such a wonderful experience. There are several contributing authors who graciously donated their writing talent and expertise to this project. Their willingness to share their knowledge has produced a book that provides a unique, thorough, and comprehensive introduction to contemporary issues in legal psychology. They are Rolando Carol, Drew Leins, Edith Georgi and Lauren Doyle, and Dana Hirn Mueller and Nadja Schreiber Compo. Other expert contributors that had previously authored work available for inclusion in this text are Aldert Vrij, Donald Shelton, Clive Hollin, Michael Saks, Shari Seidman Diamond and Andrea Ryken, Sean Overland, Jean Stinchcomb, Tim Newburn, and Mary Burke. All of these individuals are experts in their field making it an honor and privilege to include their work in this project. CHAPTER ONE Offender Profiling By Shari Schwartz he mention of the phrase “offender profiling,” or “criminal profiling,” as it is commonly referred to, often conjures images portrayed on popular television shows such as Criminal Minds. In the show, T the lead characters catch criminals by developing psychological profiles of them. The techniques and types of profiles that are developed and used in real life differ a bit from those illustrated on television crime dramas. For example, when you think of criminal profiling, you probably think of serial killers, be- cause this type of crime is highly publicized and glamorized in American culture. However, it is important to note that in addition to psychological profiling, offender profiling takes on other forms in real criminal investigations, such as geographic profiling and racial profiling. In this chapter, all three major forms of offender profiling are discussed. HISTORY OF CRIMINAL PROFILING Offender profiling refers to analyzing the type and nature of a crime, the crime scene, and how the crime was committed for the purpose of identifying perpetrators of crime. In the 1800s, an Italian criminologist named Cesare Lombroso postulated that criminal behavior was genetic. Lombroso asserted that “born criminals” could be identified by physical characteristics, specifically what he classified as “abnormal” measurements of the cranium and other parts of the body. These physical characteristics included larger-than-normal ears, a sloping forehead, and longer-than-average arms, to name just a few. Lombroso thought that psychological traits of criminals could be identified, including vanity, impulsiveness, and an absence of remorse. As you might imagine, Lombroso’s use of cranial measurements and other physical features to infer a predilection toward criminality was never validated scientifically. In fact, some scientists have classified Lombroso’s assertions as “scientific racism” (Gould, 1981). Lombroso and others of his time were thought to be brilliant scientists but, in retrospect, were clearly influenced by the racial, class, and social biases of their era. 3 4 | WHERE LAW AND PSYCHOLOGY INTERSECT: ISSUES IN LAW PSYCHOLOGY NOTABLE PROFILE: JACK THE RIPPER Perhaps physical characteristics were not very predictive of helping police catch criminals, but the idea that criminals possessed certain personality characteristics that could help link them to a specific crime gained popularity in the 1800s. When a serial killer terrorized prostitutes of England in the 1880s, police investigators turned to a prominent surgeon, Dr. Thomas Bond, to develop a profile of the killer based on the mutilation of the victims. Specifically, the police wanted to know whether the killer had the surgical skill of a doctor or whether that could be ruled out. Dr. Bond, based on the sexual nature of the crimes, determined that Jack the Ripper was likely a middle-aged White man, eccentric, a loner, quiet and unassuming, and a misogynist. Although Dr. Bond’s classification of the killer may sound fascinating, a careful analysis of the profile reveals that none of the adjectives used is particularly descriptive such that it could lead to identifying precisely who committed the murders. As a result of a lack of hard evidence, Jack the Ripper was never apprehended. In this case, it appears that the criminal profile was unsuccessful as an investigative tool (Canter, 2004). NOTABLE PROFILE: THE MAD BOMBER In the 16-year period between 1940 and 1956, the Mad Bomber, George Metesky, terrorized