Deck 3: A: The Psychology of Police Investigations

Question 1

One of the main issues in the case Brown vs.Mississippi (1936)was:

A)the use of physical coercion to obtain a confession
B)the use of criminal profiling in court
C)the standard for admitting expert testimony
D)the right to plead not guilty by reason of insanity
E)both a and c

Answer 1

the use of physical coercion to obtain a confession

Question 2

There are a number of potential problems with the Reid model of interrogation.These include which of the following?

A)The techniques included in the Reid model will rarely be approved of by the courts.
B)The Reid model incorrectly assumes that investigators can accurately detect when a suspect is lying.
C)The techniques used in the Reid model decrease the chance that people will falsely confess.
D)The Reid model increases the likelihood that interrogators will be biased when entering the interrogation stage of the process.
E)Both b and d

Answer 2

Both b and d

Question 3

Lulling the suspect into a false sense of security to encourage them to confess utilizes what type of interrogation technique?

A)Minimization technique
B)Mr.Big technique
C)The moral excuse technique
D)Maximization technique
E)Good cop-bad cop technique

Answer 3

Minimization technique

Question 4

Officer Gardner is interrogating James concerning an alleged assault with a weapon against an umpire following a baseball game.Officer Gardner tells James "I understand why you acted this way,the guy made some bad calls and 'had it coming'".The officer is employing what step in the Reid model of interrogation?

A)Immediately confronting the suspect with his guilt
B)Developing psychological themes to allow suspect to rationalize crime
C)Drawing in the suspects attention to prevent them from withdrawing
D)Presenting an alternative question to get the suspect to agree and confess
E)Interrupting statements of denial to maintain control of the interrogation

Question 5

Which of the following statements is true with respect to the findings of King and Snook's (2009)examination of Canadian interrogations?

A)Canadian interrogations appear to be extremely coercive.
B)Components of the Reid model are frequently used in Canadian interrogations.
C)Canadian police interrogators frequently exaggerate the seriousness of offences.
D)It appears that some suspects were not read their legal rights.
E)Interrogations lasting more than 12 hours were not uncommon.

Question 6

Kassin et al.(2007)conducted a survey of investigators and their interrogation practices,and found that investigators rarely reported instances of using threats or physical intimidation.Why should this result be interpreted with caution?

A)The videos analyzed for this study only showed the behaviour of the suspect and not the investigator.
B)This was a self-report study and the investigators' responses may have been biased to make themselves look better.
C)Much police intimidation occurs outside of the interrogation room,so not captured on film.
D)The researchers may have received a biased sample of only those officers who use "good cop" routines.
E)These techniques are considered illegal so police officers should not be using them in the first place.

Question 7

Maximization techniques are also called _______ tactics; minimization techniques are also called ________ tactics.

A)soft sell/scare
B)heavy/compassion
C)scare/soft sell
D)compassion/scare
E)intimidation/sympathy

Question 8

As related to police interrogations,Kassin and his colleagues (2003)discovered several important findings regarding investigator bias.Which of the following was not one of their conclusions?

A)Interrogators with guilty expectations tend to use a higher frequency of interrogation techniques compared to interrogators with innocent expectations.
B)Suspects generally have accurate perceptions of the investigator's expectations of guilt or innocence.
C)Neutral observers tend to view interrogators with guilty expectations as more coercive,especially against suspects who are actually guilty.
D)Neutral observers tend to view suspects being interrogated by an officer with guilty expectations as being more defensive.
E)Interrogators with guilty expectations tend to ask more questions that convey their belief of guilt.

Question 9

In the United States,a suspect's legal rights in the context of an interrogation are often called:

A)Marianne rights
B)Monica rights
C)Miranda rights
D)Marissa rights
E)Melissa rights

Question 10

In their study concerning legal rights,what group of individuals did Eastwood,Snook,and Luther (in press)examine and identify as highly vulnerable to misunderstanding their legal rights?

A)Individuals with impaired intellectual capacity
B)Individuals with severe mental illness
C)Domestic violence victims
D)High school students
E)Victims of child sexual abuse

Question 11

Good cop-bad cop strategies are equivalent to:

A)minimization and maximization techniques
B)rapport building and minimization
C)rapport building and forced-hand techniques
D)suggestibility and coercion
E)none of the above

Question 12

In order to be admitted as evidence in Canadian courts,confessions must be ________________ and the confessor must be _______________.

A)given voluntarily/at least 21 years old
B)written down/competent
C)provided when a lawyer is present/supported by corroborative evidence
D)given voluntarily/competent
E)provided when a lawyer is present/at least 21 years old

Question 13

Recent research in Canada has examined the degree to which people understand their right to silence and their right to legal counsel (Eastwood & Snook,2010).What did these researchers find?

A)In general,people had difficulty understanding their rights.
B)Presenting legal rights in written format appears to increase comprehension of those rights.
C)Presenting legal rights one element at a time appears to increase comprehension of those rights.
D)Self-reported confidence in one's own comprehension of one's legal rights is not a good predictor of actual comprehension.
E)All of the above

Question 14

While interrogating Jane Doe,Officer Hamilton states,"Look,I've got three eyewitnesses that say you did it and your fingerprints are all over the gun found at the scene." Officer Hamilton's statement is an example of which category of interrogation tactic?

A)Minimization
B)Maximization
C)A soft sell tactic
D)A baiting question
E)Good cop-bad cop

Question 15

One of the major goals of a police interrogation in North America is to:

A)build rapport with the suspect
B)identify whether the suspect can understand their legal rights
C)clear other unsolved cases
D)threaten the suspect with harsh sanctions
E)secure a confession from the suspect

Question 16

Officer Moore is interrogating Greg concerning the suspicious death of his brother-in-law.Greg keeps trying to tell Officer Moore that he didn't do it and has no idea what the officer is talking about.Officer Moore keeps interrupting Greg and telling him that they need to focus on the facts.The officer is employing what step in the Reid model of interrogation?

A)Immediately confronting the suspect with his guilt
B)Developing psychological themes to allow suspect to rationalize crime
C)Drawing in the suspects attention to prevent them from withdrawing
D)Presenting an alternative question to get the suspect to agree and confess
E)Interrupting statements of denial to maintain control of the interrogation

Question 17

In Canada,which of the following police interrogation practices would not be accep by legal standards?

A)exaggerating the infallibility of polygraph tests
B)minimizing the seriousness of the crimes that were committed
C)implying that psychiatric assistance can be made available if the suspect confesses
D)depriving the suspect of sleep
E)none of the above are legally condoned

Question 18

Officer Ryback is an undercover agent posing as a member of the local branch of the Hells Angels.He is attempting to lure a young adult named Joe into the gang.Joe also is a suspect in an ongoing investigation of a gang-related homicide.The officer rewards Joe for minor criminal activity and promotes gang membership as a lucrative club where Joe can be accepted and have access to all the cash,guns,drugs,and women he wants.He tells Joe that "the boss" wants to interview him for a "job" in the gang,and as part of this he needs to confess to a serious crime (the one under investigation).His confession is insurance that he can be trusted by the gang,and it is offered that the gang can help him out by making evidence "disappear".Once Joe confesses,this is used against him in trial.What technique is Officer Ryback using to gain a confession?

A)Maximization techniques
B)Criminal profiling
C)The good cop-bad cop routine
D)The Mr.Big technique
E)Minimization techniques

Question 19

While interrogating Sam Suspect,Officer Sipowitz states,"Look,they should never leave liquor in a store window to tempt honest guys like you and me." Officer Sipowitz's statement is an example of which category of interrogation tactic?

A)minimization
B)maximization
C)a scare tactic
D)a baiting question
E)good cop-bad cop

Question 20

Of the following Reid technique themes analyzed in King and Snook's (2009)examination of Canadian interrogations,which was most prevalent in the interrogations?

A)Play one suspect against the other
B)Appeal to the suspect's pride with flattery
C)Minimize the seriousness of the offence
D)Suggest noncriminal intent for the offence
E)Sympathize with the suspect by condemning others

Question 21

The Paul Ingram case was used in your text as an example of what type of confession?

A)Coerced-internalized false confession
B)Voluntary false confession
C)Disputed confession
D)Coerced-compliant false confession
E)Retracted confession

Question 22

Criminal profiling is likely to be least useful in cases involving:

A)serial homicide
B)serial rape
C)serial burglary
D)a serial offender with severe psychopathology
E)both b and c

Question 23

Officer Parneau has recently completed a training course in investigative interviewing,and has implemented these techniques in her policing.She now seeks to use more open-ended questions in her interrogations,and to ultimately obtain complete and accurate information about the crime,rather than simply a confession.What model of interrogation is Officer Parneau using?

A)QA model
B)Reid model
C)Inquisition model
D)Kassin model
E)PEACE model

Question 24

Which of the following was not proposed as a goal of criminal profiling in your textbook?

A)flushing out the offender
B)prioritizing suspects
C)identifying new lines of inquiry
D)providing evidence of guilt in court
E)developing strategies for suspect interrogation

Question 25

The model of police interrogation used in North America is ___________ and the model used in Britain is ___________.

A)accusatorial/accusatorial
B)inquisitorial/admissible
C)inquisitorial/accusatorial
D)accusatorial/inquisitorial
E)inadmissible/admissible

Question 26

The RCMP's VICLAS system was primarily established in an attempt to remedy the problem of:

A)linkage blindness
B)ambiguous profiles
C)racial profiling
D)police officer bias
E)geographic profiling

Question 27

A man is accused of sexually abusing his one-year old daughter.He initially denies his involvement,but the police persist in telling him that "abusers often don't remember their actions" and that it would help if he tried to visualize the abusive incidents.Although he did not commit these crimes,he comes to remember images of him engaging in abusive acts,and begins to believe he is guilty,so he confesses.This is an example of a(n):

A)voluntary false confession
B)coerced-internalized false confession
C)coerced-compliant false confession
D)confabulated confession
E)disputed confession

Question 28

An innocent suspect is interrogated for 18 hours without food or water.The suspect is told by the investigator that he can get up and leave once "he comes clean." The suspect is exhausted and confesses.What type of confession has just occurred?

A)a voluntary false confession
B)a coerced-compliant false confession
C)a compliant-internalized false confession
D)a coerced-internalized false confession
E)a confabulated false confession

Question 29

Coerced-internalized false confessions are typically characterized by:

A)a vulnerable suspect
B)exposure to highly suggestible questions
C)an attention-seeking suspect
D)exposure to physically coercive interrogation techniques
E)both a and b

Question 30

In a study by Kassin and Keichel (1996),students were brought into the lab in order to examine the phenomenon of false confessions.Subjects were accused of committing a crime (hitting a forbidden computer key)that they had in fact not committed.Two factors were manipulated: the participant's level of vulnerability and whether false evidence was presented.What did this research find?

A)Participants never exhibited compliance when accused of the crime.
B)Participants presented with false evidence were more likely to internalize their guilt.
C)Participants presented with false evidence were less likely to confabulate details.
D)The presence of false evidence had no influence on compliance or internalization.
E)none of the above

Question 31

The primary goal of the PEACE model of investigative interviewing is

A)to obtain a confession.
B)to obtain complete and accurate information about the crime.
C)to utilize minimization techniques only in questioning suspects.
D)to eliminate the need for use of any investigative coercion practices.
E)to teach police officers how to use calming strategies during stressful interviews.

Question 32

According to your textbook,which type of false confession is most common?

A)voluntary
B)coerced-compliant
C)coerced-internalized
D)retracted
E)disputed

Question 33

Beverly steals a turkey from the local grocery store.When interrogated by the police,she confesses to stealing the turkey.During her trial,the confession is thrown out because Beverly was not properly read her rights upon arrest.What term best describes this confession?

A)a coerced-compliant false confession
B)a coerced-internalized false confession
C)a retracted confession
D)a voluntary false confession
E)a disputed confession

Question 34

Which of the following was not identified by Gudjonsson (1992)as a vulnerability factor associated with the occurrence of coerced-internalized false confessions?

A)the confessor's history of substance use or interference with brain function
B)the confessor experiencing severe anxiety and confusion
C)the confessor's desire to protect someone else
D)the confessor's feelings of generalized guilt
E)the confessor's inability to distinguish fact from fantasy

Question 35

Which of the following is not one of the reasons proposed by Appleby,Hasel,and Kassin (2013)as to why jurors are unlikely to identify confessions by innocent people as false?

A)Jurors are unable to accurately distinguish between true and false confessions
B)False confessions can be highly similar to true confessions with respect to their form and content.
C)Jurors are unlikely to believe that a person would make statements that counter self-interest
D)Jurors,like most members of the public,are poor detectors of deception.
E)False confessions are often very strange and bizarre,and seem too odd not to be true which increases their believability.

Question 36

When questioned by police,John confesses to a burglary that occurred on his street.Later,when his defence attorney is preparing his case for court,John declares the confession he gave to the police was false.This is an example of:

A)a coerced-compliant false confession
B)a coerced-internalized false confession
C)a retracted confession
D)a voluntary false confession
E)a disputed confession

Question 37

Which of the following was not identified by Gudjonsson (1992)as a vulnerability factor associated with the occurrence of voluntary false confessions?

A)the confessor's need to make up for pathological feelings of guilt
B)the confessor's desire for notoriety
C)the confessor's desire to protect someone else
D)the confessor's level of suggestibility
E)the confessor's inability to distinguish fact from fantasy

Question 38

An innocent suspect is interrogated for 22 hours about a life-threatening injury to her young infant.She keeps asking if she can go to the hospital to see her daughter,but is refused.The police investigator says that she can see her daughter when she confesses and that if she cooperates she will be given a lenient sentence.Although she knows she is innocent,she confesses.This is an example of a:

A)voluntary false confession
B)coerced-internalized false confession
C)coerced-compliant false confession
D)confabulated confession
E)none of the above

Question 39

Which of the following is not part of the PEACE model of investigative interviewing used in England and Wales?

A)Planning and preparation
B)Engage and explain
C)Accuse
D)Closure
E)Evaluation

Question 40

The first known criminal investigation where criminal profiling was used was:

A)the New York Mad Bomber investigation in the 1950s
B)the Jack the Ripper murders in the 1880s
C)the John Duffy serial rape case in the 1980s
D)the Ted Bundy serial murders in the 1970s
E)profiling was not used in any of these cases

Question 41

Which of the following is the basic assumption underlying geographic profiling?

A)Offenders will commit their crimes in their immediate neighbourhood.
B)Offenders tend not to travel far from home to commit their crimes.
C)Offenders only target areas they know very well.
D)Offenders travel far distances from home to commit crimes to avoid detection.
E)Offenders will sometimes move residences while committing a series of crimes.

Question 42

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a disorganized offender?

A)lives far away from his crimes
B)lives alone
C)does not have vehicle
D)is sexually inadequate
E)has little interest in the media

Question 43

When conducting a meta-analysis of the accuracy of profiling,Snook et al.(2007)found that across multiple studies,self-labeled profilers

A)consistently and highly outperformed the comparison groups.
B)displayed somewhat better performance than comparison groups across most measures,but not expert performance.
C)did not perform any differently when compared to other nonprofiler groups.
D)performed much worse than experienced veteran police officers
E)performed less accurately than other law enforcement professionals and clinical psychologists.

Question 44

In the domain of geographic profiling,it is more likely that a __________ can be accurately profiled than a __________.

A)travelling offender/non-travelling offender
B)non-travelling offender/travelling offender
C)non-serial offender/serial offender
D)serial offender/sequential offender
E)commuter/marauder

Question 45

Detective Johnson is trying to predict an offender's background characteristics based on comparing that offender's crimes with similar crimes committed by other,known offenders.Det.Johnson is engaging in what type of profiling?

A)Deductive criminal profiling
B)Demographic profiling
C)Geographic profiling
D)Inductive criminal profiling
E)Investigative model profiling

Question 46

According to Pinizzotto and Finkel (1990),the process of profiling described in equation form is:

A)WHO + WHY = WHAT
B)WHAT + WHY = WHO
C)WHAT + WHEN = WHO
D)WHO + WHERE = WHAT
E)WHAT + WHO = WHY

Question 47

Detective Carlisle is a profiler with the local police force,and is utilizing mathematical models to determine the spatial behaviour and likely residence of an offender in a series of linked crimes.The detective is using what form of criminal profiling?

A)Deductive criminal profiling
B)Racial profiling
C)Geographic profiling
D)Inductive criminal profiling
E)Demographic profiling

Question 48

The FBI's organized-disorganized approach to criminal profiling is based on a particular model of personality.This model is called the:

A)five-factor model
B)conditional trait model
C)situationist model
D)classic trait model
E)schema model

Question 49

According to your textbook,what is the primary disadvantage associated with the inductive method of criminal profiling?

A)It will never be possible to obtain a representative sample of serial offenders upon which to draw profiling conclusions.
B)The logical foundations upon which the profiling predictions are based might be flawed.
C)Data related to serial homicide cases does not exist.
D)The method is too vague.
E)No profiler uses the inductive method of profiling.

Question 50

Studies on the effectiveness of geographic profiling,such as those conducted by Snook,Taylor,and Bennell (2004),have reported that the use of computerized geographic profiling systems

A)is significantly more effective than any other form of criminal profiling
B)might impede investigations by causing too narrow of a geographic focus
C)is based on similar erroneous assumptions that offenders live close to their crime scenes
D)is much less accurate than deductive criminal profiling
E)does not increase accuracy much more than training participants to rely on simple heuristics.