Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling最新文献

This study examined mechanisms that influence romance fraud perpetrators' public display of affluence, an aspect of romance fraud research that has received little attention in the literature. The study collected data through semi-structured interviews with eight offenders from two Ghanaian cybercrime hotbeds and three law enforcement officials, using a qualitative research approach based on the critical realist paradigm. Data analysis was performed using thematic analysis, which revealed that the social environment, peer influence, links with high-net-worth individuals (upper structure clientelism), the involvement of social media and collaboration with some corrupt state officials all had a substantial influence on cybercriminals' public display of wealth. Furthermore, upper structure clientelism shows systemic flaws in financial institutions that must be addressed in order to reduce online romance fraud. The significance of social media in fostering public displays of wealth emphasises the importance of education and awareness initiatives as preventative measures. To effectively prevent online romance fraud, law enforcement should prioritise interagency cooperation and transparency among governmental institutions.

Drawing is commonly used to facilitate event recall in eyewitness and therapeutic settings. Building on Derksen and Connolly’s (2022) review, we meta-analytically examined how drawing affects memory relative to purely verbal methods of communication (e.g. ‘talk only’ interviews). Database searches identified 36 randomised controlled trials of the effect of drawing-based interventions on event memory (N = 2013). Our memory outcome measures were amount and accuracy of information reported, errors and confabulations. Random-effects analysis indicated drawing was favoured relative to verbal controls across these four outcomes. Drawing enhanced the amount (g = 0.63, p < .001) and accuracy (g = 0.29, p = .014) of information reported, but did not reduce errors (g = 0.05, p = .633) or confabulations (g = 0.22, p = .488) relative to control. The memory benefits of drawing were not moderated by age (children vs. adults), event type (autobiographical vs. live/staged vs. video), control type (visual-active vs. verbal-only) or task timing (immediate vs. delay). Two potential moderators could not be analysed due to the paucity of studies: event focus (trauma-related vs. non-trauma-related) and drawing focus (event-focused vs. non-event-focused). Our meta-analysis indicates that drawing is a valuable facilitator of event recall relative to traditional methods of communication. However, our review also highlights the need for more trauma-specific studies. We address and offer practical recommendations for future studies to address potential risks that may result from using drawing in applied settings.

Obtaining accurate information from eyewitnesses is a crucial element in criminal investigations. Interview strategies such as the Cognitive Interview (CI) and the Self-Administered Interview (SAI) have been developed and implemented to minimise inaccuracies and enhance the recall and reliability of eyewitness evidence. The SAI is a recent development within forensic psychology. However, a question remains as to the effectiveness of the SAI as an investigative interview tool. A systematic review of published studies employing the SAI was conducted (n = 22), and all were considered in relation to three variables (estimator, system and methodological). As the number of studies within the evidence base was relatively small, we could not ascertain whether the SAI is an effective investigative interviewing tool. However, the results demonstrate a number of positive benefits of the SAI. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and directions for future research.

In order to prevent tunnel vision and ultimately miscarriages of justice, police, prosecutors and judges must remain open to alternative scenarios in which the suspect is in fact innocent. However, it is not evident from the literature that people are sufficiently aware of how alternative scenarios should be employed in the decision making process. In the present research, 230 Dutch police officers read one of three versions of a case description. In the first version, there was strong evidence against the primary suspect. In the second version, the suspect additionally confessed, increasing the body of incriminating evidence. In the third version, the suspect confessed, but before deciding on their conviction, participants were instructed to consider how well each piece of evidence fitted in the primary but also in the alternative scenario (in which the crime was committed by an alternative suspect). Contrary to expectations, the confession did not increase conviction and the alternative-scenario consideration did not suppress conviction. Implications of these null findings are discussed.

Journey to crime describes the spatial patterns of offenders from their residential area to the crime location. When compared to other research topics regarding urban crime, there is still a lack of research on journey to crime, especially in China, as a result of which the behavioural motivation of offenders cannot be comprehensively examined. Four typical types of crimes committed against property (pickpocketing, robbery, theft and burglary) were investigated in the Nanguan District of Changchun from 2010 to 2016. The results showed significant effects of the demographic characteristics of offenders and spatiotemporal factors on the journey to crime. In terms of the place of household registration, offenders from the central urban districts of Changchun tend to commit short-distance local robbery, whereas those from the suburban counties tend to commit long-distance non-local crimes. With increasing population density, the proportion of local plunders increases directly. This study aims to encourage urban managers to rethink the governance of floating populations, and assist police in strengthening social security.

Studies on the collection of information (intelligence) show the effectiveness of the Scharff technique and the principle of reciprocity. These two aspects have never been considered at the same time. In the present experiment, we compared the effect of two different forms of reciprocity (intrinsic vs. instrumental) and their combination on the elicitation of information in Scharff interviews. Participants were asked to imagine that an interview took place and were exposed to four reciprocity conditions (no reciprocity, intrinsic reciprocity, instrumental reciprocity, intrinsic and instrumental reciprocity). The results showed that instrumental reciprocity resulted in more information than intrinsic reciprocity.

The Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) is a widely used measurement of psychopathy comprising interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial facets representing narrow-band characteristics associated with the construct. However, there is little research on whether the distinct facets of psychopathy show specialised relationships with different types of criminal offences. The PCL-R was administered to 138 adults incarcerated at a county jail. Arrests were coded into broad categories (i.e., crimes against persons, property or society), as well as for specific offence types (e.g. burglary, assault) using US crime definitions. Zero-order correlations and zero-inflated regression models showed significant relationships between: the lifestyle facet and property and societal crimes, mainly drug offences; the affective facet and crimes against persons; and the antisocial facet with all three major crime categories, as well as burglary, motor vehicle theft, robbery and assault. Overall, these results indicate that the PCL-R facets offer unique information about specific forms of criminal behaviour.

The homeless population remains understudied, and their victimisation is unreported, especially homeless victims of homicide. With the number of people faced with homelessness increasing, the heightened rates of victimisation for violent crimes throughout this population becomes even more concerning. A review of the literature revealed an absence of meaningful research beyond basic descriptive statistics of rates of homeless homicide in the UK. The current study explores the behavioural variation and risk factors associated with the victims and perpetrators of 19 cases of homeless homicide in the UK. A content analysis was first conducted to derive 22 case variables. Smallest Space Analysis was then employed to analyse the cases according to the variables selected. The themes produced in the SSA output were comparable to that of Canter's Victim Role Model: Victim as Object, Victim as Person and Victim as Vehicle. The current study lays a foundation for developing an understanding of the variation in behaviour across cases of homeless homicide and may serve to inform preventative measures.

Skilled investigative interviewing is critical to ensuring that credible witness accounts are gathered in criminal investigations. The current study aimed to determine whether instructions to avoid suggestive questions and pre-interview knowledge influence both the quality of an interviewer's questioning strategy and the interviewer's memory for the witness' account after a 1-week delay in a laboratory study using lay student interviewers and witnesses. Results indicated that access to case details prior to the interview did not significantly influence the type or quality of questions asked within the interview itself but significantly influenced interviewers' memories for their interview 1 week later. Those who were blind to case information at the time of the interview had more accurate memories of their witness interviews than those who were correctly or incorrectly pre-informed. Instructions to avoid suggestive questions served to reduce suggestive questions, regardless of pre-interview knowledge. Taken together, these findings suggest that pre-interview preparation may influence investigative outcomes beyond the interview context and traditional measures of witness accuracy.

The present research compared geographic profiling (GP) methods, including spatial distribution strategies (SDS) and probability distance strategies (PDS), to account for the effect of the number of crimes on the accuracy of GP. Comparing the accuracy of GP methods among three burglar groups (a total of 333 offenders) with different sizes of crimes (1–5, 6–15 and 16 or more) committed before arrest showed that the accuracy decreased in a group with a larger size of crime. Comparing the accuracy of GP methods among the number of crimes (3–10) using 150 offenders who committed 10 or more crimes showed a slight improvement in the accuracy with the increasing number of crimes. In addition, the PDS (vs. SDS) showed a higher accuracy with the increasing number of crimes. The findings encourage practitioners to use the PDS and research implications are discussed.