Interrogations
If you only had to pick 1 thing, what is the main goal of an interrogation?
What is obtaining a confession from the suspect.
True or False: Profiling is more art than science.
What is True
Explain the difference between manner and cause of death
What is manner of death is 1 of 4 classifications (natural causes, accidents, suicides, or homicides) whereas cause of death is the nature of the injuries sustained by the decedent (ex. blunt force trauma, asphyxia, cutting wounds, etc.)
What does PMI stand for?
What is postmortem interval
Explain the difference between an admission and a confession.
What is an admission is agree to parts, but not all of the story whereas a confession is indicating that yes, you were responsible for this crime.
What are the 3 types of deductive profiling discussed in class?
What is 'distinguishing the evil person', 'determining common characteristics', and 'psychological testing commonalities'
What are the 3 basic questions that homicide investigators focus on?
What is 1) who is the decedent, 2) what was the cause of death, 3) who committed the murder?
Name at least 2 things that are likely to be included in a profile developed by the FBI's behavioral analysts.
—Profiles could include: gender, race, age, SES, education/family background, probable arrest history, likely reaction to police, etc.
Describe why the interrogation setting is so important.
What is the room itself helps to accomplish the goals of the interrogation to reinforce the authority structure and increase ease of communication from the suspect to the interrogators (likely increasing the likelihood of obtaining a confession).
What are the general results of the research looking at accuracy of profiles developed? Be detailed in where you might find accurate or inaccurate results
What is generally mixed or weak support for accuracy. The studies done by the FBI themselves tend to be the only studies showing highly accurate profiles.
What are the 2 major parts of an autopsy?
What is the external examination (photographing the body, belongings, clothing, etc.) and the internal examination (opening chest, abdomen, pelvic cavity, skull to inspect internal organs and injuries related to cause of death)
What type of question is typically the first in an interrogation, used to establish that the suspect is in control of their faculties and can respond rationally to questions?
What is a simple, easy to answer questions such as what is your name, what day is it, etc.
Explain the difference between the 3 types of false confessions.
What is Voluntary are those offered freely without any coercion. Coerced Compliant (or Compliant) are those offered in order to get out of the stressful situation or to get the better of 2 options at that time. Coerced Internalized (or Persuaded) are those where the suspect begins to truly believe they are the one who committed the crime, likely due to the interrogation tactics that were used.
Define the homology assumption.
What is the principle that offenders with similar criminal behaviors will exhibit similar characteristics.
What 2 types of death investigations are particularly challenging for investigators?
What is Serial homicide and Cold cases
Which Supreme Court Justice said the following quote: "No other class of evidence is so profoundly prejudicial...triers of fact accord confessions such heavy weight in their determinations that the introduction of a confession makes the other aspects of a trial in court superfluous, and the real trial, for all practical purposes, occurs when the confession is obtained."?
Who is Justice William Brennan
Name the 5 concepts identified by Horowitz that lead guilty people to confess to their crimes.
What is 1) accusation, 2) available evidence, 3) friendly and hostile forces, 4) guilt feelings, 5) confession as a way out.
Explain the 6 steps of the traditional FBI profiling procedure discussed in class.
What is 1) profiling inputs: all of the details from the crime scene, 2) decision process model: ask meaningful questions about what inferences can be made based on the inputs from step 1 and how those might exhibit in offender characteristics, 3) Crime assessment: reconstruction of the events to make logical sense of inputs, 4) Criminal profile: formulate the detailed description of the likely offender, 5) Investigation: give profile to investigators, train how to ID, and maybe reassess profile if needed, 6) Apprehension: get the correct offender and hopefully cross-check the profile for accuracy.
Daily Double! Explain algor mortis, livor mortis, and rigor mortis
What is Algor mortis is the cooling process a body goes through, livor mortis is the blood settling in the body that discolors the skin, rigor mortis is the rigidity of the muscles in the body
Describe what a buffer zone, anchor points, and distance decay are in terms of geographic profiling.
A buffer zone is the area close to one's home where the perpetrator is very disinclined to commit crimes. Anchor points are those areas where individuals spend most of their time (home, work, etc.). Distance decay is the concept that as the distance away from a perpetrator's home increases, the likelihood of committing crime decreases.