Crime Details Research Articles

Detecting concealed familiarity using eye movements: The effect of leakage of mock crime details to innocents.

Detecting concealed familiarity using eye movements: The effect of leakage of mock crime details to innocents.

Vicarious Trauma and Health Outcomes in Forensic Mental Health Nurses.

Nurses working in forensic mental health settings are at risk of vicarious trauma because of their exposure to traumatized patients and distressing material such as the aversive details of patient crimes. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of vicarious trauma and explore its impact on health and absence from work. A cross-sectional descriptive correlational study was undertaken. All 205 forensic mental health nurses working in a high-security inpatient facility were invited to participate. An online survey included the Vicarious Trauma Scale and the SF-36v2 to measure mental and physical health. Absence from work was also explored. Sixty-seven respondents completed the survey. Almost half of respondents had a moderate level of vicarious trauma, and only over one-quarter experienced high levels. Higher levels of vicarious trauma were associated with poorer mental health ( r = -0.59, p < 0.000) and absence from work ( r = 0.27, p < 0.010). Forensic mental health nurses are at a greater risk of vicarious trauma than nurses working in mainstream mental health services, given their exposure to aversive details of patients' violent crimes. Adverse mental health consequences of vicarious trauma, and other forms of workplace trauma experienced by forensic mental health nurses, are likely to include trauma-related symptoms, depression, and anxiety. Forensic mental health nurses experiencing vicarious trauma may use sick leave as time away from work to care for their own mental health or a coping mechanism for workplace-induced psychological distress.

Murderinos

Consumption of true crime podcasts has shot up in recent years, with a majority of listeners being female. There are many things which might draw women to these pieces of media. Women who previously reported elevated levels of fear of violent crime have taken to viewing true crime as a safety measure, wanting to become educated on the stories of others in an effort to not become victims themselves. Many women report feeling more confident that they would know how to avoid or get out of a dangerous situation after learning the details of previous crimes. Production and consumption of true crime media can also lead to increased feelings of justice and a desire to speak out about personal experience or societal and systemic issues. Studies have also been done on the effect of hearing women’s voices on true crime podcasts and its relation to the visualization of mutilation in true crime stories. While earlier studies argue that audiences of true crime media have more anxiety and trepidation around violent crime, I argue that true crime podcasts have many psychological benefits, specifically for women. In their podcast, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark tell murder stories with comedic commentary, including advice about how to avoid meeting the same fate as the victims they speak of. Following the success of the podcast, the hosts published Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide, condensing their tips into book form and sharing their own experiences with true crime. Using select episodes from the podcast as well as the book, I will prove that participating in these audio spaces improves feelings that women have agency over their lives, giving them an awareness of what’s happening around them that makes them savvier, helps them notice patterns, and allows them to break out of the dangerous mold society has placed them in.

Forensic Journalism in India

Criminalistics, another name for forensic science, is the application of science to criminal and civil legislation.Investigative journalism is the parent discipline of forensic journalism. A forensic journalist follows the “TenGolden Rules” in order to ascertain the truth and spot errors by studying and researching it in any accessiblemedium. When forensics, which is thought of as combining science and law, is combined with journalism, anew phrase known as “forensic journalism” is created. Although not new in wealthy western nations, forensicjournalism is a new field in our nation. It is challenging to pursue this as a career option since being a successfulforensic journalist requires enthusiasm, tenacity, hard effort, patience, and my other attributes. Investigativejournalism is a type of reporting where reporters delve closely into a specific subject of interest, such as significantcrimes, government corruption, or corporate misconduct. Forensic journalism, which goes beyond what mostjournalists do, is described as being practised when journalists cross the boundaries between journalism and lawin order to achieve something socially, and there is overlap in this action. This action frequently aids in revealingthe truth and justice by gathering information that is admissible and withstands the scrutiny in court. Currently,journalism focuses on issues, whereas forensic journalism focuses on solutions to those problems. Broadcastingmedia, which is seen to be considerably more opinionated owing to organised discussion sessions, is a very closeillustration of this discipline. In fact, forensic journalism compromises between the media organisation and thelegal authorities. By structuring the reports so that they concentrate on the details of the entire crime under consent,the reports serve the interests of the media organisation, law enforcement agencies, as well as the general publicand make the news much more interesting and informative. In other words, via forensic journalism, the mediafinally stands up for what it believes to be right.

Analysis of Criminal Behavior with Mental Disorder by Forensic and Psychological Approach

Crimes committed by the mentally ill may initially be mistaken as unmotivated or hate crimes, which may cause public anxiety and conflict between social classes. In this context, special attention is needed to secure social safety and to effectively respond against crimes committed by the mentally ill. For these purposes, comprehensive analysis of the details of such crimes, including the type of crime, the content of criminal behavior, the tool of crime, unusual behavior before and after the crime, and the triggering factor of the crime, can provide valuable information. If specific tendencies or common characteristics shared in criminal acts related to mental illness can be found, they would assist criminal investigations and determination of criminal responsibility. The authors analyzed 19 precedents of crimes with mental disorders. The results of the analysis are as follows: frequency of injured area was the highest in the face, neck, and head; perpetrator’s body (hands/feet) and knife were used the most as tools of assault; premeditation was revealed in eight cases, and crimes with active intention of harming and impulsive crimes happened at a similar frequency; schizophrenics usually committed crimes between 03:00-06:00, which is related to sleep disturbance in schizophrenia; in five cases, criminal acts—violent crimes such as murder, arson, and rape—were committed under the influence of alcohol; and homicide is related more frequently to schizophrenia, personality disorder, and intellectual disability.

Quantifying forensic investigations involving bloodstain pattern analysis within the UK

Research informed by practice is more likely to have a greater impact on society. However, forensic cases are confidential and thus, real-life data regarding the details of violent crime is usually withheld from the public and academia. Through a partnership between the authors institution and a UK police service, casefiles from 78 criminal investigations from 2012 to 2020 involving Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA) were examined and quantified. The most common methods of assault and weapons used were identified as well as the frequency of different bloodstain pattern classifications. The results of this study will help inform researchers and supply forensic training providers with data derived from forensic practice. Despite a significant body of literature exploring impact patterns and software for calculating the Area of Origin (AO), impact pattern was classified at only 22% of scenes, with sharp-force trauma being the most prevalent form of assault. This paper recommends a review of the BPA terminology, to include additional commonly encountered patterns that are not defined by the current standard.

Eyewitness recall, lineup identification, and verbal and visual memory among chronic cannabis users after a minimum of 24‐h abstinence

AbstractResearch has begun to investigate the reliability of cannabis‐intoxicated eyewitnesses; however, no studies have evaluated eyewitness memory among chronic cannabis users after a minimum 24‐h abstinence. This study compared cannabis users' (n = 23) and nonusers' (n = 26) eyewitness recall/identification and investigated the relationship between eyewitness memory and neuropsychological functioning. Users demonstrated better visual recognition relative to nonusers. Groups' neuropsychological performance was otherwise similar. Regarding eyewitness memory, users recalled more inaccurate crime details when cued, whereas total accurate and inaccurate details recalled were similar. Neither user status, lineup type, their interaction, nor education were credible predictors of lineup identification accuracy. Verbal memory performance and years of education, but not user status, credibly predicted eyewitness recall accuracy. Findings suggest that cannabis‐user eyewitnesses may require special consideration regarding police interviewing techniques; however, additional research is necessary to determine the conditions in which chronic cannabis users are reliable or unreliable eyewitnesses.

Countering information leakage in the Concealed Information Test: The effects of item detailedness.

Concealed Information Tests (CIT) are administered to verify whether suspects recognize certain features from a crime. Whenever it is presumed that innocent suspects were contaminated with critical information (e.g., the perpetrator had a knife), the examiner may ask more detailed questions (e.g., specific types of knives) to prevent false positives. However, this may increase the number of false negatives if the true perpetrator fails to discern specific details from its plausible irrelevant controls, or because detailed crime‐scene information may be forgotten. We examined whether presenting items at the exemplar level protects against contamination, and whether it compromises the sensitivity in a physiological CIT. Participants (N = 142) planned a mock‐robbery, with critical items encoded either at the category or at the exemplar level. The CIT was administered immediately or after a 1‐week‐delay, with questions phrased at the categorical or exemplar level. There were no effects of time delay. Results revealed that when item detailedness was congruent at encoding and testing, the SCR, HR, and RLL showed larger differential responses, as compared with incongruent conditions. Participants contaminated with crime knowledge at the categorical level did not show a CIT‐effect for crime details at the exemplar level, suggesting detailed questions may counter the leakage problem. Asking questions at the exemplar level did not reduce the CIT detection efficiency as compared to asking questions at the categorical level. The importance of congruency between encoding and testing provides examiners with a challenge, as it is difficult to estimate how details are naturally encoded.

Using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to Study Animal Cruelty: Preliminary Results (2016–2019)

On 1 January 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began collecting data on crimes involving animal cruelty from law enforcement agencies that participate in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in the United States (U.S.). Prior to 2016, such crimes either went unreported or were lumped into an “all other offenses” category, making it difficult to understand who was committing these crimes and whether there were any connections between crimes perpetrated against animals and crimes in which there was a human victim. Animal cruelty has cruelty has been linked to certain types of human violence and, therefore, it is important for authorities to know more about the people committing these crimes. Preliminary results from an analysis of the first four years (2016–2019) of data are presented. The age and gender of animal cruelty offenders, the time of day when most crimes occur, and the most common locations where offenses take place are presented. The type of animal cruelty involved and details of the other crimes that co-occur with animal cruelty are discussed. The limitations of the data are shared and recommendations are made about other types of data that could be collected in the future to add value to the data.

Stolen innocence? Observance of the EU Directive on presumption of innocence by Spanish crime reporting

This paper examines the compliance of Spanish crime reporting with the principles of the 2016 EU Directive on presumption of innocence, which aims at preventing the publication of information that might bias the public and the jurors against the suspect. A content analysis applied to a sample of 200 crime news stories published by eleven of the most popular print and online news platforms in 2018 reveals that the Spanish press coverage of crime is centered around the pre-trial and sentence stages, with little attention to the oral trial. The full name and the face portrait of the suspect appear in roughly one-third of the stories, but this overwhelmingly happens in news stories reporting on the court’s decision, so that the presumption of innocence is generally protected. Interestingly, the legacy media are more likely to report on the victim’s full name and the crime details that online digital media. One-fourth of the stories include accusations of guilt, as prosecutor attorneys and other officials are more frequently cited than defense lawyers. Although the Spanish press is largely compliant with the recommendations of the EU Directive, the lack of attention to the oral phase, where the arguments of both parts are deployed and contrasted, leads to a bias in the coverage against the suspect.

Findings from a preliminary review of child sacrifice cases in Kyampisi Uganda

ABSTRACT The authors reported on a review of child sacrifice cases in Kyampisi, Uganda. A constant comparative review method was used to examine a small convenient sample of cases. Analysis included using memo writing and low-inference coding to capture primary themes with input from an FBI behavioral analyst and a follow-up interview with the executive director of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM). The authors identified broad categories informed by input from the FBI behavioral analyst. The categories included child and family demographics, crime details, offender demographics, and recovery efforts. The research uncovered Child sacrifice is real and needs to be stopped. Emerging patterns in the cases were apparent. Child sacrifice should be considered different from random criminal acts. Efforts to seek justice were time consuming and the outcomes were usually discouraging. Child sacrifice practices should be considered different from random criminal acts. Multi-systemic efforts are the only possible way of reducing the number of child sacrifice cases in the region.

The impact of social media on the rights of the accused in Jordan: Does public opinion matter?

This study shows how publishing, commenting, and analyzing crime details via social media can play a role in shaping public opinion and influences the proper conduct of criminal justice. It also di...

Repetitive Saccadic Eye Movements Enhance Eyewitness Recall in Specific-Open Questioning

Several studies have shown that executing a series of visually guided saccades immediately before taking a memory test can help people recall details of mock crimes. The nature of the memory test has varied across studies, reflecting the multiple forms of questioning in investigative interviewing. Here, we examined mnemonic effects of saccade execution when people answered two important question types: specific-open, which called for open-ended descriptions of multifaceted event elements (e.g., a person’s appearance), and specific-closed, which probed memory for isolated features (e.g., the color of a particular article of clothing). Saccade execution enhanced recall in response to open questions, with non-trivial effect sizes, but had no effect when questions were closed. As in some prior research, enhancement was moderated by handedness: only individuals who reported highly consistent hand preference benefited from saccade execution. Although inconsistent individuals did not benefit from saccade execution, they exhibited several natural memory advantages when tested with specific-open questions. The theory that saccade execution potentiates the contribution of top-down attention to memory retrieval is discussed. These findings provide new insights regarding the circumstances under which saccade execution might be used to enhance eyewitness recall in real-world settings.

Protecting memory from misinformation: Warnings modulate cortical reinstatement during memory retrieval

Exposure to even subtle forms of misleading information can significantly alter memory for past events. Memory distortion due to misinformation has been linked to faulty reconstructive processes during memory retrieval and the reactivation of brain regions involved in the initial encoding of misleading details (cortical reinstatement). The current study investigated whether warning participants about the threat of misinformation can modulate cortical reinstatement during memory retrieval and reduce misinformation errors. Participants watched a silent video depicting a crime (original event) and were given an initial test of memory for the crime details. Then, participants listened to an auditory narrative describing the crime in which some original details were altered (misinformation). Importantly, participants who received a warning about the reliability of the auditory narrative either before or after exposure to misinformation demonstrated less susceptibility to misinformation on a final test of memory compared to unwarned participants. Warned and unwarned participants also demonstrated striking differences in neural activity during the final memory test. Compared to participants who did not receive a warning, participants who received a warning (regardless of its timing) demonstrated increased activity in visual regions associated with the original source of information as well as decreased activity in auditory regions associated with the misleading source of information. Stronger visual reactivation was associated with reduced susceptibility to misinformation, whereas stronger auditory reactivation was associated with increased susceptibility to misinformation. Together, these results suggest that a simple warning can modulate reconstructive processes during memory retrieval and reduce memory errors due to misinformation.

Advanced Android Crime Tracker

We have proposed an advanced android crime tracker mobile application which will track the status of the investigation as well as it also tracks complaints reported by the public. The main purpose of the application is to help higher authorities like CBI and police to speed up their investigation process and track status of multiple cases at a time. In this application, public will help them to get the crime details quickly and then they can take action immediately. It will help the police to know the crime ratio in the society. This application will show all the updated crime post and once case is solved then admin can delete the post and can also update the status of investigation. Public can upload photos of crime spot and location of crime spot and photos of items found on scene. User can also post their missing person details by doing same procedure. User can also check the status updated by the admin and incase of any query or emergency; the user can chat with the police with the help of chat box. For women safety, we have provided a SOS button which will call police by clicking on that button. This application is designed in such a way that all the post which is uploaded by peoples can be seen by police also. After that they can take action immediately on it and they can write the status of the crime. This system will speed up the crime investigation process.

The Discrimination of Innocents Exposed to Crime Details using an Autobiographical Implicit Association Test

The Discrimination of Innocents Exposed to Crime Details using an Autobiographical Implicit Association Test

What are you hiding? Initial validation of the reaction time‐based searching concealed information test

SummaryThe reaction time‐based concealed information test (RT‐CIT) has been used to judge the veracity of an examinees claim to be naïve by using RTs to test for recognition of relevant details. Here, we explore the validity of the RT‐CIT to generate new knowledge about the incident—the searching CIT. In a mock terrorism study (n = 60) the RT‐CIT not only allowed to link suspects to known crime details, but also allowed to reveal new crime details well above chance. A simulation study confirms the potential of the searching RT‐CIT and identifies conditions under which it performs best. We used an archival dataset that met these conditions (high CIT effect, large number of item repetitions), and found better item classification performance than in the mock terrorism study. The searching RT‐CIT could be a new, promising investigative tool to reveal new (e.g., crime) details to the investigative party.

Facts only the perpetrator could have known? A study of contamination in mock crime interrogations.

This paper examines contamination in interrogations: the process by which an interrogator divulges privileged information to a suspect. In Experiment 1, we predicted that mock investigators would communicate critical crime details when they interview mock suspects about a crime-and that innocent and guilty suspects alike would later produce confessions that contained these details. In Experiment 2, we hypothesized that observers who listened only to the confessions would exhibit a greater guilt bias than those who also had exposure to the eliciting interview. Experiment 1 (N = 59) used student participants in a mock crime scenario to test whether contamination is natural to communication even in the absence of external incentives. In Experiment 2, MTurk participants (N = 499) listened to audio-clips from Experiment 1 to test whether presenting observers with the full interview decreases guilt ratings for false confessors. Investigators divulged crime information to both innocent and guilty suspects, and even false confessions later included accurate details. Although Experiment 2 observers exhibited a guilt bias, exposure to the interview (not just the confession) attenuated this effect for innocent confessors. The information disclosure associated with contamination is a normal cognitive process that occurs even without external incentives to secure a confession. Experiment 2 showed that seeing contamination in action may decrease judgments of guilt for innocent suspects. Interrogations should be recorded in their entirety to provide fact finders with an objective record of the source of crime details contained within narrative confessions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of ulterior motives, inconsistencies, and details in unreliable jailhouse informant testimony

ABSTRACT The present study explored whether the successful detection of a jailhouse informant's ulterior motives, inconsistencies in testimony, and knowledge of privileged crime details would influence verdict decisions. Undergraduate participants (N = 381, 218 females) listened to a trial transcript in which a jailhouse informant's testimony was manipulated such that (1) the ulterior motive to provide false testimony was made salient or not, (2) an inconsistency was pointed out between the informant's testimony and a prior statement or not, and (3) an alternative explanation for how the informant learned the privileged crime details was suggested or not. Results showed both inconsistency and alternative explanation reduced conviction rates, though this was mediated by motive attributions. Participants appeared to interpret evidence differently depending on their motive attribution of the jailhouse informant. Participants who attributed the informant's behaviors to situational factors (i.e. reduced sentence) were more likely to vote not guilty and were more persuaded by the inconsistency and alternative explanation than participants who made dispositional attributions (i.e. he felt bad for the family, it's the right thing to do).

The effect of retroactive memory interference on the P300-based Complex Trial Protocol (CTP)

In a P300-based concealed information test (CIT), an increased response to a crime-related “probe” item of interest suggests concealed knowledge. Because the CIT's detection ability is based on knowledgeable parties recognizing the key item, weakening the crime memory might decrease probe identifiability and reduce diagnostic power. Research on retroactive memory interference (RI) has shown that acquiring new information after encoding a memory can degrade the original memory, which suggests that RI might pose a threat to CITs. To test this, Gronau et al. (2015) had participants complete a mock-crime, followed by either a control task or a RI manipulation task, intended to impair the crime memory. Both the simple guilty control and RI groups were subdivided into three time delay conditions: 1/3 of participants immediately completed the task and CIT, another 1/3 completed the task and returned a week later for the CIT, and the remaining participants completed both the task and CIT a week later. Results showed that RI reduced memory of crime details and skin conductance responses, while respiration line length was unaffected. Here, we extend Gronau et al. (2015), using the Complex Trial Protocol (CTP) version of the P300-based CIT, to investigate the influence of RI on recognition. The CIT effect was obvious in all six group × time delay subconditions, as evidenced by their significantly larger probe vs. irrelevant amplitudes, high percentage of bootstrapped iterations where probe > irrelevants, bootstrapped mean amplitude differences, and satisfactory hit rates. However, these indices of the CIT effect did not differ based on group or time delay, as was the case for target response error rates and P300 latencies. The only outcome of interest to vary by group or time delay was behavioral response times: both probe and combined irrelevant responses were delayed in the control (simple guilty) group. Thus, the evidence suggests that the RI manipulation used here does not threaten the P300-based CTP's accuracy. Results are considered as they compare to previous work, and limitations and possible explanations for our results are discussed.