experts who are employed by or consulted by the police, and who provide behavioural advice for police investigations.
bias
a distortion of memory that may arise from the effect of personal knowledge, experience or expectation. This is also a term used in signal detection theory, and is used to refer to the propensity to make an identification from a lineup (see response criterion).
blended memories
a mix of initial and post-event memory details.
blind administration
a method of administering a lineup in which neither the lineup administrator nor the witness knows which lineup member is the suspect. Also known as “doubleblind administration”.
British Crime Survey
an annual survey that measures the amount of crime in England and Wales by asking a sample of the population about their experiences of crime in the preceding year.
Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development
a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 South London males first studied at age 8 in 1961, with the aim of advancing knowledge about conviction careers up to age 50 and life success up to age 48.
celerity
in penology, the amount of time that elapses between an offence being committed and an official sanction being imposed.
certainty
in penology, the likelihood of legal punishment as a result of committing a crime, which may be assessed objectively (with reference to official statistics) or subjectively (with reference to the experience of individual offenders).
change order
cognitive interview prompt to recall the initial event in a different order (e.g. backwards).
change perspective
cognitive interview prompt to recall the initial event from another perspective.
child protection plan
details areas of concern, planned action and monitoring for a child who is considered to be in need of protection from physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse and/or neglect.
child sexual abuse (CSA)
forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening.
civil cases
cases that are concerned with private wrongs, as between one person and another.
coerced-compliant false confession
a false confession given in the face of coercion by the investigator, but only to appease the investigator and not accepted by the suspect.
coerced-internalised false confession
a false confession given in the face of coercion by the investigator, which becomes fully accepted as the truth by the suspect.
cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS)
a model of personality devised by Mischel and Shoda (1995).
cognitive analytic therapy (CAT)
a form of psychological therapy initially developed in the UK by Anthony Ryle. It is distinctive due to its intensive use of reformulation, its integration of cognitive and analytic practice and its collaborative nature, involving the patient very actively in their treatment.
cognitive assessment
is completed using a recognised test such as one of the Wechsler group of tests. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test 4th Edition UK is the most commonly employed assessment.
cognitive behavioural
a model or approach in psychological therapy and training, derived from a synthesis of concepts from behaviourism and cognitive psychology, and focusing on the interconnections of thoughts, feelings and behaviour and how they can be modified over time.
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
is based on the notion that thoughts, attitudes and beliefs are interrelated and hence influence each other. Cognitive behavioural therapy, therefore, attempts to identify thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that might contribute to the problem behaviour and to work to alter these in the hope of preventing further occurrences of the problem behaviour.
cognitive processing therapy
a form of therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.
cognitive skills programmes/training
are based on the notion that violent offending is caused by antisocial cognitions and are focused towards helping offenders recognise their thought patterns that are conducive to crime and to acquire new ways of thinking about and solving their problems, particularly with reference to the social domain (social problem-solving training).
commitment
an effect whereby once a face has been identified by a witness, they become committed to the identification and are likely to identify the same face again, even when the initial judgement was mistaken.
commonsense justice model
applied when discrepancies exist between the legal advocate and jurors’ common sense; jurors are more likely to employ their own understandings when reaching a final verdict.
comorbidity
the diagnosis of a second (or more) disorder in addition to the initial diagnosis of a disorder.
compassion-focused therapy (CFT)
a form of psychotherapy rooted in Mahayana Buddhist psychology, which emphasises the development of self-compassion in people who are prone to feelings of shame and self-criticism. Created by Paul Gilbert and colleagues. Also known as Compassionate Mind Training (CMT).
concealed information test (CIT)
a method of polygraph testing. Suspects are given multiple-choice questions concerning details of a crime containing one correct alternative which only a guilty person might be expected to know. The guilty suspect should experience more physiological arousal to the correct alterative compared to the others, while an innocent suspect will react similarly to all alternatives.
conduct disorder (CD)
in childhood is a repetitive, and persistent, pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others, or societal conventions, are flouted. Many individuals with CD show little empathy and concern for others, and may frequently misperceive the intentions of others as being more hostile and threatening than is actually the case.
conformity to group pressure
the tendency for people to adopt the behaviours, attitudes and values of other members of a reference group.
confrontation
a term used in the UK to refer to a procedure in which the witness is permitted to view the suspect for the purpose of identification. A confrontation may occur in a police station or in the street (see street identification). In the USA this procedure is referred to as a show-up.
construction model
applies knowledge structures to construct behavioural scenarios or hypotheses, which are then repeatedly tested for confirmation.
context reinstatement
a cognitive interview prompt to reinstate mentally the surrounding context of the initial event.
control behaviours
behaviours performed by the partner of an individual to restrain their freedom or control how that individual can act or behave (e.g. controlling how often they are allowed out of the family home).
control question test (CQT)
a method of polygraph testing that compares reactions to control questions concerning past transgressions to questions relevant to the crime under investigation; a guilty person should react more strongly to the relevant questions.
conversation management (CM)
an interview technique, proposed by Shepherd, that emphasises the police officer’s awareness and management of the interview, both verbally and non-verbally.
corroboration
confirmation by other or additional sources.
covert sensitisation
a method developed in behaviour therapy, which applies conditioning principles to induce individuals to associate socially or personally unacceptable feelings and behaviour with an experience of disgust, thereby reducing their potency.
crime linkage
an analytical technique whereby potential crime series are identified through t
he analysis of the offender’s crime scene behaviour.
crime linkage practitioner
a person employed by the police, or who is consulted by the police, who conducts crime linkage analysis.
criminal
concerned with the relationship between the individual and the general public. Criminal actions are usually brought by the state.
criminal cases
cases that are concerned with offences deemed to be against the public interest.
criminogenic needs
features of individuals associated with the risk of involvement in crime that change over time and are susceptible to change by direct effort, thereby reducing risks of criminal activity. Also known as dynamic risk factors.
criteria-based content analysis (CBCA)
method for analysing children’s statements in terms of indices that are believed to reflect truthfulness. It comprises 19 criteria, broken down into 3 general characteristics, 10 specific content, 5 motivation-related content criteria and one offence-specific element criterion. Part of statement validity analysis.
cross-examination
the questioning of a witness for the other side in a case.
Crown Court
deals with all crime committed for trial by magistrates’ courts. Cases for trial are heard before a judge and jury. The Crown Court also acts as an appeal Court for cases heard and dealt with by the magistrates and can deal with some civil and family matters.
culprit-description strategy
a method of selecting members of a lineup on the criterion that their appearance matches the attributes mentioned in the witness’s description of the culprit.
d’ (d prime)
a criterion-free measure of sensitivity used in signal detection theory. A higher value of d’ indicates a better ability to distinguish guilty from innocent suspects.
Daubert test
a ruling on the admissibility of expert testimony, following Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993), which stressed the testimony offered should be based on information on sound scientific methods.
de facto
literally “in actual fact”. What is in fact or in practice the case, irrespective of what legally or in theory should be the case.
default value
An attribute that was not mentioned in a description but is assumed to take a default value. For example, a witness may not mention that a perpetrator was not wearing glasses; the default value would be that he was not.
Defence
lawyers or barristers who represent persons facing criminal charges.
de jure
literally “according to law; by right”. The legal or theoretical position, which may not correspond with reality.
desistance
the psychological and social process of ceasing to offend. It is characterised by a series of lapses, relapses and recoveries rather than by a definitive stopping point.
deterrence
one of the objectives of sentencing, based on the premise that adverse consequences (punishment) will make recurrence of offending (criminal recidivism) less likely.
deterrence theory
in penology, the doctrine that the costs of committing crimes suppress criminal activity. General deterrence refers to the effect on the population; specific deterrence refers to the effect on convicted individuals.
developmental propensity theory
aims to explain the factors in development that lead certain individuals to develop an underlying propensity for conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency.
diagnosticity ratio
used to compare the performance of lineup procedures that takes account of the probability that a guilty suspect will be identified and the risk of mistaken identification of innocent suspects. It is calculated as the proportion of culprits identified from culprit present lineups/the proportion of innocent suspects identified from culprit absent lineups.
dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)
a system of therapy originally developed by Marsha Linehan to treat people with borderline personality disorder. DBT combines standard cognitive-behavioural techniques for emotion regulation and reality-testing with concepts of distress tolerance, acceptance and mindful awareness, largely derived from Buddhist meditative practice.
directed masturbation
also called masturbatory reconditioning. A behaviour therapy technique, based on conditioning principles, employed to help individuals with inappropriate sexual urges or attractions to divert their interests in more socially acceptable or less harmful ways.
directive leading
a question form that is interrogative, suggestive and so restrictive that the form itself increases the likelihood that the response will be consistent with the features of that form.
dissociation
(also disassociation). A defensive disruption in the normally occurring connections between feelings, thoughts, behaviours and memories, consciously or unconsciously invoked, to reduce psychological distress during or after traumatic episodes.
dizygotic (DZ) twins
see monozygotic (MZ)/dizygotic (DZ) twins.
dock identification
a procedure used for formal identification under Scots Law. A witness in a court is asked whether they can see the perpetrator present in the court. The expectation is that the witness will identify the prisoner in the dock.
dysregulation of the emotion and stress pathways
relatively poor regulation of emotion and stress due to physiological responses.
ecological validity
the degree to which experimental conditions reproduce real-life situations accurately. Ecological validity is closely related to external validity.
effect size
a statistic used to compare the magnitude of the effect of an independent variable across different studies expressed in standard deviation units. Two commonly reported effect sizes are Cohen’s d and Pearson’s correlation (r).
either-way offence
an offence for which the accused may elect the case to be dealt with either summarily by the magistrates or by committal to the Crown Court to be tried by jury.
elaboration likelihood model
a dual process theory which proposes two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral.
electroencephalogram (EEG)
a procedure in which changes in the electrical potential of the brain are recorded.
encoding
the process by which information is registered in human memory.
episodic
relating to a specific episode or event.
estimator variables
factors that may affect the reliability of eyewitness memory that are not under the control of the criminal justice system (e.g. the amount of time a witness was able to view the perpetrator) (see also system variables).
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA)
a separatist Basque nationalist organisation, responsible for many terrorist attacks in Spain.
evidence
information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
evidence-based practice
psychological practice that is informed by the best theory and/or the best evidence available at that time.
examination-in-chief
examination of a witness by a party calling him or her.
executive functioning
brain processes responsible for higher order cognitive tasks, such as planning, abstract reasoning and problem solving. Executive dysfunction involves impairments with, for example, impulse control, self-regulation, sustained attention, planning and problem-solving.
expert evidence
given by an expert witness, who is employed to give evidence on a subject in which they are qualified or have expertise.
expert witnesses
the law of evidence recognises two types of witness: the common wi
tness to fact and the expert witness. Expert witnesses are those qualified to express a professional opinion, by their training, knowledge and experience.
explicit
a memory of which the person remembering is aware and is able to use to generate a response (e.g. a verbal description or a positive identification at a lineup.)
externalising behaviours/symptoms
refer to problems that are manifested in outward behaviour and reflect a child’s negative reactions to her/his environment, including aggression, delinquency and hyperactivity. Other terms used include conduct problems and antisocial.
eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)
a form of psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro to resolve trauma-related disorders resulting from exposure to traumatic or distressing events, such as rape or military combat.
factual approach
the disclosure by the interviewer of all available evidence to the suspect, sometimes even false information, with the presumption that this will to lead to a quick confession, as the suspect believes that further resistance is useless.
false confession
any confession or any admission to a criminal act that the confessor did not commit.
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