Module 3 Overview In Module 2, you learned about police psychology and the roles and functions of mental health professionals working with law enforcement officers. You were introduced to investigative techniques such as interviewing, interrogation, and polygraphy examinations that officers employ during the course of their duties. In Module 3, you will learn about two areas closely related to police psychology: criminology and investigative psychology. This module will focus on criminal profiling, the use of the polygraph and other lie detection techniques, forensic hypnosis, and the ways to enhance the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. When studying criminal profiling and forensic hypnosis, direct your attention to their validity and accuracy and the potential for introducing false and misleading information into an investigation. You will examine the role of psychopathy in criminal behavior. Finally, this module will focus on various types of criminal acts, including violent crimes and sexual assault. Many students and forensic psychology professionals alike have become increasingly interested in the process of criminal profiling—the process by which information pertaining to a crime is utilized in creating a description of the likely offender. In your first assignment, you will discuss the techniques involved in criminal profiling. In addition to discussing techniques, though, you will consider the issues of accuracy and validity in criminal profiling. Given that profiling has had some major failures—consider, for example, the misidentification that occurred in the Atlanta Bomber case (Dewan, 2005)—issues of validity are important to be kept in mind. Following from the issue of accuracy and validity is the courtroom admissibility of profiling data. If you are unsure of the accuracy of profiling data, would you recommend its use in a court of law? If so, under what circumstances would you allow or not allow its use. Another investigative technique in which forensic professionals are involved is forensic hypnosis—the process of eliciting memories of an event or events while under hypnosis. In forensic hypnosis, as opposed to clinical hypnosis, an examiner attempts to elicit memories for the purposes of identification of subjects or for understanding details of a crime. In your assignment, you will discuss your understanding of forensic hypnosis. Like profiling, there are significant questions of accuracy and validity. In memory recall under the influence of hypnosis, there is a potential for recalling memories, which are inaccurate or patently false. Once again, this raises the issue of courtroom admissibility. In conducting research on the admissibility issue, you will find that courts have varied in how they have decided the admissibility of recovered or refreshed memories. As you work on your assignment, ask yourself whether you will be in favor of allowing recovered memories in court. Fieldwork Observation Another important activit ...

1. Module 3 Overview
In Module 2, you learned about police psychology and the roles
and functions of mental health professionals working with law
enforcement officers. You were introduced to investigative
techniques such as interviewing, interrogation, and polygraphy
examinations that officers employ during the course of their
duties. In Module 3, you will learn about two areas closely
related to police psychology: criminology and investigative
psychology.
This module will focus on criminal profiling, the use of the
polygraph and other lie detection techniques, forensic hypnosis,
and the ways to enhance the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies.
When studying criminal profiling and forensic hypnosis, direct
your attention to their validity and accuracy and the potential
for introducing false and misleading information into an
investigation. You will examine the role of psychopathy in
criminal behavior. Finally, this module will focus on various
types of criminal acts, including violent crimes and sexual
assault.
Many students and forensic psychology professionals alike have
become increasingly interested in the process of criminal
profiling—the process by which information pertaining to a
crime is utilized in creating a description of the likely offender.
In your first assignment, you will discuss the techniques
involved in criminal profiling. In addition to discussing
techniques, though, you will consider the issues of accuracy and
validity in criminal profiling. Given that profiling has had some
major failures—consider, for example, the misidentification that
occurred in the Atlanta Bomber case (Dewan, 2005)—issues of
validity are important to be kept in mind. Following from the
issue of accuracy and validity is the courtroom admissibility of

2. profiling data. If you are unsure of the accuracy of profiling
data, would you recommend its use in a court of law? If so,
under what circumstances would you allow or not allow its use.
Another investigative technique in which forensic professionals
are involved is forensic hypnosis—the process of eliciting
memories of an event or events while under hypnosis. In
forensic hypnosis, as opposed to clinical hypnosis, an examiner
attempts to elicit memories for the purposes of identification of
subjects or for understanding details of a crime. In your
assignment, you will discuss your understanding of forensic
hypnosis. Like profiling, there are significant questions of
accuracy and validity. In memory recall under the influence of
hypnosis, there is a potential for recalling memories, which are
inaccurate or patently false. Once again, this raises the issue of
courtroom admissibility. In conducting research on the
admissibility issue, you will find that courts have varied in how
they have decided the admissibility of recovered or refreshed
memories. As you work on your assignment, ask yourself
whether you will be in favor of allowing recovered memories in
court.
Fieldwork Observation
Another important activity in this module is completing your
fieldwork observation and submitting your fieldwork report. If
you had no difficulty with your first two fieldwork assignments,
in which you developed a list of potential placements and then
submitted a plan for your fieldwork placements, the observation
experience itself should be enjoyable and informative. Some
students do encounter difficulties, such as finding that an
appointment has been cancelled or the professional is no longer
available to talk. If this occurs, remain patient and persistent,
and rely on your backup plans. And, of course, contact your
instructor if you need assistance.
Reference:
Dewan, S. (2005, August 25). Olympics bomber apologizes and
is sentenced
to life terms. The New York Times. Retrieved from

3. http://www.
nytimes.com/2005/08/23/national/23bomber.html
· Describe key processes and players within the legal and
correctional systems.
· Identify and evaluate key data sources related to the
populations served by the practice of forensic psychology (e.g.,
National Uniform Crime Reports, court decisions, statistics
related to competence and sanity defenses, demographics of
prison populations, etc.).
· Compare and contrast how forensic mental health
professionals work within mental health, corporate, government,
legal, and correctional systems.
· Examine sources of professional ethical standards (e.g., APA,
ACA).
Repression of Trauma
Within the literature pertaining to victims of sexual abuse, there
are contentions that have been hotly debated for many years.
One of the most contentious issues centered around the debate
is "repressed" versus "false memories." Some individuals in the
mental health profession suggest that victims of child sexual
abuse frequently repress the memory of the abuse causing it be
outside of conscious awareness (unconscious). Some clinicians
who treat sexual abuse victims argue that the emotional scars
can heal only through treatment and recollection of the abuse.
Researchers and practitioners have hotly debated the veracity of
memories that were lost and later recovered through therapy.
One side of the debate suggests that these memories are false
memories planted by suggestive therapeutic techniques. Another
camp argues that repression of trauma is normal and that these
memories need to be retrieved in therapy to alleviate symptoms.
Either way, both recovered memories and false memories appear
to exist and can cause irreparable harm to the families involved.

4. In part due to therapeutic techniques aimed at recovering the
repressed memories, there have been a number of lawsuits and
criminal trials in which accusers have cited their recovered
memories as evidence of childhood abuse. Many states altered
their statutes of limitation laws to allow prosecution many years
after the memory recollection was recovered as opposed to
starting the statutes of limitations several years after the
incident occurred.
A legal question confronting forensic psychology professionals
is how to distinguish between true and false memories of
childhood abuse. Related to this question is the need to
understand how false memories can be implanted into people's
brains and how these individuals frequently place a great deal
of confidence in the accuracy of these false memories. Keep
these issues in mind as you work on your first assignment.
Reference:
Loftus, E. (1997). Creating false memories. Scientific
American, 277(3), 70–75.
Retrieved from
http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm
Criminal Profiling
Who hasn't watched a television show or a movie in which the
psychology professional is called upon to help the law
enforcement catch the serial criminal terrorizing a community?
In this module, you will explore the area of investigative
psychology. This area includes criminal profiling, the use of the
polygraph and other lie detection techniques, and the use of
forensic hypnosis as a technique for enhancing the accuracy of
eyewitness testimony.
Criminal profiling, or offender profiling, is a general term
describing any process used to infer distinctive personality
characteristics, behavioral tendencies, physical and

5. demographic characteristics, or even geographic locations of
individuals responsible for committing criminal acts from
physical and behavioral evidence. Different terms have been
used interchangeably to describe profiling, including
psychological profiling, sociopsychological profiling, or
criminal investigative analysis. The latter term was adopted by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) profilers to
distinguish their procedures from those used by mental health
professionals.
The numerous terms and lack of a clear definition have led to
confusion both in the field and among the general public. Part
of this confusion can be attributed to the relatively recent
attempts to increase the professional standards in the field.
Though the concept of inferring behavioral characteristics of
perpetrators from crime scene evidence has existed for
centuries, it has been relatively recently when scientific
principles have been used to test and develop these theories.
Conclusion
At the end of this module, you will have an understanding about
the differing approaches to the identification and apprehension
of criminal suspects. Many suspects who are arrested for crimes
are apprehended based on good old-fashioned police work,
including activities such as interviewing witnesses and those
with information about the crime and examining physical
evidence. However, when police and other investigative
agencies are unable to identify a suspect, they sometimes call
on forensic psychology professionals for help. Through the
process of criminal profiling, the professional attempts to use
known information about the circumstances of a crime to
narrow the field of potential suspects. While profiling has had a
number of well-publicized successes and has become
popularized in the media, it has also led to the misidentification
of subjects in some cases. As a method for identifying suspects,

6. its reliability and validity have not been fully established.
Therefore, its use in court of law has been limited.
Similarly, validity concerns have been raised with regard to
forensic hypnosis. As a method, forensic hypnosis was
developed in order to elicit individuals' memories of crimes for
which insufficient information was available. However, given
concerns about recovered (or refreshed) memories—and due to
concerns that some recovered memories may be false—the
method has been scrutinized. No reliable method for
differentiating "true" from "false" memories has been
established. Accordingly, some courts have been willing to
accept hypnotically recovered memories as evidence at trial,
while many have not.
As you plan for fieldwork experience, you may want to consider
interviewing professionals involved in law enforcement
investigative techniques or forensic psychology professionals
with experience in profiling or forensic hypnosis. Alternatively,
you may want to interview professionals who have professional
credentials pertaining to other areas discussed in this course.
Regardless of whom you decide to interview, be sure that the
experience will be stimulating and informative with regard to
your education in the area of forensic psychology.
Page 1 of 1
Psychology and the Legal System
© 2013 Argosy University
Assault in the City

7. In the past six months, five women have reported being sexually
assaulted by a stranger. The details of the
incidents are similar. All the women live alone and were
assaulted in their homes between 5:00 a.m. and
6:00 a.m. The police are concerned the offender is a serial
rapist. The chief feels more women may have
been assaulted but are reluctant to come forward. However, he
is concerned that if he publicizes his
suspicions in the hope of finding other victims, he may lose his
chances of catching the perpetrator.
The assaults occurred early in the morning, and four of the
victims were awakened in the dark. So they
could not provide a good visual description of the attacker.
However, one victim was coming out of the
shower when she was assaulted and possibly is the best
eyewitness. Unfortunately, due to the trauma, she
has apparently repressed her memory of the event.
The chief decides to ask Dr. Shayleigh Johnson for assistance.
He asks her whether she can develop an
offender profile. He remarks he has heard of criminal profiling
and understands it has had some successes
as well as failures. He wants to know how a criminal profile is
conducted and the validity of any developed
profiles. He warns Dr. Johnson that he does not want to waste
precious time and human resources on a
wild-goose chase when there is a serial rapist acting without the
fear of reprisals. However, he does want
some factual answers from Dr. Johnson.
The chief also confides they do not have any leads although
they have deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
samples that match and have checked all the sexual offenders.
He confesses the investigation is at a loss.
He suggests that if they could get a description of the offender,

8. they may be able to use it in the media to
seek assistance. However, only one victim had a clear view of
her attacker, and she appears to have
repressed the memory.
The chief wants to know whether Dr. Johnson can use hypnosis
to help the victim recall her attacker’s face.
He wants to know whether hypnosis can help people remember
repressed memories, how accurate the
hypnotically refreshed memory is, and whether this witness’s
recollection can be used in court against the
accused if he is apprehended.
Assignment 1: Assault in the City: Criminal Profiling
Click here to study a vignette.
Tasks:
On the basis of the vignette you read, respond to the following:
· Describe the techniques used in criminal profiling and report
on the accuracy of offender's profiles.
· Indicate whether the offender's description is admissible in
court. Your answer should target criminal profiling of serial
rapists.
· Discuss the role of forensic hypnosis in helping the victim
recall repressed memories.
· Cite research indicating the accuracy of hypnotically refreshed
memories and the admissibility of a hypnotically refreshed
memory into court.
· Help Dr. Johnson offer the chief alternatives to assist the
victim to identify possible suspects.
All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules
for attributing sources.
Submission Details:
· By Saturday, April 29, 2017, post your responses to

9. this Discussion Area.
· Through Wednesday, May 3, 2017, respond to at least two of
your classmates' posts. While responding, compare the
similarities and differences between what you have constructed
and what your classmates have.