Sunday 2 June 2013

Some practice questions for Forensic

(a)    Outline how an upbringing in poverty or disadvantaged neighbourhoods could explain why someone might turn to crime (10)
(b)   Discuss the validity of upbringing explanations to crime (15)
 (a)    Describe one piece of research into how criminality might be learnt from others (10)
(b)   Discuss the reliability of research into cognitive explanations of crime (15)
 (a)    Describe one piece of research into the cognitive interviewing technique (10)
(b)   Evaluate the validity of research into interviewing witnesses (15)

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4 comments:

  1. Richard4 June 2013 at 00:03

    (b) Discuss the validity of upbringing explanations to crime (15)

    in terms of validity what do i talk abt?
    could i say that farrington only used boys ....

    or do i talk abt that for reliability...not sure when to talk abt it help please

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    1. Unknown4 June 2013 at 11:21

      I've done a post on validity that can help you so you might want to check that out. Specifically for this question, I would probably look at the method and how well you can generalise it.

      You have to be careful to make sure you're evaluating the explanations not just the research though. So you could say that the evidence used to justify explanations tends to be somewhat ethnocentric, and then give Juby and Farrington's biased sample as an example.

      My paragraphs would be focused on:

      Reductionism - upbringing theories tend to reduce crime to one component, such as disrupted families, poverty or learning from others. It ignores dispositional and nature factors such as cognition and biology. Thus it mightn't be holistic enough to be valid for all offenders.

      Evidence - upbringing theories tend to be based on statistics and evidence from studies which tend to lack validity, which suggests the theories and explanations may also lack validity. E.g. the use of self-report often gives poor representation of true attitudes due to demand characteristics/social desirability bias, the samples also tend to be biased in a lot of studies so you can't really generalise to many populations with any certainty, etc.

      Hope that gives you an idea

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  2. sonia6 June 2013 at 10:51

    could you possibly give me an example answer of 'identify the link between imprisonment and suicide' what would you use for your opening sentence etc?

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    Replies
    1. Unknown6 June 2013 at 12:15

      Basically I'd start off with something like "Prison is a deliberately aversive environment used as a punishment for committing a crime. It results in the removal of freedom, removal from friends and family, and removal of control over what you do on a day to day basis. Thus, it is no surprise that it has various impacts on psychological health..."

      I would then go on to describe how delusions and anxiety were common, as is depression. The link between imprisonment and suicide is basically that a significant proportion of the prison population either has a psychological disorder before they enter prison, or they develop one whilst they're in there. Depression is common, and it's characterized by feelings of pessimism and worthlessness, as well as suicidal thoughts. Thus imprisonment > depression > suicide.

      Then outline Dooley's report.

      If you want to post your answer I'll take a look by the way.

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