Examine methods forensic psychologists use to assist law enforcement.
You are a
Examine methods forensic psychologists use to assist law enforcement.
You are a forensic psychology professional working as a consultant for a law enforcement agency (i.e., local police or sheriff, state investigation unit, FBI). You are going to demonstrate your ability to effectively set up a criminal profile and prepare for interviewing eyewitnesses, negotiating the safety of potential hostages/victims, and an interrogation to assist in ensuring the right person is charged and convicted. This assignment will help you identify elements of this role, as well as the steps to take throughout this consultation process.
For this assignment, you will create a criminal profile based on an actual case or character of your choosing. The character/suspect can be taken from any movie, television show, book, podcast, documentary, etc., or any defendant from a criminal case. The profile will be designed for the law enforcement agency and should be constructed in a way that helps the agency locate and apprehend the individual in a timely fashion. Since your audience is outside the field of forensic psychology, ensure your work is clear, concise, comprehensive, and can be easily understood by those without your expertise.
Your first goal is to generate leads for suspects. Next, you will prepare interview techniques for potential witnesses of the crime(s) and negotiation strategies you would use if the suspect still has victims being held hostage. Lastly, you need to prepare an interrogation and use methods which are adapted to the individual characteristics of the suspect and unique factors of the case. You may not be able to find all the information needed for your character from the source you choose, such as a television show. If this is the case, fill in the blanks with hypothetical information found from other similar cases and research.
Prepare a 15-18 slide PowerPoint presentation, with speaker notes, covering the following topics:
*You will record your live presentation with narration in Unit 9 after all elements have been added to your presentation.
Create your Criminal Profile and Prepare for Interviewing, Negotiation, and Interrogation
*Background Information and History (4 – 5 slides)
*Evidence gathering methods used (i.e., obtaining school records, mental health records, previous arrest record, family interviews, research similarities in previous cases).
*Social engagement (i.e., ability to make friends, peers, romantic relationships, family, society, school attendance)
*Childhood abuse and neglect (i.e., sexual, emotional, physical)
*Previous criminal engagement (i.e., juvenile and adult)
*Violence risk (i.e., static, dynamic, and protective factors)
*Substance use and addictions/fetishes
*Diagnosis of mental health disorders and disabilities related to criminal behavior
*Motivations for criminal behavior (i.e., pleasures seeking, satisfying criminal sexual desires, money, power, revenge, etc.)
*Forensic Science: Crime Scene Analysis (4 – 5 slides)
*Elements of forensic science (i.e., DNA, weapons, autopsy, etc.)
*Geographical profiling (i.e., locations and settings connected to crimes)
*Victimology (i.e., patterns and similarities of victims, i.e., age, hair color, sex, socioeconomic class, likeness to previous abusers)
*Criminal behavior patterns (i.e., weapons used, violence before death, capturing or luring victims, motivations (i.e., revenge, drugs, power, sexual desires, pleasure, experimentation, delusional purposes (i.e., saving the world, carrying out acts of voices, etc.)
*Interviewing, Interrogation, and Hostage Negotiation (4 – 5 slides)
*Interviewing methods (i.e., methods used with eyewitnesses to help them recall memories more accurately)
*Hostage negotiation methods (i.e., build rapport, tactical empathy, de-escalation, evidenced-based models)
*Interrogation Methods (i.e., lie detection, direct confrontation, deception, alliance, conversational vs. confrontational, etc.)
*Potential Concerns, Issues, or Limitations of Criminal Profile (2 – 3 Slides)
*Personal bias (i.e., type of people that “look” more guilty, race, etc.)
*Confidentiality concerns (i.e., keeping leads, suspect names, and profile from public)
*Factors that interfere with accuracy (i.e., assumptions, previous crime statistics, false confessions, inconsistencies in eyewitness reports, etc.)
*Do not forget to include a title slide and a reference slide, as you should cite supporting literature.
Your assignment should be a 15-18 slide PowerPoint presentation, not including the title and reference slides, and should include the following elements:
Title slide: Provide your name, title of assignment, course and section number, and date.
Content slides: Answer all the questions, reflecting appropriate personal and professional insights.
The assignment must be written in Standard English and demonstrate superior organization, including a highly developed viewpoint and purpose. Your responses should reflect professional writing standards, using proper tone and language. The writing and writing style should be correct, accurate, and reflect knowledge of skills and practice in forensic psychology.
Presentations are visual; therefore, use clear, concise bullet points and avoid crowded slides. You may include the use of graphics and SmartArt to streamline information in a memorable manner. Additionally, images and diagrams are wonderful presentation tools, but be sure to include all required citations. Please review the Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations resource for tips and suggestions. Submissions must be in .pptx format and no larger than 40 MB.
Note: Visual effects and some dark colored themes, such as Slate, may prevent Turnitin from fully processing a PowerPoint file and, consequently, from generating a Similarity Report. Review the file requirements to ensure a report will be generated.
*Reference slide: Sources listed in current APA format.
*Include a minimum of three scholarly or academic sources to support your responses and conclusions.
*Use Arial or Times New Roman
*Use current APA formatting and citation style.
The textbook below should be referenced along with at least 3 other scholarly or academic sources.
Constanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2021). Forensic and legal psychology: Psychological science applied to law (4th ed.). Worth Publishers.
Chapters 2, 3, & 4
Chapters 4: “The Psychology of Forensic Identification: DNA, Fingerprints, and Other Types of Physical Trace Evidence”
Chapter 5: “Criminal Profiling and Psychological Autopsies”