prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page i criminal psychology a beginner’s guide prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page ii From anarchism to artificial intelligence and genetics to global terrorism, Beginner’s Guides equip readers with the tools to fully understand the most challenging and important debates of our age. Written by experts in a clear and accessible style, books in this series are substantial enough to be thorough but compact enough to be read by anyone wanting to know more about the world they live in. anarchism democracy the palestine–israeli ruth kinna david beetham conflict dan cohn-sherbok & anti-capitalism energy dawoud el-alami vaclav smil simon tormey philosophy of mind evolution edward feser artificial intelligence burton s. guttman blay whitby postmodernism evolutionary psychology kevin hart biodiversity robin dunbar, louise john spicer barrett & john lycett quantum physics alastair i. m. rae bioterror & biowarfare genetics malcolm dando a. griffiths, b. guttman, religion d. suzuki & t. cullis martin forward the brain a. al-chalabi, m.r. turner global terrorism the small arms trade & r.s. delamont leonard weinberg m. schroeder, r. stohl & d.m. smith criminal psychology NATO ray bull et al. jennifer medcalf Forthcoming: astrobiology fair trade mafia lewis dartnell jacqueline decarlo james finckenauer asylum forensic science racism pamela goldberg jay siegel alana lentin capitalism galaxies radical philosophy andrew kilmister, gary joanne baker andrew collier browning human rights time cloning david beetham amarendra swarup aaron levine immigration volcanoes conspiracy theories liza schuster rosaly lopes alasdair spark the irish conflict extrasolar planets anthony mcintyre, ian stevens david adams prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page iii criminal psychology a beginner’s guide ray bull, claire cooke, ruth hatcher, jessica woodhams, charlotte bilby and tim grant prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page iv cr iminal psychology: a beginner ’s guide A Oneworld Book Published by Oneworld Publications 2006 Copyright © R H Bull, Charlotte Bilby, Claire Cooke, Tim Grant, Ruth Hatcher, Jessica Woodhams, 2006 All rights reserved Copyright under Berne Convention ACIP record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978–1–85168–477–9 ISBN-10: 1–85168–477–8 Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India Cover design by Two Associates Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd., Kings Lynn Oneworld Publications 185 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7AR England www.oneworld-publications.com NL08 Learn more about Oneworld. Join our mailing list to find out about our latest titles and special offers at: www.oneworld-publications.com/newsletter.htm prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page v contents preface vii one criminal psychologists: within which settings do they work? 1 two offender profiling and linking crime 17 three policing 36 four interviewing suspects 53 five detecting deception 68 six eye-witness testimony 87 seven forensic linguistics 102 eight punishment and offenders 116 nine experiencing imprisonment 132 ten rehabilitation of offenders: what works? 150 eleven the management and treatment of sex offenders 168 index 189 prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page vi prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page vii preface Criminal psychology covers a range of fascinating topics. For centuries people have been very interested in crime, and in the last hundred years psychology has grown from a fledgling discipline to one of great importance. In several countries around the world (e.g. the USA, the UK), psychology is now among the top three most popular subjects to be studied at university or college. It is now recognized that psychology is highly relevant to many aspects of life, especially those to do with offenders, prisons, the police, witnesses, and the courts. This book has been written for members of the general public who wish to have a better understanding of criminal psychology than that which can be provided by the popular media such as newspapers and television. In this book we have explained in a reader-friendly way the research (and theory) which underpins modern criminal psych- ology. Thus the book will also be of interest to those commencing their studies of criminal psychology (e.g. in college or the final years of school). We authors of the book have used everyday language to explain the many facets of criminal psychology. We have described the complexity of the issues and explained why, therefore, there are rarely simple answers or rules regarding criminal psychology (e.g. why harsh punishment may not reduce offending, that liars may not look away when deceiving you, that coercion may not produce reliable confessions). vii prelims.081 24/08/2006 11:43 AM Page viii viii preface The contents of this book would not have been possible with- out the help of all those people around the world who have partici- pated in the thousands of relevant psychological studies. We would like to thank the police officers, witnesses, victims, offend- ers, prison officers and others who have given up their time, often in very difficult circumstances, to make a contribution. We would also like to thank Julie Blackwell-Young for her assistance with chapter eight and Aimee Jones for, among other things, collating the chapters. Ray Bull Leicester January 2006 ch1.081 24/08/2006 11:28 AM Page 1 chapter one criminal psychologists: within which settings do they work? introduction If you were asked the question ‘What do criminal psychologists do in their everyday working life?’, what would you answer? If you were to believe the latest television dramas you might think that the main role of criminal psychologists involves helping the police to catch criminals or engaging in the ‘profiling’ of offend- ers. If, however, you had watched films such as The Silence of the Lambs, then you might believe that all criminal psychologists, like Clarice Starling, attempt to gain a better insight into the minds of serious offenders by talking to convicted offenders about their crimes. These popular conceptions of the work of criminal psycholo- gists, while they may be true for a small number, do not represent the wide variety of roles that those trained in criminal psychology can, and do, work. From assisting the police in investigations, pro- viding advice on interviewing of suspects or witnesses, working as expert witnesses in court cases, working in the rehabilitation of offenders, conducting criminal psychology research or working in academia, the work of criminal psychologists is varied and wide reaching. 1