Deck 7: Evaluating Criminal Suspects

Question 1

Criminal profilers must possess certain knowledge and experience including

A)an understanding of human psychology.
B)investigative experience.
C)Both A and B
D)Neither A nor B

Answer 1

Both A and B

Question 2

It has been disputed whether psychologists and mental health professionals have the requisite experience to be profilers. According to one study examining psychologists and psychiatrists, ______ of the sample reported having profiling experience, whereas ______ considered themselves knowledgeable about criminal profiling.

A)25%; 10%
B)50%; 50%
C)10%; 25%
D)15%; 85%

Answer 2

10%; 25%

Question 3

A careful and comprehensive profile along with psychopathology, family history, education, legal history, and habits will also typically include

A)social interests.
B)DNA profile.
C)racial profile.
D)All of these are correct.

Answer 3

social interests.

Question 4

Tom goes to an abortion clinic and kills several women. Then he drives to a second abortion clinic and kills several more women. What type of multiple murderer is Tom?

A)A spree killer
B)A serial murderer
C)A mass murderer
D)A political murderer

Question 5

The major source of research and information about criminal profiling in the United States has been

A)the Central Intelligence Agency.
B)the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI.
C)the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime of the FBI.
D)the local law enforcement agencies.

Question 6

Mass murders are the types of cases that tend to be solved because the mass murderer tends to

A)be killed at the location of the crime.
B)commit suicide.
C)surrender to police.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 7

There may be as many as ______ serial murderers in the United States.

A)100
B)200
C)1,000
D)2,000

Question 8

Jim, a disgruntled postal worker, rushed into the post office one Thursday afternoon and sprayed his fellow employees with gunfire, killing 10 and wounding many more. What type of multiple murderer is Jim?

A)A spree killer
B)A serial murderer
C)A mass murderer
D)A tormented murderer

Question 9

Bob has long been inspired by sadistic fantasies. To fuel his fantasies and satisfy his need for control and dominance, he tortures and kills prostitutes. According to Fox and Levin, Bob's motivation for his serial murders would best be classified as a need for

A)power.
B)revenge.
C)loyalty.
D)profit.

Question 10

According to criminal profilers, brutal facial injuries point to killers who

A)are unattractive.
B)are impulsive.
C)knew their victims.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 11

Since September 11, 2001, the FBI has focused more on counterterrorism and the profiling of terrorists. Monahan (2012)has identified four "promising" categories of risk factors for terrorism, which include

A)prior criminal history.
B)country of origin.
C)ideology and affiliation.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 12

In a survey of police psychologists, _______ questioned the validity of crime scene profiling.

A)20%
B)35%
C)50%
D)70%

Question 13

In approximately what percentage of studied mass murders was the assailant related to or well acquainted with the victims?

A)20%
B)40%
C)60%
D)80%

Question 14

Pinizzotto and Finkel (1990)found that on the lineup identification task, profilers were the

A)most accurate for the homicide case (no differences between groups for the sexual offense case).
B)least accurate for the homicide case (no differences between groups for the sexual offense case).
C)least accurate for the sexual offense case (no differences between groups for the homicide case).
D)most accurate for the sexual offense case (no differences between groups for the homicide case).

Question 15

After a crime has been committed, a member of the investigating team sometimes sketches a general psychological description of the most likely type of suspect. Creating this description is called

A)psychological description analysis.
B)criminal profiling.
C)criminal investigative analysis.
D)Both B and C

Question 16

At least one study found that ________ of the sampled mental health professionals believed criminal profiling was scientifically reliable and valid.

A)75%
B)more than 50%
C)less than 25%
D)None of these are correct.

Question 17

Profilers have found that murders committed early in the morning rarely involve

A)an offender and victim who knew each other.
B)a gun.
C)a financial motivation.
D)alcohol or drugs.

Question 18

Criminal profiling is used to

A)identify a particular suspect.
B)identify suspects only in homicide cases.
C)narrow a pool of suspects based on certain personality and behavior characteristics revealed by how the crime was committed.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 19

According to Fox and Levin (1998), in order to be considered a multiple homicide,

A)two or more victims are killed simultaneously or sequentially by one or a few individuals.
B)three or more victims are killed simultaneously or sequentially by one or a few individuals.
C)four or more victims are killed simultaneously or sequentially by one or a few individuals.
D)five or more victims are killed simultaneously or sequentially by one or a few individuals.

Question 20

Which of the following is the first stage of the FBI's profiling strategy?

A)Crime assessment
B)Profiling inputs
C)Investigation
D)Decision process models

Question 21

Some have argued that the use of brain-based technology to detect deception in suspects or witnesses constitutes a violation of one's ______________ right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

A)First Amendment
B)Fifth Amendment
C)Fourth Amendment
D)Sixth Amendment

Question 22

Bert committed a crime and is currently undergoing a polygraph test. He is trying some countermeasures that he read about on the Internet, and he is hoping that, with the help of these countermeasures (e.g., controlled breathing), he will be able to fool the polygraph examiner. If he succeeds in fooling the examiner, he could be said to be a

A)false negative.
B)false positive.
C)true negative.
D)true positive.

Question 23

Which of the following is usually not measured in a polygraph examination?

A)Blood pressure
B)Salivary response
C)Respiration
D)Heart rate

Question 24

According to the Supreme Court's ruling in Rhode Island v. Innis , 1980, police arrest a robbery suspect and take him to the station without interrogation. The accused volunteers on the way that he wouldn't have been caught if he'd kept his mask on. Does Miranda apply here and is the confession admissible?

A)No, Miranda does not apply and confession is not admissible.
B)Yes, Miranda does apply and confession is not admissible.
C)No, Miranda does not apply and confession is admissible.
D)Yes, Miranda does apply and confession is admissible.

Question 25

A polygraph shows that Ken is guilty of murder, when in fact he is innocent. This is an example of a

A)true negative.
B)true positive.
C)false negative.
D)false positive.

Question 26

In their meta-analysis, Bond and DePaulo (2006)found that people correctly detect deception

A)approximately 25% of the time.
B)approximately 75% of the time.
C)less than 20% of the time.
D)approximately 54% of the time.

Question 27

In one recent study that attempted to utilize fMRI to detect deception, Mohamed et al. (2006)found that

A)lying and truth-telling participants did not demonstrate any significant differences in brain activation patterns.
B)lying participants demonstrated less activation in areas of the brain involved in planning and high-level executive functioning.
C)lying participants demonstrated more activation in areas of the brain involved in planning and high-level executive functioning.
D)lying participants utilized less cognitive effort than truth-telling participants.

Question 28

One recent study which involved the review of recorded interrogations of juvenile suspects found that _______ of the juveniles waived their Miranda rights.

A)15%
B)85%
C)none
D)50%

Question 29

Tony, currently a murder suspect, is undergoing a test in which the electrical activity in his brain is accessed. The doctor is checking to see if Tony's P300 wave reveals that Tony has details of the murder in his memory. What kind of test is Tony undergoing?

A)Brain fingerprinting
B)Psychological stress evaluator
C)fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
D)PET scan (positron emission tomography)

Question 30

In Harrington v. Iowa , 2003, the U.S. Court reversed murder conviction of Terry Harrington to conclude that the record stored in Harrington's brain did not match the crime scene. What is the method of lie detection used in this case?

A)Control question test
B)Behavior analysis interview
C)Concealed information test
D)Brain fingerprinting

Question 31

Which of the following interrogation procedures can lead to false confessions?

A)Social isolation
B)Fabricating evidence against suspect
C)Confrontation and expression of belief in guilt
D)All of these are correct.

Question 32

If a polygraph examiner asks a subject, "Did you ever steal anything?" the examiner is administering what type of polygraph test?

A)Relevant/irrelevant
B)Control question
C)Directed lie
D)Concealed knowledge

Question 33

What are some concerns about the use of polygraphs?

A)Polygraphs cannot distinguish between fear and nervousness.
B)Polygraphers lack professional standards and standardized questioning methods.
C)Both A and B
D)Neither A nor B

Question 34

Physiological measures, by themselves, can distinguish between guilt and which of the following negative emotions?

A)Fear
B)Anger
C)Both A and B
D)Neither A nor B

Question 35

At least one study has found that brain fingerprinting is ____________ accurate in distinguishing liars from truth-tellers under optimal laboratory conditions.

A)15%-25%
B)65%-75%
C)35%-45%
D)85%-95%

Question 36

Asking subjects to recall a series of events in reverse chronological order and requiring them to determine whether a figure that reappears on a computer screen is similar to a figure seen earlier would likely be part of

A)an effort to discriminate liars from truthtellers.
B)a cognitive load interview.
C)a polygraph test.
D)Both A and B

Question 37

Truth-tellers tend to ________________________, whereas lying individuals tend to __________________________.

A)provide longer answers and forget certain details; make more speech errors and talk in a higher pitched voice.
B)make more speech errors and talk in a higher pitched voice; provide longer answers and forget certain details.
C)maintain full eye contact and talk in a higher pitched voice; forget certain details and make more speech errors.
D)talk in a higher pitched voice and provide long answers; forget certain details and avoid full eye contact.

Question 38

The polygraph has an overall accuracy rate as high as ________.

A)45%
B)55%
C)65%
D)75%

Question 39

A suspect is attached to the lie detector apparatus and asked questions about the crime. The questions deal with aspects of the crime only known by the police and the actual lawbreaker. Which procedure is this?

A)Relevant/irrelevant procedure
B)Psychological stress evaluator
C)Lie-control test
D)Concealed knowledge test

Question 40

The ancient Hindus had suspects chew rice as part of a test of their innocence. For the Hindus, what indicated innocence in this test?

A)The innocent person was able to chew the rice and then spit the rice out which is not dry, on a sacred tree leaf.
B)The innocent person was able to chew the rice but wouldn't be able to spit it out because of the activation of the sympathetic nervous system.
C)The innocent person was expected to refuse to do the task.
D)The innocent person was able to chew the rice but wouldn't be able to spit it out because of the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.

Question 41

Trevor was taken to the police station for questioning because he was suspected of committing a robbery. While the police are transporting Trevor to the station, he confesses. The police had not yet begun questioning Trevor and had not yet given him the Miranda warning. Is this confession admissible?

A)Yes, the confession is admissible as the suspect is in the custody of police.
B)No, it is not as the police interrogation is not yet started.
C)Yes, but confession is taken in violation of Miranda warnings.
D)No, is not admissible till the suspect is accompanied by his lawyer.

Question 42

The principle of stare decisis reflects the judicial system's preference for maintaining stability in the law by

A)changing the law in accordance with legislative trends.
B)modifying the law based on political pressures.
C)abiding by settled principles whenever possible.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 43

During interrogation, when the camera is focused on the suspect, observers are more likely to judge the confession as voluntary, compared with the same confession recorded focused equally on the suspect and the interrogator, is an example of

A)fundamental attribution error.
B)behavioral confirmation.
C)evidence ploys.
D)illusory causation.

Question 44

Kevin, a suspect for murder, is being interrogated at his local police station. The police have Kevin in a small, soundproof room, sitting in an armless chair. The police officer is leaning in and accusing Kevin of doing horrific things to the victim. The police officer says that he doesn't understand why Kevin would do such a horrible thing, but that they have "mounds" of evidence against him (this last part is a lie). Which of these details is not recommended by Inbau et al. (2013)in their book Criminal Interrogation and Confessions ?

A)Kevin shouldn't be sitting in a small, soundproof room in an armless chair.
B)The police shouldn't make an exaggerated statement about the amount of evidence they have against the suspect.
C)The police shouldn't say that they don't understand why Kevin would do the crime in question.
D)None of these are correct (all are recommended by Inbau et al.).

Question 45

Recording police interrogations can improve the quality of interrogations by

A)helping to ensure that police detectives are not coercive when interrogating.
B)helping to ensure that suspects cannot inappropriately claim to have been coerced during interrogation.
C)Both A and B
D)None of these are correct.

Question 46

Which of the following has been acknowledged as a way that investigators can be certain that a defendant has falsely confessed to a crime?

A)The suspect confessed to a crime that did not occur.
B)The suspect confessed to a crime that was physically impossible for him or her to commit.
C)The suspect confessed to a crime, but the guilt of another perpetrator has been definitively established.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 47

Which of the following is true of criminal profiling?

A)It identifies a specific suspect with a high rate of success.
B)It offers a general psychological description of the most likely type of suspect.
C)It helps police expand their investigation of difficult cases in all possible directions.
D)It is unhelpful if the offender demonstrates some form of unusual repetitive behavior.

Question 48

Police detectives often begin an interrogation with a belief that the suspect is guilty. This presumption of guilt can apparently influence the way a detective conducts the questioning. The danger here is that, under these conditions, the detectives will seek out information that verifies that belief and overlook information that does not fit. Suspects, in turn, act more defensively and are more likely to look guilty. This process is referred to as

A)interrogation proper.
B)behavioral confirmation.
C)a preinterrogation "softening up" of the suspect.
D)the interrogator's arsenal.

Question 49

In some cases, a defendant who had confessed will enter a plea of not guilty and go to trial. If the jury convicts this defendant, judges are likely to sentence the defendant _____________

A)leniently because the judge will focus on the plea.
B)leniently because the judge will try to match what the plea bargain would have been.
C)harshly because they tend to punish offenders who waste resources.
D)None of these are correct ; no relationship has been determined.

Question 50

When one does not consider an external situation as a determinant of someone's behavior but rather believes the behavior is caused by internal factors specific to the person, this is an example of

A)behavioral confirmation.
B)internalized false confessions.
C)fundamental attribution error.
D)illusory causation.

Question 51

Boris has been stopped for drunk driving. Before the police question Boris, must they give him the Miranda warning?

A)Yes, as it is interrogation.
B)No, as it is not police interrogation.
C)Yes, so that police follows the law
D)No, they can take him into custody for later interrogation.

Question 52

The police are questioning Stuart and they tell him that they have a witness who saw him outside the victim's apartment. This is not true; they have no such witness. Are the police allowed to use a trick like this when they are trying to get a confession?

A)Yes, it is legal for police to consider evidence ploys in eliciting confessions.
B)No, it is illegal for the police to use evidence ploys during interrogation.
C)Yes, the police are allowed to lie to get the confession they want from Stuart without making him aware of his rights and using coercion.
D)No, interrogators can't use lies but can trick Stuart into confession through other harsh methods.

Question 53

At present, American interrogation practices are ________, and police claim that these techniques are necessary to get reluctant suspects to confess.

A)guilt-presumptive and neutral questions
B)non-verbal and subtle
C)confrontational and accusatorial
D)All of these are correct.

Question 54

Sheri has been charged with the murder of a child that was in her care. When she was first brought in for questioning, she denied doing anything to hurt the child, but after 16 hours of questioning, she starts to believe that she did, in fact, hurt the child (in actuality, she didn't). What type of false confession is this according to Kassin and Wrightsman (1985)?

A)Compliant false confession
B)Externalized false confession
C)Internalized false confession
D)Voluntary false confession

Question 55

Dickerson v. United States (2000)represented a challenge to the Miranda decision. What was the outcome of Dickerson v. United States ?

A)The Supreme Court reaffirmed Miranda .
B)The Supreme Court struck down Miranda .
C)The defendant in this case requested a review by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Court refused to hear the case.
D)A State Court of Appeals reaffirmed Miranda .

Question 56

In 2016, the Innocence Project reported that approximately ________ of cases in which DNA evidence led to exonerations involved false confession evidence.

A)18%
B)25%
C)33%
D)29%

Question 57

Archival analyses of actual cases where false confessors pled not guilty and went to trial revealed jury conviction rates from

A)15% to 23%.
B)73% to 81%.
C)43% to 51%.
D)3% to 12%.

Question 58

Jaime has been in and out of psychiatric facilities for most of his life due to his chronic psychological instability, but he has been living at home for the last three months. Jaime has recently been named as a suspect in a rape case, and following an investigation, the police arrest him. As part of their usual procedure, the police read Jaime his Miranda rights, and although Jaime doesn't understand them, he says he does. The police question Jaime for several hours until he confesses. Is Jaime's statement admissible?

A)Yes, in this type of situation the statement is usually admissible.
B)If Jaime's lawyer says that Jaime didn't understand the Miranda warning, then Jaime's statement will not be admissible.
C)If Jaime's lawyer says that Jaime didn't understand the Miranda warning because of his psychological instability, then Jaime's statement will not be admissible.
D)If Jaime's lawyer proves that Jaime didn't understand the Miranda warning because of his psychological instability (he provides Jaime's psychiatric records), then Jaime's statement will not be admissible.

Question 59

One of the best-known U.S. Supreme Court cases decided during the last century, Miranda v. Arizona (1966)dealt with the problem of

A)coerced confessions.
B)voluntary confession.
C)brain-based lie detection.
D)cognitive load.

Question 60

Although experts differ on the precise number of victims to use in defining "multiple homicide," Fox and Levin's (1998)criterion of "the slaying of ______ victims, simultaneously or sequentially, by ______ individuals" is probably the most widely accepted opinion.

A)six or more; one or two
B)eight or more; two or more
C)four or more; one or a few
D)two or more; two or more

Question 61

Which of the following describes serial killers?

A)They are typically psychotic individuals.
B)They rarely have personality disorders.
C)They often exhibit empathy and remorse.
D)They often revel in the publicity that their crimes receive.

Question 62

During a criminal investigation, when does fundamental attribution error occur?

A)When people put exclusive emphasis on the external situation as a determinant of behavior
B)When people disregard behavior that is caused by stable, internal factors unique to the actor
C)When people do not give sufficient weight to the external situation as a determinant of behavior
D)When people believe the behavior is caused by unstable, internal factors unique to the actor

Question 63

Which of the following is true of evidence ploys?

A)Researchers have shown how evidence ploys lead people to believe they committed acts they did not actually commit.
B)It is illegal for interrogators to lie to suspects about the existence of evidence linking them to the crime.
C)Feeding false information to suspects can cause them to make a distinction between true and false memories.
D)Feeding false information to suspects can cause them to suspect all external sources to infer what happened.

Question 64

What term refers to attackers who kill victims at two or more different locations with no "cooling-off '" interval between the murders?

A)Spree killers
B)Serial killers
C)Mass murderers
D)None of these are correct.

Question 65

Serial killers tend to select vulnerable victims of a certain type that satisfy their need to control people.

Question 66

Which of the following conditions are true of the Miranda rights?

A)Confessions that violate Miranda may still be used at a trial.
B)Miranda does not apply unless the defendant is being interrogated.
C)Miranda does not apply unless the suspect is in the custody of the police.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 67

Criminal profiling is typically used to determine if a suspect is guilty of a crime.

Question 68

According to one study, most psychologists and psychiatrists included in the sample viewed criminal profiling as scientifically reliable and valid.

Question 69

In the decision process model phase of the FBI's profiling strategy, profilers organize obtained information into patterns along several, different dimensions of criminal activity.

Question 70

Jack was called for a polygraph test. During the test, the polygrapher asked a series of questions and focused only on the responses to relevant questions and comparison questions. Which technique of polygraph testing was used here?

A)Concealed Information Test
B)Control Question Test
C)Functional magnetic resonance imaging
D)Brain fingerprinting

Question 71

Which of the following is true of multiple homicides?

A)Unlike serial killers, mass murderers usually select a certain type of victim who fulfills a role in the killer's fantasies.
B)Few mass murders are solved by law enforcement; the typical assailant escapes from the location of the crime, commits suicide, or surrenders to police.
C)Spree killers prefer to kill with "hands-on" methods such as strangulation and stabbing, rather than with guns, which are the preferred weapons of mass murderers.
D)The majority of mass murderers do not attack strangers at random; in almost 80% of studied mass murders, the assailant was related to or well acquainted with the victims.

Question 72

The method of criminal profiling proved to be ______.

A)largely accurate in both the Mad Bomber of New York City case and the Boston Strangler case
B)largely inaccurate in both the Mad Bomber of New York City case and the Boston Strangler case
C)largely accurate in the Mad Bomber of New York City case but largely inaccurate in the Boston Strangler case
D)largely inaccurate in the Mad Bomber of New York City case but largely accurate in the Boston Strangler case

Question 73

Serial killers do not like to "get their hands dirty"; they prefer to kill using remote methods such as a firearm.

Question 74

A pseudo-commando, dressed in battle fatigues and armed with a semiautomatic weapon, turns a shopping mall into a "war zone." This is an instance of a ______.

A)mass murder with profit serving as a motivation
B)serial murder with profit serving as a motivation
C)mass murder with revenge serving as a motivation
D)serial murder with power serving as a motivation

Question 75

Which of the following is true of the NCAVC?

A)It has a single unit that focuses on crimes against both adults and children.
B)Its mission combines investigative and operational support, research, and training.
C)Its jurisdiction excludes white-collar crime investigations.
D)It continues to coordinate with the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI.

Question 76

Serial killers are typically psychotic individuals.

Question 77

During the course of a long interrogation, Adrian, a murder suspect falsely accused, came to believe that he had indeed committed the crime; he thus went on to make ______.

A)no confessions whatsoever
B)voluntary false confessions
C)compliant false confessions
D)internalized false confessions

Question 78

According to the 2004 study by Kraemer, Lord, and Heilbrun, which compiled a list of characteristics from 157 serial offenders, ______.

A)most offenders were white males in their early 30s
B)more than half of the offenders were unemployed at the time of the offense
C)approximately two-thirds of the offenders were married
D)the average offender had a college education

Question 79

Serial killers are capable of presenting themselves as normal members of the community.

Question 80

Which of the following describes illusory causation?

A)If the camera is focused on the suspect during interrogation, observers are more likely to judge the confession as voluntary.
B)An interrogators' presumption of guilt affects the nature of the questioning, which, in turn, affects the suspect's responses.
C)An accused makes a confession out of a desire to cleanse himself of guilt feelings from previous wrongdoings.
D)A suspect is forced to comply with the interrogator's demands as a result of highly suggestive and manipulative techniques.