What is going on?

This article considers the context of the special edition on homicide and how the articles within it link to modern investigations and existing knowledge

Health inequalities and health equity challenges for victims of modern slavery

AbstractBackgroundModern slavery is a serious organized crime, with severe consequences for the physical and mental health of victims, and so has public health implications. Anecdotally many victims of sex slavery experience difficulties accessing healthcare. Public Health England recently articulated the importance of health engagement to address modern slavery but little is known about the experiences of the survivors.MethodsWe conducted in depth interviews with Albanian female survivors of sex slavery who all displayed significant and complex health needs. Interviews were conducted between July 2017 and January 2018. Thematic analysis identified four primary themes: (i) barriers to access, (ii) negotiating access, (iii) health needs and care received and (iv) overall experience of primary care.ResultsSurvivors experienced repeated challenges accessing healthcare, for themselves and their children, and initially could not access GP services. When accompanied by an advocate they reported qualitatively and quantitatively improved experiences resulting in improved permeability. Confusion surrounding eligibility criteria and a lack of understanding of modern slavery emerged as the primary barriers, fueling biased adjudications.ConclusionsThe importance of advocates, enabling rights-based approaches, improving understanding about access to health services for vulnerable groups, and a need for education across health service settings are discussed

Improving professional observers’ veracity judgments by tactical interviewing

Understanding whether a person of interest is being truthful during an investigative interview is a constant challenge and is of concern to numerous criminal justice professionals, most of whom are not involved in conducting the interview itself. Here, we investigated police observers’ veracity detection performance having viewed interviews with truthtellers and deceivers using either the tactical use of evidence (TUE), strategic use of evidence (SUE) or a control technique. Thirty serving police officers participated as post-interview observers and each viewed 12 interviews in a counterbalanced order. After each interview, the officer made a veracity judgement. Overall, untrained police observers were significantly more accurate (68%) when making veracity judgements post-TUE interviews, whereas for both SUE and control performance was around chance (51% and 48%, respectively). Veracity performance for liars and truthtellers revealed a similar pattern of results (67% liars; 70% truthtellers) in the TUE condition. These results lend further support to the psychological literature highlighting the importance of how and when to reveal evidence or any other relevant event information during an investigative interview for ‘outing’ deceivers as well as allowing truthtellers early opportunities to demonstrate their innocence

Inferential Intuitive and Analytic Thought Processes in Criminal Investigative Decision

According to previous researchers police detectives\u27 decisional thought processes correlate with investigative accuracy and these decisional thought processes consist of inferential intuitive and analytic thought processes. Researchers have established investigative decisional dual process use but have not established United States police detectives\u27 conceptualization of decisional inferential intuitive and analytic thought processes in criminal investigations in which they partook. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore 11 United States police detectives\u27 conceptualizations of decisional thought processes based on criminal investigations in which they partook. Dual process theory framed this study. Using narrative inquiry research, individual face-to-face interviews were analyzed thematically and structurally. The results of this analysis indicated significant themes associated with inferential intuitive and analytic thought process conceptualizations. Themes that were established were: (a) inferential intuitive starting points, (b) inferential intuitive information, (c) inferential intuitive experience driven, (d) inferential intuitive value, (e) inferential intuitive fallible, (f) analytic mandatory, (g) analytic purpose, (h) analytic collaborative. Police detectives, as well as society as a whole, may benefit from the results of this study through enhanced investigative training and education. Enhanced investigative training and education may result in a reduction of investigative decisional errors

Understanding how groups make strategic decisions in emergencies

This thesis investigates how emergency response groups, specifically Strategic Coordinating Groups, make decisions in time-pressured, high-stakes environments. By analysing video footage of simulated emergency exercises, the approach taken combines the reproducibility of traditional decision-making studies with the realism advocated by the paradigm of Naturalistic Decision Making. The investigation of decision-making at a range of national and international exercises revealed systematic departures from the UK doctrine on making group decisions: The Joint Decision Model. Group decision-making did not follow the sequence of activities assumed by the Joint Decision Model or other normative models of decision-making. There were marked between-group differences in the process of decision-making: some groups can be characterised as information seeking (or explorers), others as action orientated (or exploiters). When making decisions, all groups rarely considered alternative courses of action or options. This thesis provides recommendations on the policy and practice of how Strategic Coordinating Groups train and exercise and make decisions in emergencies. These include a national programme of training for the Chairs of Strategic Coordination Groups, use of controls and tools to support decision-making, and use of external challenge and assessment in strategic decision-making

Counterterrorism Investigator Perceptions: Homegrown Violent Extremists With Mental Illness

Terrorism endures throughout the world. Some individuals who engage in it may suffer from a cognitive disorder. For those who investigate terrorism, preconceptions exist both toward extremists and toward people with mental illness (MI). A review of the literature has shown how counterterrorism (CT) investigators perceive terrorists’ motivations, and how law enforcement perceives people with MI. In filling a gap between the two, this study aimed to research whether based on their lived experiences, do the understandings, perceptions, and attitudes of CT agents inform their biases and influence their decision-making and ultimately investigations of homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) with MI. A qualitative research tradition was used to collect data from 16 participants, all of whom were FBI CT investigators. After using interpretative phenomenological analysis, themes emerged suggesting that CT investigators perceived HVEs as cognitively and physically volatile, and that HVEs are predominantly motivated as a mechanism of MI, not ideology. Whereas CT investigators expressed empathy toward the MI aspect of case subjects, they also sought more training in the identification of MI. Investigators felt as though their beliefs were influenced by their peers, but not necessarily by society. Although CT investigators did possess preconceptions of HVEs with MI, they did not allow these perceptions to influence the investigative process, and reported they remained objective and impartial during the CT investigation. The results of this study may encourage the protection of society, assisting law enforcement and potentially thwarting acts of terrorism. The results may also have implications by informing standardized training of CT investigators, which could help them objectively assess HVE suspects

Homicide Investigations in an Age of Austerity

Stories about homicides dominate the news and the number of fictional depictions of police investigations into them seem to multiple each year. However, we know little about what a real-life, routine homicide investigation entails. Academic inquiry into the topic is dominated by quantitative studies which attempt to identify what factors influence whether a case is cleared, but many of these are restricted to an assessment of the impact of situational factors, or case characteristics. A number of recently published qualitative studies have delved deeper into the topic, exploring through interviews with detectives, the impact of organizational factors such as staffing and workload, areas that are difficult to accurately conceptualize into a statistical model. This thesis adds to the qualitative literature by exploring the impact that government introduced austerity measures had on the ability of homicide detectives in London to solve murders. Twenty-one, in-depth interviews were completed with serving homicide detectives which explored their views on austerity and its impact on how homicide investigations were completed. The themes that emerged centered around factors that were within organizational control with officers believing that decisions made by senior leaders have more of an impact on their ability to do their job effectively than any government introduced austerity measures

Investigative Decision Making and Its Association With Critical Thinking Skills, Thinking Styles, and Law Enforcement Experience

Decision making is an important aspect of the investigative work performed by law enforcement officers. The processes involved, though, including the collection, interpretation, and use of evidence, can be influenced by biases in thinking and reasoning such as confirmation bias. This issue could contribute to missed leads on the offender responsible for committing a crime when investigative efforts become focused on the wrong individuals. This study is interested in whether law enforcement officers with certain thinking skills and individual characteristics are better equipped to avoid such issues. More specifically, the study was designed to analyze whether there is an association between a law enforcement officer’s critical thinking, thinking styles, level of experience in law enforcement, and the decision-making approach they take when presented with a mock investigative task. Using a sample of individuals with experience working in law enforcement and a sample of students who indicated an interest in pursuing a career in law enforcement, three decision-making approach aspects were examined to gain insight into their ability to avoid confirmation bias. These included their perceptions of a main suspect described in a criminal case scenario, their perceptions of the evidence collected during the investigation, and their prioritization of additional evidence and lines of inquiry to pursue in the case. The results of the study suggested that certain aspects of critical thinking may be associated with a reduced susceptibility to confirmation bias in investigative decision making. This finding offers a helpful lead towards identifying characteristics that may be beneficial for investigators, and offers support for the utility and importance of incorporating critical thinking in law enforcement training

Juristische Entscheidungsfindung von Laien, Noviz:innen und Expert:innen im strafrechtlichen Ermittlungsverfahren: Psychologische Einflussfaktoren und individuelle Unterschiede

Im Ermittlungsverfahren, das durch die Staatsanwaltschaft geleitet wird, werden Entscheidungen getroffen, die sich auf den gesamten Strafprozess auswirken. In vielen juristischen Situationen gibt es aber nicht die eine richtige Entscheidung, insbesondere wenn keine eindeutige Beweislage vorliegt. Anhand von Entscheidungsmodellen wie Dual-Prozess-Theorien lassen sich Faktoren ableiten, die den Entscheidungsprozess beeinflussen. Diese Studie hatte zum Ziel zu untersuchen, wie Menschen unterschiedlicher Expertise eine nicht eindeutige Beweislage in einem Kriminalfall handhaben und welche prozess- und personenbedingten Faktoren sich darauf auswirken. Für dieses fragebogenbasierte Quasi-Experiment wurde eine gemischte Stichprobe aus juristischen Laien, Noviz:innen (im Studium oder Referendariat) sowie Expert:innen rekrutiert. Nach der randomisierten Präsentation einer Fallvignette, die entweder das Delikt der Körperverletzung oder des Diebstahls beinhaltete, galt es, sich aus staatsanwaltschaftlicher Perspektive für oder gegen das Vorliegen des Tatverdachtes zu entscheiden und Angaben zum Entscheidungsprozess sowie zum Umgang mit den Beweismitteln zu machen. Eine randomisierte Teilstichprobe wurde stellenweise unter Zeitdruck gesetzt. Das Erleben von Zeitdruck wirkte sich nur geringfügig und größtenteils nicht signifikant auf den Prozess aus. Der behandelte Delikttyp spielte in einigen Betrachtungen wider Erwarten eine kleine, aber bedeutsame Rolle. Als personenbedingte Faktoren wurden die kognitive Reflexion sowie das Kognitionsbedürfnis erhoben, die kleine, teils nicht signifikante Effekte ausübten. Die Expertise erwies sich in den meisten Analysen als signifikanter Faktor: Laien und Expert:innen zeigten mitunter sogar konträres Antwortverhalten. Aus den Studienergebnissen lassen sich die methodische Eignung der neu konstruierten Vignetten, die generelle Bereitschaft juristischer Stichproben zur Teilnahme an empirischer Forschung sowie Veränderungsimpulse für die juristische Ausbildung und Praxis ableiten