De hand in eigen boezem: Vier hindernissen voor de forensische psychologie

Rede, in verkorte vorm uitgesproken ter gelegenheid van het aanvaarden van het ambt van bijzonder hoogleraar Rechtspsychologie aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam vanwege het Trustfonds EUR op 14 maart 2008. Juristen maken regelmatig gebruik van psychologische inzichten. Zo vraagt de rechter aan gedragswetenschappelijk deskundigen of een verdachte toerekeningsvatbaar is en of een getuigenverklaring geloofwaardig is. Toch kunnen ze dat soms maar beter niet doen, aldus prof.mr.dr. Eric Rassin

The effect of confession evidence on conviction, and considering alternative scenarios as remedy in a sample of police officers

In order to prevent tunnel vision and ultimately miscarriages of justice, police, prosecutors and judges must remain open to alternative scenarios in which the suspect is in fact innocent. However, it is not evident from the literature that people are sufficiently aware of how alternative scenarios should be employed in the decision making process. In the present research, 230 Dutch police officers read one of three versions of a case description. In the first version, there was strong evidence against the primary suspect. In the second version, the suspect additionally confessed, increasing the body of incriminating evidence. In the third version, the suspect confessed, but before deciding on their conviction, participants were instructed to consider how well each piece of evidence fitted in the primary but also in the alternative scenario (in which the crime was committed by an alternative suspect). Contrary to expectations, the confession did not increase conviction and the alternative-scenario consideration did not suppress conviction. Implications of these null findings are discussed.</p

The effect of confession evidence on conviction, and considering alternative scenarios as remedy in a sample of police officers

In order to prevent tunnel vision and ultimately miscarriages of justice, police, prosecutors and judges must remain open to alternative scenarios in which the suspect is in fact innocent. However, it is not evident from the literature that people are sufficiently aware of how alternative scenarios should be employed in the decision making process. In the present research, 230 Dutch police officers read one of three versions of a case description. In the first version, there was strong evidence against the primary suspect. In the second version, the suspect additionally confessed, increasing the body of incriminating evidence. In the third version, the suspect confessed, but before deciding on their conviction, participants were instructed to consider how well each piece of evidence fitted in the primary but also in the alternative scenario (in which the crime was committed by an alternative suspect). Contrary to expectations, the confession did not increase conviction and the alternative-scenario consideration did not suppress conviction. Implications of these null findings are discussed.</p

False Confessions in the Lab: A Review

__Abstract__ Intuitively, confession is a strong piece of evidence, because it appears unlikely that a suspect would confess to a crime he did not commit, thereby acting against his own best interest. Surprisingly, experimental studies show that innocent and well-educated individuals do tend to confess falsely when questioned about something they did not in fact do. In this contribution, an overview is presented of the experimental research on confession evidence. Limitations and implications of the scientific insights are discussed

The Role of Health Care Professionals in Breaking Bad News about Death: the Perspectives of Doctors, Nurses and Social Workers

Background: The way a death is notified to family members has a long-term effect on their coping with their loss. The words caregivers use and the sentiments they express can stay with their hearers for the rest of theirlife. Aims: To study the views of three caregivers groups—doctors, nurses and social workers—as to their role in breaking a death news in an ED.Methods: One hundred and fifteen health care professionals participated in the research (51 nurses, 38 doctors and 26 social workers). They completed a 72-item questionnaire comprising behaviour descriptions, attitudes and statements. Content validation of the questionnaire was conducted by the help of experts group, and the internal reliability, measures in all its parts was 0.78 on average (α = 0.78).Results: Doctors gave a higher score than the other groups to their responsibility for breaking bad news (p<0.005) and to the content of the information they provide. Social workers scored the mental support given the family significantly higher than doctors and nurses did (p<0.000). Nurses scored the instrumental support given(tissues, water to drink) significantly higher than doctors and social workers (p<0.000). Breaking bad news caused social workers more mental distress than it did either doctors or nurses. All three groups gave a high score to the emotional exhaustion, sadness and identification this task caused them. Nurses felt more fear at theprospect of a notifying a death and made more effort to escape the task.Conclusions: The findings of the study will help develop performance guidelines for notifying a death and provide input for simulation and other training workshops

Dark personality traits and deception, and the short dark tetrad (SD4) as integrity screening instrument

Dark personality traits (Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Sadism) have been associated with aversive, unethical, and criminal conduct. Concise measurement tools such as the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4) are popular, because they lend themselves as screening instruments. As such, the scores on these scales are used in various decision-making contexts, and they can have considerable effects on the lives of people who display an unfortunate scoring pattern. The present study explored to what extent high SD4 scores are actually predictive of deceptive behaviour in a matrix puzzle task, in a general community sample (N = 751). Results indicated that 9.9% of participants lied, that is, exaggerated their performance on the matrix task, hoping to increase their likelihood of financial reward. These cheating participants scored higher on all four dark traits. Nonetheless, the overlap between SD4 distributions made it impossible to determine cut-off scores in an attempt to consider scores as actual predictors of deception proneness. When framed in likelihoods, some scores can be diagnostic of deception proneness. Particularly in the context of statement validity assessment, characterized by tools with modest to poor accuracy, SD4 scores may add to diagnostic accuracy.</p

Interaction Between Forming and Crashworthiness of Advanced High Strength Steel S-Rails

This thesis presents the results of experimental and numerical investigations carried out to assess the effects of tube bending and hydroforming on the crash performance of s-rail structures manufactured from three different advanced high strength steels, namely DDQ, HSLA350, and DP600. The main impetus for this project is to reduce vehicle weight through material substitution and, in order to do so, the effects of material strength on crashworthiness, as well as the interaction between forming processes and crash response must be well understood. To this end, in the current research, s-rails were fabricated through tube bending and hydroforming experiments conducted on DDQ, HSLA350, and DP600 steels with a nominal wall thickness of 1. 8mm, as well as HSLA350 steel with a nominal wall thickness of 1. 5mm. Impact experiments were subsequently performed on non-hydroformed and hydroformed s-rails to examine the effects of the forming processes and material substitution on the crushing loads and levels of absorbed energy. All forming and crash experiments were simulated using numerical finite element methods which provide additional insight into various aspects of the crash response of these structures. In particular, crash simulations were used to show the effects of work-hardening, material thickness changes, and residual stresses incurred during the forming operations. The numerical tube bending simulations accurately predict the results of the tube bending and hydroforming processes for all materials, particularly for the DP600; the predictions for the DDQ material are the least accurate. Both simulations and experiments show that material thinning occurs on the tensile side of the bend, and material thickening on the compressive side of the bend; the level of thickness change is unaffected by material strength or initial material thickness. The low-pressure hydroforming process does not greatly affect the thickness and strain distributions of s-rails. The crash simulations provide predictions that are in excellent accord with the measured results, with a maximum error of ±10% in the peak loads and energies; simulations of DP600 s-rails are the most accurate, while simulations of DDQ s-rails are the least accurate. Through simulations and experiments, it is shown that material thickness has the greatest effect on the crash performance of s-rail structures, while material strength plays a secondary role. A 20% increase in the wall thickness of HSLA350 s-rails amounts to a 47% increase in energy absorption. Substituting HSLA350 and DP600 steels in place of DDQ steel leads to increases in energy absorption of 31% and 64%, respectively, for corresponding increases in strength of 30% and 76%. Neglecting material strain-rate effects in the numerical models lowers the predicted peak loads and energies by roughly 15%. By performing a numerical parametric study, it is determined that a weight reduction of 22% is possible by substituting thinner-gauge DP600 s-rails in place of DDQ s-rails while maintaining the energy absorption of the structures