NU Avoiding Suspect Misidentification by Eyewitnesses Essay

The reaction papers are intended to have you critically think about the material we have covered. The purpose is for you to present a position, argument, policy recommendation, or scholarly issue on one of the topics provided based on the lectures and readings, you do not need to obtain outside sources for this (but can incorporate them if you wish). The paper will be graded on your demonstration of critical thinking about the topic and evidence that you are integrating the course material. Each paper should use a topic that has already been covered in class, including topics that were listed for the first assignment as long as it is a different topic from your previous paper. The papers should only be about 3 – 4 pages long (12pt font, double spaced) and uploaded to Canvas on the due date. The due dates for this reaction paper is Wednesday 4/27.

Psychology of Victims

1. Given the challenge in reporting sexual violence, discuss what reforms could be implemented to improve the disclosure of sexual victimization to the legal/criminal justice system. Make sure to indicate how what we know about sexual violence and disclosure informs. your recommendations

2. Given the recent rise in bias and hate crime, discuss what interventions could be implemented to help start to bring down the rates of hate and bias motivated violence. These interventions can be at the macro or individual level. Make sure your argument includes a discussion of what you think is contributing to the rise as a way to inform your recommendations

3. It is very difficult for victims of domestic/partner violence to leave abusive relationships. Discuss how the criminal justice system or social service could be improved to better aid victims in leaving these relationships and remain safe after leaving their abusive partner.

Eyewitness Accuracy, Perception, and Memory

1, Discuss what changes to eyewitness identification procedures (e.g., line-ups and photospreads) should be made to minimize misidentifying suspects. Specifically make sure to address how your suggestions would address issues that are known to be problematic in identification practices.

Repressed and Recovered Memories

1. Present an argument as to whether false memory research should be applied to traumatic memories, given that none of it has studied traumatic memories. Should it be used to inform the potential for false traumatic memories? What aspects of that research are applicable, which ones are not?

2. If you were serving as an expert witness, what key scientific information should be presented if someone is stating that they have recovered a memory of abuse. In other words, what information would a jury need to have to be able to evaluate the evidence connected to a recovered memory

Forensic Assessment of Sex Offenders

1. Given the various factors that can influence recidivism, and the inaccuracies that can exist in sex offender assessments, should these evaluations be used to for civil commitment reviews, where someone may be held indefinitely if they are considered to be high risk. Specifically make sure to address how our knowledge and ability to evaluate risk factors plays a role in making these determinations

2. Given what we know about recidivism risk, if you had to only choose five pieces of information, what would you want to use to maximize your ability to evaluate offender risk. These can be specific instruments or historical/clinical information about the offender. Make sure to provide evidence for why the pieces of information you choose are crucial for assessing risk.