The Psychology of Internet Fraud Victimisation: a Systematic Review Abstract Existing theories of fraud provide some insight into how criminals target and exploit people in the online environment; whilst reference to psychological explanations is common, the actual use of established behavioural theories and/or methods in these studies is often limited. In particular, there is less understanding of why certain people/demographics are likely to respond to fraudulent communications. This systematic review will provide a timely synthesis of the leading psychologically based literature to establish the key theories and empirical research that promise to impact on anti-fraud policies and campaigns. Relevant databases and websites were searched using terms related to psychology and fraud victimisation. A total of 44 papers were extracted and 34 included in the final analysis. The studies range in their scope and methods; overall, three main factors were identified: message (n = 6), experiential (n = 7), and dispositional (n = 21), although there was some overlap between these (for example, mapping message factors onto the dispositional traits of the victim). Despite a growing body of research, the total number of studies able to identify specific psychological processes associated with increased susceptibility to online fraud victimisation was limited. Messages are targeted to appeal to specific psychological vulnerabilities, the most successful linking message with human factors, for example, time-limited communications designed to enact peripheral rather than central information processing. Suggestions for future research and practical interventions are discussed.

Confirmatory Information Processing in Legal Decision: Effect of Intimate Conviction Abstract A large body of research has focused on legal decision-making in mixed courts of lay and professional judges. However, few studies have been conducted to test the impact on evidence processing of the intimate conviction instruction (ICI), a decision rule based on impression formation used in civil law systems. The influence of the two facets of the ICI (the decision rule and the motivation requirement) on confirmatory information processing (CIP) was studied in a harm-to-person case. Using a methodology combining the simulated juror and CIP paradigms, the decision rule (based on impression vs. rationality) and the motivation requirement (required vs. not required) were manipulated to observe their impact on assimilation and selective exposure biases. Results showed significant interactions of the two facets of the ICI but only on the assimilation bias. These results are discussed in the light of the evidence processes in the context of legal decision-making in criminal courts.

Evidence for the Belief in Live Lineup Superiority Abstract There are substantive differences in international preferences in the medium through which eyewitness identification lineups are administered, but these jurisdictional preferences are not based on evidence. Regardless of whether one medium produces greater identification accuracy, it is the perception of evidence strength by triers of fact that determines its influence in judicial proceedings. Yet, we know little about how lineup mediums are perceived by potential triers of fact. Four-hundred six undergraduate students viewed a video interview of an eyewitness describing an identification that took place with one of three different lineup mediums (live, video, photo) to compare their relative persuasiveness. Participants also directly compared mediums. There was a clear preference for evidence elicited from live lineups in direct comparisons, but not in the experimental conditions. Live lineup superiority beliefs exist in policy and, these data show, in the beliefs of potential witnesses and triers of fact when various lineup mediums are directly compared.

Recognition of a Missing Person in a Mock Silver Alert in Relation to Individual Difference Factors and the Effect of an Educational Video Abstract In two studies, we investigated participants’ ability to recognize a missing older adult featured in a mock Silver Alert. Previous research on face recognition indicates the presence of biases related to demographic variables such as gender, race, and age; thus, we compared recognition of the target in relation to these variables. Further, we explored recognition of the target in relation to empathy, conscientiousness, attitudes toward and contact with older individuals as these variables may play a role in motivation and attention to these types of alerts. In Study 1, college students (N = 610) viewed both a video of the missing man and an educational video on Silver Alerts before attempting recognition, whereas in Study 2 (N = 350), we experimentally manipulated whether participants viewed the educational video. Both studies resulted in high recognition rates (83.90% and 75.1%, respectively). Study 2 did not show a significant effect of the educational video, perhaps because of the effectiveness other components of both studies, such as the additional video of the target. Those who recognized the target had significantly higher empathy scores and metacognitive ratings (i.e., confidence) in both studies, with inconsistent differences on other individual difference variables. Caucasian participants were more likely than African-American participants to recognize the Caucasian male target, consistent with previous research on Own-Race Bias in face recognition. Additional research is needed to explore ways of improving the public’s ability to recognize missing senior citizens.

Does Attitude Toward Offending Play a Role in a Person’s Compliance with the Law? Procedural Justice, Institutional Legitimacy, and the Perceived Wrongfulness of Offending Behavior Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine whether a person’s attitude toward offending correlated with his or her self-reported involvement in offending behavior above and beyond the contributions of perceived procedural justice, institutional legitimacy beliefs, age, gender, ethnic minority status, and education. Using cross-sectional data provided by 52,458 participants from the fifth round of the European Social Survey (ESS), the current study sought to answer this question. The results of a multiple regression analysis performed on the total sample of participants revealed support for the notion that attitude toward offending was associated with self-reported minor offending in the past 5 years after controlling for procedural justice, institutional legitimacy, age, gender, ethnic minority status, and education. In fact, a negative attitude toward offending correlated significantly better with self-reported minor offending than either procedural justice or institutional legitimacy. A belief in the wrongfulness of offending behavior, it would seem, may serve as a link between perceived procedural justice and institutional legitimacy, on the one hand, and compliance with the law or decreased offending behavior, on the other hand.

Perceptions of Incarcerated Youth About Police Violence and Legitimacy in Trinidad and Tobago Abstract This study was focused on the youth’s perceptions in Trinidad and Tobago, a developing Caribbean nation. It describes their personal experiences with and perceptions of police misbehavior or excessive use of force on juveniles and young adults held in the two reformatory institutions, as well as in the country’s only juvenile facility. The main objective of the present empirical research was to explore the diachronic conceptual relationship between violence and the levels of police legitimacy as perceived or experienced by the youth from 13 to 23 years old. Short questionnaires were used to capture the youth’s opinions on institutional violence, a distinct and long-lasting phenomenon in the region. Multivariate analyses of the quantitative data also examined the role of trust as an influencing factor for police legitimacy (and legitimation), being previously evaluated in terms of efficiency and equality. Although most of the research participants had a bad impression about the police, overall, whether the police operations were efficient or their procedures fair had no impact or influence on the particular sample’s levels of trust and general perceptions of the TTPS. Finally, recommendations on changes in the police’s administrative procedures were made along with a shift in organizational culture, and the promotion of community policing.

Police Officers’ Perceptions of Their Role in a Mental Health Magistrates’ Court Pathway Abstract Although common in the USA, mental health courts are relatively new to the UK and their effectiveness here is not yet fully understood. Referral to these courts is largely reliant upon early identification of mental health problems, a task commonly undertaken by police in the custody suite. Little is known about police perceptions of their role in working with offenders with mental health system in the UK. This exploratory study therefore investigates police views of a pilot mental health courts and their role within the pathway to these. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six members of a large police force involved in a pilot mental health court. Data-led thematic analysis was used to identify the recurrent themes emerging. Three main themes were identified: ‘Benefits of a Mental Health Court’, ‘Police as Gatekeepers’ and ‘Barriers to Identification’. The introduction of mental health courts in the UK was viewed as being reflective of changes in approaches to criminal justice. Whilst feeling responsibility for referrals to the mental health court, time, training and multiagency working were seen as hindering this. The findings suggest the success of mental health courts is dependent upon ‘getting it right’ from the start of the pathway; recommendations are provided.

Wallet or Gun? Evaluating Factors that Affect Anticipation Ability in a Use-of-Force Scenario Abstract Despite widespread media coverage of police use-of-force incidents resulting in serious injury or death, there has been relatively little research conducted on how those decisions are made. The current study is a first step toward investigation of deception in shoot/no-shoot situations. We approach this study from the perspective of perceptual–cognitive expertise, a concept that has been studied in sport for 50 years to determine the cognitive underpinnings behind athletes anticipating their opponents’ actions. Participants watched temporally-occluded video stimuli of actors pulling either a revolver or a wallet from two concealed locations on their body, and then anticipated whether the object was a weapon or a non-weapon. The data were analyzed using signal detection metrics, an approach which results in independent measures of sensitivity and response bias. We found that sensitivity was affected by occlusion point and draw location. When only the initial part of the draw motion was visible (and the object was not yet visible), participants were relatively unbiased in their responses. However, as more of the draw motion was revealed, participants tended to adopt a liberal response bias: they identified the object as a weapon more frequently than as a non-weapon.

Operational Vigilance in Border Security: the Singapore Experience Abstract In Singapore, officers of the border security agency are required to maintain 24 h, 7 days a week operation across various immigration checkpoints. As the day-to-day workload of a Singapore border security officer is physically demanding and operationally challenging, ensuring the highest level of operational vigilance is vital to operation success in border security operations. In this paper, ‘operational vigilance’ is defined as exercising cognitive agility and sustained attention for the duration of a work shift in a border security operational setting. To enhance and maintain operations in border security checkpoints, this paper explores the drivers of operational vigilance in border security from the Singapore experience. Twelve veteran border security officers participated in this study as subject matter experts from which a thematic analysis was used to extract insightful themes central to operational vigilance in a border security context. Findings from this study are used to provide a deeper understanding of drivers that affect operational vigilance in border security in the Singapore context and used as reference for enhancement of border security operations. Limitations and future directions were discussed.

Psychologists and Psychiatrists in Court: What Do They Know About Eyewitness Memory? A Comparison of Experts in Inquisitorial and Adversarial Legal Systems Abstract In criminal cases involving eyewitness reports, psychologists or psychiatrists may be recruited as expert witnesses to help triers of facts to evaluate eyewitness statements, on the assumption that psychologists and psychiatrists are real experts, familiar with scientific progress about how memory works. But are they knowledgeable concerning the science of memory? We assessed the knowledge about eyewitness memory of experts from France and Norway, countries having different legal systems, that is inquisitorial and adversarial, respectively. We reanalysed the results of a Norwegian psychologists and psychiatrists survey and compared the results with survey data of a sample of French psychologists and psychiatrists serving as judicial experts. The French sample performed inferior relative to the Norwegian sample. More precisely, discrepancies in correct answers were found on seven critical items related to both experimental and clinical psychology. Such weaknesses in the knowledge about memory are briefly discussed with regard to psychological education and to legal systems.