Psychology of the Victim Investigative Perspective

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Psychology of the VictimInvestigative Perspective

• Ciarán OKeeffe
• Office GLA014, Telephone ext. 3639

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Psychology of the Victim

• A woman says her boyfriend went for a walk in a
  state park and then he was found dead in the
  ocean.
• A king from centuries past dies from an
  undocumented cause.
• The death of an eccentric billionaire raises
  questions.
• A boy shoots his mother and claims it was an
  accident.

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Psychological Autopsy Case Study 1

• Harold Shipman has died after being found hanging
  in his cell in Wakefield Prison.
• He was discovered at 0620 GMT on Tuesday 13th
  January 2004, by staff who tried to revive him,
  but he was pronounced dead at 0810 GMT.

Harold Shipman
What was psychological state of deceased?
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Psychological Autopsy Case Study 1

• He was jailed for life in January 2000 for
  murdering 15 patients while working in Hyde,
  Greater Manchester.
• An official report later concluded he killed
  between 215 and 260 people over a 23-year period
  in Hyde Todmorden, West Yorkshire.
• The 57-year-old GP was given 15 life sentences to
  run concurrently for the murders, and four years
  for forging a will.
• The GP, who leaves a widow, Primrose, was on
  suicide watch at two other prisons earlier in his
  sentence, but not at Wakefield since his arrival
  on 18 June 2003

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Case Study 1 - Timeline

• 1946 Harold Shipman born in Nottingham.
• 1970 Graduates from Leeds University and begins
  working at Pontefract General Infirmary.
• 1974 Starts working as a GP in Todmorden,
  Lancashire, but suffers blackouts and colleagues
  discover his addiction to the painkiller
  pethidine.
• He had been using patient prescriptions to feed
  his habit, and was fined but not struck off by
  the GMC, and fired by the practice.
• 1977 Shipman gets another job working as a GP in
  Hyde, Greater Manchester.
• 1993 He sets up his own single-handed practice
  in the town, gathering approximately 3,000
  patients.

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Case Study 1 Timeline contd

• 7 September 1998 Shipman is arrested for the
  murder of Kathleen Grundy.
• 5 October 1999 Trial starts at Preston Crown
  Court. Shipman is accused of killing 15 elderly
  patients.
• 31 January 2000 Jury convicts Shipman on all 15
  counts of murder. He is sentenced to life in
  prison.
• 1 February 2000 Health Secretary Alan Milburn
  announces an inquiry into the circumstances
  surrounding the murders and the investigation.
• However, the news that the inquiry will be
  private shocks relatives, who campaign for it to
  be held in public.

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Case Study 1 Timeline contd

• February 2000 Police reveal that they are
  investigating Dr Shipman's role in 175 deaths.
  However, they say that there will be no further
  murder charges.
• Shipman is moved from prison in Manchester to HMP
  Frankland in Durham.
• April 2000 South Manchester coroner John Pollard
  says he will hold inquests into 23 deaths not
  originally covered by the police investigation.
• July 2000 Relatives of the suspected victims of
  Shipman win a court battle to force the
  government to hold the inquiry in public.

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Case Study 1 Timeline contd

• January 2001 A government report suggests that
  as many as 236 of Shipman's former patients may
  have been murdered.
• June 2001 Shipman inquiry opens in Manchester,
  chaired by High Court judge Dame Janet Smith.
• It's first phase is devoted in part to an
  examination of more than 466 cases in which foul
  play is suspected.
• July 2002 Report of first phase of inquiry is
  published. It concludes that the Hyde GP killed
  at least 215 of his patients - and possibly many
  more.
• Of Shipman's 215 victims, 171 were women and 44
  were men, with the oldest being a 93-year-old
  woman and the youngest a 47-year-old man.

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Case Study 1 Timeline contd

• June 2003 Shipman is moved from Frankland prison
  in Durham to Wakefield prison.
• July 2003 The second and third reports of the
  Shipman inquiry are published.
• In the reports Dame Janet Smith criticises the
  police investigation into the murders.
• She also calls for "radical reform" of the way
  coroners work in England and Wales, after Shipman
  managed to evade their scrutiny by saying his
  victims had died of natural causes.
• 13 January 2004 Shipman is found hanging in his
  cell in Wakefield prison. Staff try to revive him
  but he is pronounced dead at 0810 GMT.

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Psychological Autopsy

• The psychological autopsy is a technique employed
  to assist in the identification of a deceaseds
  psychological state prior to death, in some
  cases to present an opinion on the mode of death.
  
• Psychological autopsy is a reconstructive
  procedure developed to assist coroners with the
  cases where mode of death is equivocal.

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Psychological Autopsy

• Term coined by Shneidman (1961) his colleagues
  at the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center
• They utilised the psychological autopsy technique
  to assist the decision makers, (L.A. County Chief
  Medical Examiner) with the 10 of coroners cases
  where the mode of death was ambiguous.

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Psychological Autopsy

• In cases where investigation is carried out by
  law enforcement officers, usually FBI agents, who
  only examine the crime scene material other
  information directly available to police enquiry,
  it is called Equivocal Death Analysis (EDA)

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What does it entail?

• It is a retrospective assessment tool, utilising
  information obtained by
• Interviews with relatives, friends associates
  of the deceased
• Written reports about the deceased,
• The deceaseds own notes letters,
• Recent events leading up to the individuals
  death

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What does it entail?

• Undertake a psychological autopsy including
  discovery history which is
• A detailed victim history, habits personality
  to determine state of mind of a person before
  death or event of interest.
• Specific attention is given to wounds, the state
  of mind mental health history of the victim.

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Psychological Autopsy

• Factors, for the mental health professional
  performing this type of autopsy, to consider
  include the following
• Personal information such as age, marital status,
  religious etc.
• The mental status of the individual incl. mental
  health records including highs and lows, failures
  and successes
• Family history
• Death history of the family including ages and
  causes
• Medical records
• Official account of the death, including cause or
  method
• Interviews with family and friends
• Accounts of pressures problems arising in last
  few days - year
• Description of the personality and current
  lifestyle

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Psychological Autopsy

• Factors, for the mental health professional
  performing this type of autopsy, to consider
  include the following
• Police reports
• Reaction of the family and friends to the news of
  the death
• The deceaseds writings
• Statements of co-workers, teachers
• Use of alcohol or drugs
• Physical evidence from the death scene
• Circumstantial evidence
• Emotional behavior to stress and fears
• Changes before death affecting habits, hobbies,
  eating, sexual patterns, other life routines

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Equivocal Death Determining the cause

• Situations that may play a role in a suicidal
  person are (Russell, 2004)
• Mental disorders
• Chemical imbalances
• Depression
• Drugs, alcohol
• Addiction
• Shame and guilt causing isolation
• Erosion of self-esteem
• Loss of control in their life
• Loss of a loved one
• A drastic change in their life causing a crisis
• Living a lifestyle that loved ones do not accept
• Being diagnosed with a terminal illness
• Sexual assault
• Financial destruction
• Chronic pain
• Feeling boxed in with no way out

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Case Study 2

• Read the case description
• Write down the questions you think need to be
  asked to help investigators determine whether
  this incident was an accident or a homicide. 
• Compare your list with what an investigative
  team, including a psychologist, wanted to know. 
• Finally, look at the case outcome decide
  whether the answers to your list of questions
  might have helped to make this determination.

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Case Study 2

• Around noon one day, John, age 12, shot his
  mother in the face with a Remington
  .22-250-caliber rifle. 
• According to initial reports based on what John
  had said, he took the gun from a cabinet in the
  backyard shed and went into the house with it,
  shooting his mother. 
• Afterward, he went out and told his two younger
  sisters, and they all went inside and then
  emerged again to ask neighbors for help.