Introduction
Section One - Challenges and Concerns When Studying Crimes and Criminals
Section Two - Approaches to Research
Section Three – Projects
Experiments
How to Forge a Signature Project 1
Detecting Deception Project 2
Profiling Serial Killers Project 3
Geographical Offender Profiling Project 4
Surveys
Exploring Crime Seriousness Project 5
The Seductions of Crime Project 6
Case Studies
How Fraudsters Persuade Project 7
Justifications for Criminality Project 8
How to Rob a Bank Project 9
Role Playing Simulation
Exploring Criminal Networks: Aspects of Structure and Communication Project 10
Section Four – Summary and Conclusions
Appendix A: Guidelines for Ethical Psychological Research
Online Guidance
Information for Participants
Informed Consent Form
Example Ethical Committee Approval Form
Appendix B: Very Brief Explanation of Smallest Space Analysis (SSA)
Biography
David Canter, Emeritus Professor at The University of Liverpool is highly regarded internationally for his research and many publications in Forensic Psychology. He created the field of Investigative Psychology and earlier developed Environmental Psychology. He has supervised research projects for over half a century, at every level from schools to PhDs, as well as large-scale studies for government departments, industry, and research councils.
“I am very happy to recommend this book, which contains detailed practical advice about how to carry out research projects in criminal psychology. It should appeal particularly to forensic psychology and criminology students, but everyone who is interested in criminal behaviour will derive useful information from it.”
David Farrington, Cambridge University, UK
“David Canter reveals his experience as a seasoned, practicing social scientist by embracing ‘the value of doing science, rather than just reading about it’. The ten fascinating projects in this book encapsulate the lifeblood of crime psychology.”
Benjamin Baughman, Gannon University, USA
“David Canter’s expertise shines through this book. A good deal of the material – notably the projects on forgery, fraud, and geographical profiling – will, I’m sure, interest crime writers and all those interested in true crime, and perhaps surprise them.”
Martin Edwards, Crime writer, former Chair of the Crime Writers Association
“This book is great! It poses some interesting and complex ideas while being easy to understand.”
Rosie Jacobs, Sixth Form (High School) student, UK
“This book is easy to read and provides a lot of useful and easy to understand details of how to carry out projects and make sense of the results. These are things that I had to learn over a period of time, from here and there, that would mostly use maths jargon. Seeing it all in one place makes it significantly easier.”
Miraslava Yaneva, MSc student UK
