Abstract

People have culturally been inclined to visualize a perpetrator simply based on the description of the crime. This experiment seeks to determine if a generalized criminal is expressed by the survey group for each crime. Simply put, it will identify if there exists a similar stereotype for each crime described. Each participant completed a questionnaire to identify their demographics. Next was given five crimes which were about robbery, shooting, rape, stolen identity, and murder to read over with the victim and location information omitted. Participants were asked to visualize and describe the perpetrator in each crime scene. The results concluded that there was a difference in the perpetrator and the type of crime.

Recommended Citation

Vance, Amanda (2008) "Does the Type of Crime Determine if an Image of a Certain Criminal is Pictured?," Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 8, Article 3.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/psych_journals/vol1/iss8/3