PSY378 Forensic Psychology in Singapore Answers
Question 1 (30 marks)
[Word limit = 800]
A home-made bomb wrapped in a paper bag went off in a public bus at 10 p.m. on a Monday evening. Five passengers sitting close to the bomb were seriously injured and taken to the hospital. Only the 51-year-old bus driver and a 32-year-old teacher sitting at the back of the bus escaped unscathed. The teacher had her headphones put on throughout her bus ride.
You are deployed as an investigation officer on-site. Demonstrate your understanding of forensic investigative interviewing and discuss how you would conduct a forensic interview on-site to obtain initial eyewitness accounts of the incident. Your aim is to obtain an accurate and sufficiently detailed account of the incident and your answer should therefore apply specifically to the scenario and not described in general terms.
You should write no more than 800 words.
(30 marks)
Question 2 (40 marks)
[Word limit = 800]
Jack is a 38-year-old male offender. He was charged and convicted of molesting his neighbour’s 11-year-old daughter and exposing her to pornographic materials over a period of one year. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment at the Singapore Prison. This is the first time he got into trouble with the law.
Jack grew up in a middle-class family and has an older sister 10 years older than him. Throughout his childhood, he recalled major bouts of loneliness at home and in school. His parents worked in the service industry and had long working hours, and he was left at home alone much of the time. At school, he encountered difficulties in friendships with both males and females. Jack was small-built and was often teased by peers about his built. He could only recall having one friend in primary school, and the difficulty in making friends continued throughout his life. Jack made attempts to establish friendships, but always experienced rejection. Looking back, Jack suspected that he might have been depressed for a long period of time but was never diagnosed. He cited frequent suicidal ideations throughout his life but had never acted on them.
Academically, Jack was an average student and during his secondary school years, he discovered that he was good at carpentry. After graduating from polytechnic, he continued to hone his carpentry skills at a workshop. It was here that he got to know a male colleague who introduced him to online pornographic materials. They developed a friendship through sharing about their common interest in pornography. For once in his life, Jack has finally found a friend and in order to deepen this friendship, Jack frequently went to the websites that his colleague recommended to further conversations on this topic. Masturbating several times a day become a habit as he continued assessing the online materials daily. A year after working with the colleague, the colleague left the company and become uncontactable. Jack was devastated from the loss of the only friendship he had and increasingly turned to pornography on a daily basis to cope with the loss of friendship and the loneliness.
Jack was able to stay employed at the carpentry workshop for the last 10 years and had the financial means to purchase his own flat to move out of his parents’ place at 35 years old. He hoped to be in a relationship and set up profiles to chat with other peer-aged females but could never bring himself to meet them in person, for fear of being judged and rejected. Once when he was 32 years old, Jack met up with a date whom he had been communicating online for a few weeks. It was a mostly silent and awkward dinner where it ended with the date saying “you are not what you said you were”. Since then, he has not made attempts to meet up with peer- aged females. Around the same time, he started to frequent paid sex services to have his sexual and emotional needs met. Besides coping with stress and negative emotions using sexual methods, Jack found that alcohol heightened the sexual pleasure during masturbation and sex. Hence, on a daily basis, he enjoyed drinking at least 5 cans of beer as this allowed him to achieve greater sexual arousal.
Jack got to know the victim through a chance encounter when he was displaying a few artistic items in his flat. The victim looked into his flat and was curious about the animal carvings that he displayed at home. Since then, they would greet each other along the common corridor. On one occasion, the victim walked past Jack’s flat when he was watching a pornographic video and she asked Jack what it was. From the victim’s curiosity, Jack perceived it as her willingness
to find out more and invited her to watch those videos with him. It continued to escalate into molestation as Jack believed that her silence meant consent.
Based on the case information about Jack, analyse the significant psychosocial risk factors and examine how they could have culminated in Jack’s sexual offending behaviour. Apply relevant theories of rehabilitation and formulate an intervention plan for Jack based on the risk factors that you have identified. You intervention plan should cover both incare (i.e., when Jack is incarcerated) and aftercare (i.e., when Jack is release back to the community).
You should write no more than 800 words.
(40 marks)
Question 3 (25 marks)
On 24 January 2024, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) jointly launched the Safe Clubbing Campaign 2024. The Police are concerned with the increase in the number of outrage of modesty cases and fights in and within the vicinity of public entertainment outlets. This year’s campaign – with its tagline of ‘Stay Safe and Drink Responsibly’ – will also have an added emphasis on responsible and moderate drinking by individuals and reminding friends to look out for one another.
To support these public education efforts, illustrate using a one-page A4 poster how you would educate university students in Singapore about responsible and moderate drinking. This poster will be displayed across all universities in Singapore.
The poster you design should be informed by relevant theoretical perspectives on alcohol abuse and crimes. Your poster should include the following:
• What is responsible drinking and binge drinking
• Focus on what alcohol does to the body and brain
• Link between binge drinking and crimes
• Provide practical suggestions that would encourage university students to engage in responsible drinking
• Include a strong message for a call to action for responsible drinking
Additional poster instructions:
• You are free to design your poster using any graphic design software (e.g., Canva) but
not with the help of AI.
• You may design your poster in either portrait or landscape format.
• You may write in both point form statements and in full sentences.
• You are free to use graphical elements and colours to make your poster visually appealing.
• Your poster should be tailored to the target audience.
• In-text citations should be included in your poster.
• References for the poster should be put together with the reference list for Questions 1 and 2.
Answers to Above Questions on Forensic Psychology