1. top down approach Flashcards
what is offender profiling
also known as criminal profiling. a behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals.
what do professional profilers do
professional profilers will often be called upon to work alongside the police especially during high profile murder cases.
what does the compiling of a profile involve
careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of the evidence (including witness reports) in order to generate hypotheses about the probable characteristics of the offender (their age, background, occupation).
what is the top down approach
profilers start with a pre established typology and work down in order to assign offenders to one of two categories based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene.
murderers or rapists are classified in one of two categories (organised or disorganised) on the basis of the evidence and this classification informs the subsequent police investigation.
what is organised and disorganised offender distinction based on
the idea that serious offenders have certain signature ways of working and these generally correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics that relate to the individual.
what are the characteristics of an organised offender
show evidence of having planned the crime in advance - the victim is deliberately targeted and will often reflect the fact that the killer or rapist has a type.
they maintain a high degree of control during the crime and may operate with almost detached surgical precision. there is little evidence or clues left behind at the scene.
they tend to be of above average intelligence and in a skilled professional occupation and are socially and sexually competent.
what are the characteristics of a disorganised offender
show little evidence of planning suggesting the offence may have been spontaneous. the crime scene tends to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack - the body is usually still at the scene and there appears to have been very little control on the part of the offender.
they tend to have a lower than average IQ and be in unskilled work or unemployed. often have a history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships and tend to live alone.
what are the four main stages in the construction of an FBI profile
data assimilation = the profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs and pathology reports).
crime scene classification = either organised or disorganised.
crime reconstruction = hypotheses in terms of sequence of events and behaviour of the victim.
profile generation = hypotheses related to the likely offender (demographic background and physical characteristics).
how is this a limited approach when identifying a criminal
only applies to particular crimes - top down profiling is best suited to crime scenes that reveal important details about the suspect (such as rape and arson killings) as well as crimes that involve such macabre practices as sadistic torture, dissection of the body and acting out fantasies.
more common offences such as burglary and destruction of property (or even murder or assault during the course of committing these) do not lend themselves to profiling because the resulting crime scene reveals very little about the offender = at best it is a limited approach to identifying a criminal.
how does the approach lack validity
the typology classification system is based on the assumption that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consistent across situations and contexts. several critics have suggested that this approach is naive and is informed by old fashioned models of personality that see behaviour as being driven by stable dispositional traits rather than external factors that may be constantly changing.
this means that the approach (which is based on ‘static’ models of personality) is likely to have poor validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects and/or trying to predict their next move.
how does the approach lack validity
the typology classification system is based on the assumption that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consistent across situations and contexts. several critics have suggested that this approach is naive and is informed by old fashioned models of personality that see behaviour as being driven by stable dispositional traits rather than external factors that may be constantly changing.
this means that the approach (which is based on ‘static’ models of personality) is likely to have poor validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects and/or trying to predict their next move.
how does the classification of offenders limit the approach
researchers analysed data from 100 murders in the USA. the details of each case were examined with reference to 39 characteristics thought to be typical of organised and disorganised killers. although the findings did indeed suggest evidence of a distinct organised type this was not the case for disorganised which seems to undermine the classification system as a whole.
nevertheless the organised/disorganised distinction is still used as a model for professional profilers in the US and has widespread support.
how is the classification of offenders simplistic
the behaviours that describe each of the organised and disorganised types are not mutually exclusive - a variety of combinations could occur in any given murder scene. for instance a researcher asked how police investigators would classify a killer with high intelligence and sexual competence who commits a spontaneous murder in which the victim body is left at the crime scene. this has prompted other researchers to propose more detailed typological models.
