2 - Top-down Approach To Offender Profiling

Question 1

Outline offender profiling

Answer 1

A tool employed by the police to narrow down the field of enquiry and the list of likely suspects.

Based on the idea that characteristics of offender can be deduced from details of the offence and crime scene.

Profiling methods vary, but usually involve careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of evidence, including witness reports, in order to generate a hypothesis about the probable characteristics of the offender (their age, background, occupation etc.).

Question 2

Outline the top-down approach

Answer 2

Use evidence from the crime scene as well as details of the crime, victim and context to match the offender to a pre-existing template. Murderers or rapists are classified into one of two categories (organised or disorganised).

Question 3

What is the certain signature way of working called?

Answer 3

Modus Operandi

Question 4

Describe organised offenders

Answer 4

Show evidence of having planned the crime in advance; the victim is deliberately targeted and will often reveal the fact that the killer or rapist has a preference for a certain type of victim.

Maintain high level of control during the crime and operate with an almost detached surgical precision. There is little evidence left behind at the scene of the crime.

Tend to be of above average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation and are socially and sexually competent. They are often married and have children.

Question 5

Describe disorganised offenders

Answer 5

Show little evidence of planning, suggesting the offence may have been spontaneous.

Crime scene tends to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack, the body is usually left at the scene and there appears to have been very little control on the part of the offender.

Tend to be of lower than average intelligence, be in unskilled work or unemployed, and often have a history of sexual dysfunction or failed relationships. They tend to live alone and often relatively close to where the offence took place.

Question 6

What are the four main stages in constructing an FBI profile

Answer 6

1. Data Assimilation
2. Crime Scene Classification
3. Crime Reconstruction
4. Profile Generation

Question 7

What happens in stage 1, data assimilation?

Answer 7

The profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs, pathology reports etc.).

Question 8

What happens in stage 2, crime scene classification?

Answer 8

The profiler classes the crime scene is classed as either organised or disorganised.

Question 9

What happens in stage 3, crime reconstruction?

Answer 9

The profiler generates a hypothesis about the sequence of events, behaviour of the victim etc.

Question 10

What happens in stage 4, profile generation?

Answer 10

The profiler generates a hypothesis related to the likely offender, e.g. of demographic and physical characteristics, behaviour etc.

Question 11

Evaluate the top-down approach

Answer 11

• Top-down profiling only applies to certain crimes (e.g. rape, arson, cult killings, and murders that involve macabre practices such as sadistic torture, dissection etc.). Common offences, such as burglary do not lend themselves to profiling because the crime scene reveals very little about the offender.
• The classification of offenders as organised or disorganised is based on the assumption that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consistent across situations and context. Critics have suggested that this assumption is based on out-dated models of personality that see behaviour as being driven by stable traits rather than by external factors that are constantly changing.
• Data analysed from 100 murders in the USA with reference to the characteristics thought to be typical of organised and disorganised killers. The findings did suggest evidence of a distinct organised type, however this was not the case for disorganised type which undermines the entire classification system.
• The organised or disorganised distinction is overly simplistic. Suggested there are four types of serial killer; visionary serial killer (kill because God or the Devil is directing them to), mission serial killer (kill to eradicate a group of people they consider to be undesirable), hedonistic serial killer (kill for the thrill) and power serial killer (kill to have complete control over the victims).
• The organised or disorganised distinction was developed based on interviews with 36 serial killers in the USA. This is too small and unrepresentative a sample upon which to base a typology system.
• Argued that it is not sensible to rely on self-report data from convicted serial killers when constructing a classification system.