Criminal Scene Profiling Flashcards
Two types of crime scene profiling
- Deductive analysis
2. Inductive analysis
Define deductive analysis
Attempts to infer characteristics of an offender from an analysis of the evidence gathered from a specific crime scene or series of crimes. Based, in a large part, off the experience and intuition of the profiler
Define inductive analysis
Focuses more on statistical averages of the characteristics of the typical offender, where inferences from previously solved cases are used. The data is used to identify the most probable suspect
Define the Organized/ Disorganized dichotomy
Runs of the assumption that an organized crime = organized offender
Define an organized offender
- Cunning and methodological
2. Crime usually committed far from residence
Define an disorganized offender
- Lack cunning, asocial, have difficulty with relationships
2. Usually live close to crime
Define the modus operandi
i. The actions and procedures an offender used to commit crime successfully
ii. This may be changed, if the criminal finds better techniques
Define Personation
i. Any behaviour that goes beyond what was necessary to commit a crime, such as a signature (an identical object at every crime scene)
Define staging
The intentional alteration of the scene prior to the arrival of the police
Why is staging usually done?
- Direct investigation away from most likely suspect
2. Protect victim or family from public embarrassment
Define a trophy
An item taken from the crime scene that symbolizes triumph over the victim
Define a souvenir
Meaningful item taken by the offender to remember the crime
Define undoing
i. Behavioral pattern at the crime scene where the offender tries to psychologically undo the crime
ii. Two extremes: attempts to make body appear lifelike, or completely destroy the corpse
What are some pitfalls of crime scene profiling?
- Memory and cognitive biases:
- Confirmation bias
- Self-serving bias
- Fundamental attribution error
Define memory and cognitive bias
Biases that rely on experience and observation, not the hard facts.May lead to belief persistence
Define confirmation bias, and what is a circumstance in which it is likely to occur?
The heavy reliance on memory and experience can lead to conclusions that are ambiguous and unverifiable
1. When there is ambiguous information
Define self-serving bias
To interpret events in way that assigns credit to oneself for successes without acknowledging failure
Define fundamental attribution error
Tendency to explain persons behaviour in terms of dispositional or personality factors, rather than situational or environmental factors
