FBI-Style Profiling Flashcards

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1
Q

FBI style vs Statistical profiling

A

FBI-style profiling: intuition/art

Statistical profiling: empirical/scientific

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2
Q

Types of profiling:

  • crime scene
  • offender
  • psychological
A

Crime scene profiling: use info from crime scene to generate picture of the offender

Offender profiling: characteristics of offenders within specific crime types drawn from empirical data

Psychological profiling: assessment of individual offenders to determine risk

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3
Q

Serial killer profiling

A

FBI behavioural science unit studied serial killers with sexual aspects

Defined as 3 or more separate events in three or more separate locations with a cooling off period

Experience and intuitive are key

Weak empirical base - based on 36 offenders

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4
Q

Modus operandi vs criminal signature

A

Modus operandi

The in which an offender commits the crime - may change based on what the offender has learnt (Consistent behaviour)

Criminal signature

Aspects of the crime that are idiosyncratic or a characteristic of the offender (trophy taking, calling card etc.)

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5
Q

FBI profiling - stages of the process

A

Stage 1 - data assimilation (eventually identify crime signature)

Stage 2 - crime scene classification (organised/planned or disorganised/chaotic)

Stage 3 - crime scene reconstruction (generate hypothesis, based on crime scene what led to crime)

Stage 4 - generate profile

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6
Q

Claremont serial killer

A

Investigators used criminal profiling, geographic profiling, polygraphs, public surveys, DNA testing taxi drivers

Widespread media campaign for public to look for signs (guilt ridden, absent from work, left work, deterioration in performance, inability to concentrate, headaches, sudden change in plans

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7
Q

Effectiveness of FBI-style profiling

A
  • little new research
  • may help police in prioritising info (and vice versa)
  • may eliminate suspect as much as identify offender
  • helps info gathering from crime scene (attention to detail)
  • generally informative but doesn’t identify offender in specific cases
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