Forensic - offender profiling Flashcards
What is offender profiling?
Attempts to produce a probable profile of a criminal from information taken at the scene. An investigative tool used to narrow the field of enquiry. Represents a direct of applying psychological principle to the area of crime.
Where does the top-down approach come from and how was it created?
Originated from America from work done by the FBI.
Used data from in-depth interviews w/ 36 sexually motivated serial killers.
Profilers who use this will match what they know about the crime and offender to pre-existing template.
Criminals often operate in same way which reflects in their personality.
What are the 2 different types of offenders according to the top-down appr.?
Organised offender
Disorganised offender
What are the charac.s of an organised offender?
- Evidence of planning
- Victim targeted - reflects a ‘type’
- High degree of control
- Sexually and socially competent - married, children
- Higher intelligence than av. person - skilled prof. occupation
- Little left at scene
- Detached surgical precision
What are the charac.s of a disorganised offender?
- Leaves clues
- Lower level of intelligence - low skilled job, unemployed
- Sexually and socially incompetent
- Little evidence of planning - impulsive
- Little control
- Random victim, spur of the moment
What are the 4 stages of constructing an FBI profile?
- Data assimilation - profiler reviews evidence
- Crime scene classification - organised or disorganised
- Crime reconstruction - hypothesis of event, beh. of victim etc.
- Profile generation - hypothesis related to likely offender
Top-down AO3: Why does this appr. lack scope?
It only applies to certain crimes such as rape, arson, cult killings etc. These reveal a lot about the offender.
Tells us little about mundane crimes like burglary.
Therefore it is only useful in particular circumstances.
Top-down AO3: Why is the appr. over-simplistic?
We could argue that there are more than 2 types of offenders. The types may also sometimes overlap which would mean there is not a clear profile.
As a result other researchers have developed other typologies. E.g. Holmes (1989) suggested 4 types of serial killer; visionary, mission, hedonistic and power/control
Top-down AO3: What contradicting evidence is there of the disorganised offender?
Canter et al. (2004) analysed 100 murders from USA. Details examined in reference to 39 charac.s of organised and disorganised offenders. The findings suggested strong evidence for an organised type but not for a disorganised type.
Where does the bottom-up appr. originate from and what is it based on?
UK appr. Originates in psychological expertise and closely associated w/ the work of David Canter. Based on quantitative statistical analysis. Works up from evidence collected at crime scene.
What is investigative psychology?
Looks at specific details of an offence and related offences. They can be matched on a database to determine if diff. crimes are linked and likely committed by same person. Tries to establish patterns of beh. likely to occur across crime scenes. It is based on statistical techniques meaning it is objective.
What are the 3 key elements of investigative psychology?
- Interpersonal coherence
- Significance of time and place
- Forensic awareness
What is interpersonal coherence?
The way an offender beh. at the scene. This may reflect how they beh. in everyday life. E.g. some rapists want to maintain maximum control and humiliate their victims while others are apologetic.
What is the significance of time and place?
It gives clues as to where the offender may live and/or work. (geographical).
What is forensic awareness?
Those who show forensic awareness have probably been through the justice system before or they work in it.
