Forensic Psychology

Question 1

(TDA) What does the top-down approach include (4)

Answer 1

1. Profiler judgements turned to data.
2. TDP classifies scene organised/disorganised.
3. Hypotheses of event sequences.
4. Profile about offenders characteristics.

Question 2

(TDA) 3 Examples of organised offender behaviour?

Answer 2

Premeditates crimes,
targets victims,
forensic awareness.

Question 3

(TDA) 3 Examples of disorganised offender behaviour?

Answer 3

Random vic’s,
Leaves forensic evidence,
Crimes of passion (in the moment).

Question 4

(TDA) Who was the top down approach based on and why is this a limitation?

Answer 4

36 sexually motivated criminals; not very representative so it has limited application.

Question 5

(TDA) What’s the problem with having two set categories for all criminals and how is this a limitation?

Answer 5

Some criminals would fit into both types.

Reductionist to assume all criminas fit in either/or.

Question 6

(TDA) What did Meketa observe and how is this a strength?

Answer 6

85% increase of solves in burglaries in 3 states

EVEN THO 36 sex motivated guys were used. (APPLICATION!)

Question 7

(TDA) Canter found what research support?

Answer 7

2004, analysed 100 U.S murder cases used ‘SMALLEST SPACE ANALYSIS’.
Found cooccurrence of 39 aspects of crime.
Reasonable to profile criminals if they’re sharing similarities..

Question 8

(BUA) Detail the BUA.

Answer 8

1. Small details of crime used to build bigger picture e.g. geography of crime or characteristics of a crime.
2. Makes use of statistical data from similar committed crimes to make accurate predictions of the offender.

Question 9

(BUA) Is there a wider application?

Answer 9

Yes, because it wasn’t based on sexually motivated murderers like the TDA.

Question 10

(BUA) What evidence did Canter provide?

Answer 10

Railway Rapist’s accurate profiling due to BUA.

Question 11

(BUA) why can’t we rely fully on the BUA?

Answer 11

It can still be misleading, it’s only a method, not concrete.
e.g. Britton drew incorrect profile on Rachel’s murderer, misleading..

Question 12

(BUA) what limitation of BUA relies on statistics of crime.

Answer 12

75% of crime goes unreported, messes with statistics and how reliable bua really is.

Question 13

(Geo) What is Geographical Profiling?

Answer 13

Part of the BUA, using geographical locations of crimes committed to form an area of offences - This is Circle Theory.

2 types of offenders: Marauders and Commuters.

Question 14

(Geo) What research evidence by Canter and Lundrigan?

Answer 14

They analysed 120 s.k. murders analysed.

Spatial consistency in body disposal sites.

Question 15

(Geo) Why is geo profiling not amazing on it’s own?

Answer 15

• It’s not enough to ID a criminal just on its own.

Question 16

(Geo) Why might the approach be absolutely useless? What factor is missing which makes us so unsure about BUA’s usefulness?

Answer 16

The dark figure of crime is 75%.

We do not know about 75% of crimes committed, so we cannot say whether geographical profiling is useful or not, because its based on less than 25% of crime.

Question 17

(Investigative) What is investigative psychology?

Answer 17

The use of details found in the crime scene (such as forensic awareness or interpersonal coherence) to profile the perp, using smallest space analysis.

smallest space analysis compares it to aspects of other crimes, suggesting theres a pattern in all crime.