Forensic Psychology Flashcards
What is offender profiling?
Offender profiling is a tool employed by the police to narrow down the list of likely suspects. It is based on the idea that the characteristics of the offender can be deduced from details of the offence and crime scene. Profiling methods vary but usually involve analysis of evidence, including witness reports in order to generate a hypothesis about the probable characteristics of the offender eg their age and background.
What is the top-down approach?
Templates of organised offender and disorganised offender are pre-existing in the mind of the profilier. Evidence from the crime scene and other details of the crime/victim are used to fit the offender into either of the two pre-existing categories and determine the offender as one type or the other.
What are organised offenders?
These offenders show evidence of having planned the crime in advance. The victims is deliberately targeted and will often reveal the fact that the killer or rapist has a preference for a certain type of victim. They maintain a high level of control during the crime and there is little evidence left behind at the crime scene.
These offenders 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.
What are disorganised offenders?
These offenders show little evidence of planning, suggesting the offence may have been spontaneous. The crime scene tends to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack, the body is usually left at the scene and there seems to be little control on the part of the offender.
The offender tends 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.
Evaluation of the top-down approach?
1) top down profiling only applies to certain crimes (eg rape, murder etc that involve macabre practices such as sadistic torture). Common offences such as burglary do not leng themselves into top-down profiling as the crime scene reveals little about the offender.
2) The organised or disorganised distinction was developed based on interviews with 36 serial killers in the USA. Critics have pointed out that this is too small and unrepresentative a sample upon which to base a typology system.
3) Top-down profiling was developed based on interview with 36 sexually motivated serial killers, including ted Bundy and Charles Manson. Canter (2004) has argued that it is not valid to rely on self-report data from convicted serial killlers when constructing a classification system.
What is the bottom-up approach?
The bottom-up approach was developed in the UK, and the aim is to generate a picture of the offender, including their likely characteristics, routine behaviour and social behaviour. This is achieved through systematic analysis of evidence left at the crime scene. This is a data-driven approach that involves using data from crime scene and victim to build a statistical database. statistical information is analysed to find relationships between crimes.
What is investigative psychology?
Interpersonal coherence is the way an offender behaves at the crime scene reflects their behaviour in everyday situations. The significance of time and place of the crime is also a key variable.
Forensic awareness describes individuals who have made an attempt to “cover their tracks”.
What is geographical profiling?
This is the study of spatial behaviour in relation to crime. Relevant data includes the crime scene, local crime statistics, local transport etc. The assumption is that a serious offender will restrict their criminal activities to an area their familiar with. Earlier crimes are likely to be closer to the offender’s base than later crimes.
Canter and Larkin propose two models of offender behaviour. The marauder (operates close to home) and the commuter (likely to travel far away from home). Crime scenes tend to form a circle around their home.
The spatial pattern of a crime can also tell the police whether the crime was planned or opportunistic as well as other important facts eg mode of transport, employment status and approximate age.
Strengths of bottom-up approach?
1) canter argues that bottom-up profiling is more scientific than top down because it is more grounded in evidence and psychological theory and less driven by speculation and hunches than top down profiling.
2) bottom up profiling unlike top down profiling can be applied to a wide variety of offences such as burglary and theft as well as murder and rape.
Weaknesses of bottom-up approach?
1) copson surveyed 48 police forces and found that the advice provided by a profiler was judged to be useful in 83% of cases, but in only 3% of cases did it lead to the accurate identification of the offender.
2) Kocsis et al found that chemistry students produced a more accurate offender profile than experienced senior detectives. This implies that the bottom-up approach is little more common sense and guess work.
What is the historical approach to offending?
In 1876, Cesare lombroso suggested that criminal individuals were ill -suited to modern society. He believed that criminals were genetic throwbacks, a primitive sub-species who were biologically different from non-criminals.
Offenders were seen by lombroso as lacking evolutionary development, their savage and untamed nature meant that they would find it impossible to adjust to the demands of civilised society and would inevitably turn to crime. As such, lombroso saw criminal behaviour as a natural tendency, rooted in the genealogy of those who engage in it.
What is the Atavistic form?
Lombroso argued that the criminal sub-species could be identified by a set of particular physiological characteristics that were linked to particular types of crime. These were biologically determined atavistic characteristics, mainly features of the face and head, which indicate that criminals are physically different from the rest of us.
What traits were seen as atavistic?
In terms of cranial characteristics, the atavistic form included a narrow sloping brow, a strong prominent jaw, high cheekbones and facial asymmetry. Other physical characteristics included dark skin and extra toes, nipplies od fingers. Murderers were described as having bloodshot eyes, curly hair and long ears. Sexual deviants had glinting eyes, swollen/fleshy lips and projecting ears. Lips of fraudsters were thin.
Other than physical characteristics, lombrosos suggested those born criminal were insensitive to pain, use criminal slang, tattoos and unemployment. He analysed skulls of criminals and found 40% could be accounted for by the criminal subspecies.
Strength of atavistic form?
The atavistic form had an important role in the shift away from theories based on feeble-mindedness, wickedness and demonic possession. It was the forerunner to more biological explanation (evolutionary and genetic).
Weaknesses of atavistic form?
1) several critics have drawn attention to the distinct racist undertones in lombroso’s work. Many of the features he described as atavistic eg dark skin and curly hair are most likely to be found in people of African descent. His claim that atavistic characteristics were uncivilised, savage and primitive supported the eugenic philosophy.
2) Lombroso did not compare his criminal sample to a non-criminal control group. If he had done then the differences he reported may have disappeared.
3) even if criminals have atavistic characteristics this does not necessarily mean that these characteristics cause their criminal behaviour. Facial and cranial features can be influenced by poverty and poor diet, which can also lead people to crime.
