Forensic Psychology

Question 1

What is crime?

Answer 1

An act committed in violation of the law where the consequences of the conviction by court is punishment.

Question 2

What is Offender Profiling?

Answer 2

An analytic tool that helps investigators accurately predict and describe the characteristics of unknown criminality.

Question 3

Where did Offender Profiling originate?

Answer 3

In the USA from data gathered by the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit after interviewing 36 sexually motivated killers.

Question 4

What are the main stages in the top-down profiling process outlined by Douglas?

Answer 4

1. Profiling inputs 2. Decision process models 3. Typology 4. Criminal profile construction 5. Crime assessment. 6. Offender Appprehension

Question 5

What are Profiling inputs?

Answer 5

Data collected from the scene of the crime, background information, and details of the crime such as the weapon used.

Question 6

What is the purpose of decision process models in profiling?

Answer 6

To organize data into patterns based on murder type, time factors, and location factors.

Question 7

What distinguishes an organised offender from a disorganised offender?

Answer 7

Organised offenders plan and target victims, is of higher intelligence and is sexually and socially competent, while disorganised offenders randomly select victims, often leaves clues at the scene of the crime so is of lower IQ and engages with the victim

Question 8

Fill in the blank: An organised offender is often of _____ intelligence and socially and sexually competent.

Answer 8

[high]

Question 9

What is included in a criminal profile?

Answer 9

Hypotheses about the offender, such as background, to develop a strategy to catch them.

Question 10

What happens if suspects are not identified in the crime assessment stage?

Answer 10

The investigation returns to stage 2.

Question 11

What must be reviewed if a suspect is apprehended?

Answer 11

The entire profile to check each stage and conclusions for legitimacy. This is beneficial for future cases

Question 12

What does top-down profiling assume about personality?

Answer 12

That personality is fixed and unchanging.

Question 13

According to Alison, what does recent research suggest about personality?

Answer 13

That personality types are fluid and subject to change.

Question 14

True or False: Offenders may display characteristics from both organised and disorganised categories.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

What is a weakness of fixed typologies in profiling?

Answer 15

They may be too rigid to accurately profile the real offender.

Question 16

Why can’t typologies of organised and disorganised offenders be applied to mundane crimes?

Answer 16

The extreme nature of rapes and murders reveals details about the personality and motivations of the killer.

Question 17

Fill in the blank: The top-down profiling approach can only be used for _____ crimes.

Answer 17

[violent, sexual]

Question 18

What evidence did Canter find regarding disorganised offenders?

Answer 18

Consistent offending but not evidence of disorganised offending.

Question 19

What does Canter’s findings undermine?

Answer 19

The binary and exclusive classification system of organised and disorganised offenders.

Question 20

What are the three A03 point for the top-down approach?

Answer 20

• It assumes that personality is fixed, but Alison states they they are fluid and Godwin states that offenders can be both so it may eliminate offenders as it is too rigid.
• It cannot be applied to mundane cases as they do not reveal much about the offenders of speeding so it can only be used for violent crimes.
• Evidence does not support the Disorganised offender as Canter used the smallest space analysis to find consistent findings of 100 offenders using 39 characteristics for organised but not Disorganised which undermined the exclusive classification system as a whole