Forensic Psychology Flashcards
What is offender profiling?
An investigative tool employed by the police to narrow the list of likely suspects.
What is the main aim of offender profiling?
To narrow the list of likely suspects.
Who typically works alongside the police in high-profile murder cases?
Professional profilers.
What methods do profilers use to compile a profile?
Careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of evidence.
When did the top-down approach to profiling originate?
In the 1970s.
What unit of the FBI developed the top-down approach?
Behavioural Science Unit.
From whom did the FBI gather data to develop the top-down approach?
In-depth interviews with 36 sexually-motivated murderers.
What are the two categories of crimes/murders identified by the FBI?
- Organised crimes/murders
- Disorganised crimes/murders
What do organised offenders exhibit evidence of?
Having planned the crime in advance.
What characteristics are associated with organised offenders?
- High degree of control during the crime
- Above-average intelligence
- Skilled, professional occupation
- Socially and sexually competent
- Usually married with children
What do disorganised offenders typically show evidence of?
Little evidence of planning.
What is a common trait of disorganised offenders?
They tend to have a lower-than-average IQ.
What is the first stage in constructing an FBI profile?
Data assimilation.
What is involved in the crime scene classification stage of profiling?
Classifying as either organised or disorganised.
What is the purpose of the crime reconstruction stage?
To hypothesize the sequence of events and behaviour of the victim.
What does profile generation involve?
Hypotheses related to the likely offender’s demographics and behaviour.
What did David Canter et al. (2004) analyze to support the top-down approach?
100 US murders committed by different serial killers.
What statistical technique did Canter et al. use in their analysis?
Smallest space analysis.
What did the analysis by Canter et al. reveal?
A subset of features matched the FBI’s typology for organised offenders.
True or False: Organised and disorganised types are mutually exclusive.
False.
What argument did Maurice Godwin (2002) make regarding offender types?
It is difficult to classify killers strictly as organised or disorganised.
What is a limitation of top-down profiling according to critics?
It applies only to a limited number of crimes.
What new categories were added to top-down profiling in burglaries?
- Interpersonal
- Opportunistic
What evidence did critics point to regarding the sample used to develop FBI profiling?
It was not random or large, and lacked standard questions.
