Forensic Psychology

Question 1

What is offender profiling?

Answer 1

an investigative tool used by the police when solving crimes

the main aim of this is to narrow the field of enquiry and the list of likely suspects

there are two main methods and although they differ, they both involve careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of the evidence

Question 2

What is the Top down approach?

An overview

Answer 2

originated in the US as a result of FBI carrying out interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers

AKA the typology approach, profilers attempt to match details of crimes to pre-existing templates of offenders

There are 2 categories ; organised and disorganised

Question 3

What are the two types of offender?

Answer 3

Organised and disorganised

Question 4

What are the characteristics of organised offenders?

Answer 4

• evidence of a planned crime
• victim deliberately targeted
• little evidence left at scene (body not there)
• a high degree of control and surgical precision is shown
• they have above average intelligence and usually in

Question 5

What is an Organised offender?

Answer 5

• organised offenders show evidence of planning
• they leave little evidence at the scene i.e. not leaving the body at the scene
• usually in a skilled profession and have a higher than average IQ
• usually married and sometimes has kids
• victim deliberately targeted
• has a high degree control, performs with almost surgical precision

Question 6

What is a disorganised offender?

Answer 6

• little evidence of planning
• a “messy” crime scene, reflecting a spontaneous. impulsive crime; body left at scene
• they tend to have a history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
• probs lives alone and near the crime scene
• lower than average IQ

Question 7

How is a FBI profile (of the criminal) constructed?

Answer 7

1. Data Assimilation - evidence is reviewed by profiler

2.Crime scene classification
as either organised or disorganised

3.The crime is reconstructed
hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim etc

4. Profile generation-
   hypotheses related to the likely offender

Question 8

Strengths of the Top Down approach

Answer 8

(+) It’s a holistic approach,

it takes into account many factors surrounding the actual crime and it aims to truly understand the individual

Question 9

Limitations of the Top Down Approach

Answer 9

(-)It’s not suitable for all types of crimes
its really only suitable for crimes that have plenty of evidence that also reveal details about the suspect so crimes like rape and arson but crimes like bulgary and even murder, it may not be suitable

(-)the sample used isnt representative - it was too small only 36 killers(25serial+11murderers)
it was also self reported and canter argued that, that its not sensible to rely on that

(-)classification is too simple. many offenders may possess characteristics from both types
GODWIN asked how would you classify a killer w/ high intelligence who commits a spontaneous murder
encouraged other psychologists to propose other models ; e.g Holmes suggested there are 4 types(visionary, missionary,hedonistic +power/control)

(-) Canter analaysed 100 murders in the USA using smallest space analysis, w/ reference to 39 characteristics typical of of organised + disorganised types
he found evidence for an organised type but none for a disorganised type

Question 10

What is the Bottom Up approach?

An overview

Answer 10

• Aim of this approach is to generate a picture of offender through systematic analysis and evidence
• does not begin w/ fixed typologies
• instead, profile is ‘data-driven’ + emerges as investigator engages in deeper
• 2 forms of this approach are INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY + GEOGRAPHICAL PROFILING

Question 11

Describe Investigative psychology

Answer 11

Canter developed this form that matches details from crime scene w/stat analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory, there are 3 main features; interpersonal coherence, forensic awareness and statistical analysis

Question 12

Describe interpersonal coherence

Answer 12

It refers to the way an offender behaves at the crime scene and how it may reflect their everyday behaviours

Question 13

Describe Forensic awareness

Answer 13

This refers to any certain behaviours that may indicate past experience with the police

e.g. Davies et al found that rapists who concealed their fingerprints had a previous bulgary conviction

Question 14

Describe the use of statistical analysis

Answer 14

Statistical procedures are used to detect patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur across crimes

This develops a statistical database that can act as a baseline for comparison

Features of the crime can be matched against this database to reveal details about the offender

Question 15

Describe Geographical profiling

Answer 15

• technique where locations of offences are used to infer the likely residence/operational base of offender (their centre of gravity)
• location can be used to create hypotheses about offender and their MO
• Canter and Larkin developed the Circle Theory (where the locations of offences make a circle around the residence)

Question 16

What is a Marauder?

Answer 16

Offenders who operate close to their home

Question 17

What is a Commuter?

Answer 17

An offender who travels away when committing a crime

Question 18

Strengths of the Bottom Up approach

Answer 18

(+)wider application than Top Down approach, techniques such as smallest space analysis can be used for more crimes

(+)canter argues that this approach is more scientific and objective
It’s more grounded in science and psychological theory

(+) evidence support for geographical profiling
Canter and lundrigan analysed 120 murders in USA using smallest space revealing spatial consistency
The body location was in a different direction from the last and created a centre of gravity with the offenders location in the middle

(+)evidence support for investigative psychology
Canter + heritage conducted a content analysis of 66 murder cases and the day was analysed using smallest space analysis s
Several characteristics were identified as common such as use of impersonal language. It also showed how these can change over time leading to understanding of how an offender can change with different offences

Question 19

Weakness of bottom up

Answer 19

There are mixed results
Although there have been many successes after using this approach there have also been failures

E,g case of Rachel Nickell,Was stabbed 47 times and Paul Britton was the profiler assigned to this case and identified a man as the offender and attempted to “trap” him but it was later revealed the wrong man was targeted and acc the right offender was someone who was ruled out bc he was too tall

Question 20

What is a biological explanation?

Answer 20

Biological explanations of offending share the common assumption that crime is an innate tendency which may be genetically determined or arose from abnormalities

Question 21

Describe The atavistic form

Answer 21

A biological approach to offending that attributed criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks or a primitive sub-species that are ill-suited to confirming to the rules of modern society

Such individuals are distinguishable by facial and cranial characteristics

Lombroso proposed this theory

Question 22

What was Lombrosos Research

Answer 22

He examined facial + cranial features of 383 dead Italian convicts and 3839 living convicts

Found that 40% of criminal acts could be accounted for by atavistic charceteristics

Question 23

What Do the atavistic characteristics include?

Answer 23

General characteristics

• thin narrow sloping brow
• strong prominent jaw
• asymmetrical face
• high cheekbones
• extra toes,nipples or fingers

Murderers

• bloodshot eyes
• long ears
• curly hair

Sexual deviants

• projecting ears
• swollen fleshy lips

Fraudsters
-thin “reedy” lips

Question 24

Strengths of the Atavistic form

Answer 24

(+) lombroso is considered father of modern criminology as he shifted emphasis away from moralistic discourse to more scientific realms of evolution and genetics
Linking types of people to types of crime was the beginning of criminal profiling

Question 25

Limitations of the Atavistic form

Answer 25

(-)accused of scientific racism
Ppl of African descent more likely to be identified as atavistic
+words like primitive and uncivilised lend support to eugenics policies

(-)goring compared 3000 criminals to 3000 non criminals to conclude that there is no evidence to distinguish certain facial+ cranial characteristics as specific to criminals

(-)control issues with lombrosos research, there was no control group of non offenders to compare against
Failed to account for other factors

(-)correlation is not causation
It cannot be said that the atavistic form causes criminality

Question 26

What do genetic explanations of offending suggest about offending?

Answer 26

Genetic explanations suggest that would-be offenders inherit a gene or a combination of genes that make them offenders

Question 27

Describe the twin studies conducted studying the link between genetics and criminality

Answer 27

Lange studied 13 MZ twins and 17 DZ twins where 1/2 of the twin has served time in prison
10/13 and only 2/17 had a co twin in prison
suggestion genetics must play a predominant part in offending

Christiansen studied 87 MZ twins and 147 DZ twins from Denmark
found 33% concordance rates of criminality in MZ and only 12% for DZ

Question 28

Describe Tiihonen et al study

Answer 28

• genetic analysis of 900 Finnish adoptees
  -revealed abnormalities of 2 genes to be associated with violent crime
• the MAOA gene (controls dopamine + serotonin lives in brain and is known as the WARRIOR gene)
  + a variant of the CDH13 gene
  -also found that individuals with a combo were 13x more likely to have a history of violent behaviour