Forensic psychology Lesson 1: Top-Down Approah To Offender Profiling

Question 1

What is Offender Profiling?

Answer 1

A tool employed by the police to narrow down the list of likely suspects

• based on the idea that the characteristics of the offender can be deduced from details of the offence and crime scene
• involves careful scrutiny of the crime scene, analysis of evidence and witness report in order to generate a hypothesis about the probable characteristic of the offender
• characteristics of offender e.g. background, occupation, age

Question 2

What is the top-down approach?

Answer 2

• the approach which uses the pre-existing template of organised offender and disorganised offender
• evidence from the crime scene and other details are used to to fit the offender into the pre-existing categories and determine the offender as one type or the other
• “other details”: crime, victim, context

Question 3

What are organised offenders?

Answer 3

Offenders that show evidence of having planned the crime in advance

• victim deliberately targeted:reveals that offender has a type
• high level of control during the crime scene and operate with an almost detached surgical precision
• little evidence left behind at the crime scene
• above average intelligence
• skilled professional occupation
• socially and sexually competent

Question 4

What are disorganised offenders?

Answer 4

Offenders that show little evidence of planning, suggesting the offence may have been spontaneous

• crime scene tends to reflect impulsive nature of attack
• body usually left at the crime scene
• little control n the part of the offender
• lower than average intelligence
• unskilled work or unemployed
• sexual dysfunction or failed relationships

Question 5

Evaluation of top down approach

Answer 5

1. Only applies to certain crimes e.g. rape, murder, not burglary (too little evidence revealed) (-)
2. Organised/disorganised distinction is based on interviews with 36 serial killers - unrepresentative bc. it is too small (-)
3. Top-down profiling based in interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers including Ted Bundy and Charles Manson - not valid to rely on self report data (-)
4. Organised/disorganised is overly simplistic : Holmes suggests four types of killer: visionary, mission, hedonistic, power (-)
5. Canter et al. analysed data from 100 murders in USA: evudmce fkund for organised type, but not disorganised - entire classification system undermined (-)