Forensic Psychology - Offender profiling Flashcards
General profiling
- Media profile criminals very quickly
- Police profiling happens using some very considered information
- Type of crime
- Crime scene investigation
- Modus operandi (MO) - how the crime was committed
Offender profiling - approaches
1) Top down approach - uses MO as core belief alongside signatures and profilers experiences
2) Bottom up approach - objective version using statistics from other crimes of a similar type in the same area
Ebiske suggests that profiling involves using an understanding of human behaviour, motivation and pathology in order to create a picture of the psychological characteristics of a criminal
The top-down approach - what is it?
- Starts with a big picture and fills in the details, it is an American approach that focuses on identifying characteristics of the offender, such as lifestyle or personality via data gathered at the crime scene
- The offender is then classified as organised or disorganised, and it is top down because it attempts to fit crime details under categories of typologies - the profiler will look at other cases to build typical offender profiles
- It is the method used for extreme crimes such as murder and rape
- Also known at the typological approach, and focuses mainly on the crime, victim and context
Who created the top-down approach?
- Pioneered by Ressler, Burgess and Douglas in the 1970s from the FBI’s Behavioural Sciences Unit
Interviewed 36 sexually motivated serial killers (inc. Ted Bundy) the questions used related factors like early warning signs and possible triggers - The data gathered at crime scenes and the crime itself helped to identity typologies, which are categories of groups of offenders that display different clusters of behaviours and attitudes
- They categorised two types of offender - organised and disorganised
- Organised offenders have ordered lives and kill after a critical life event; their actions are premeditated, and they likely bring weapons and restraints, being above average intelligence and employed
- Disorganised offenders will likely commit crimes of passion, with no evidence of planning, and they are likely to leave evidence, thought to be less socially competent and unemployed
Characteristics of an organised crime - classifying crime
Crime scene details:
> Crime is planned
> Shows self control at the crime scene - well-ordered
> Leaves few clues
> Weapon is absent, body is hidden from view or moved from original murder site
Behaviour towards victim:
> Victim is a targeted stranger
> Attempts to control victim
> Aggressive acts
Characteristics of an organised offender - classifying crime
Characteristics of criminal:
> Above average IQ
> Socially and sexually competent
> Married / cohabiting
> Experiencing anger or depression at time of offence
> Follows media coverage of crime
> Skilled occupation
> Geographically mobile
Background:
> High birth order and inconsistent discipline
Characteristics of a disorganised crime - classifying crime
Crime scene:
> Little planning / preparation
> Little attempt to hide evidence at the scene - weapon present, sexual activity after death, body left in view
> Random, disorganised behaviour
Behaviour towards victim:
> Victim selected at random
> Avoids contact or conversation
> Minimum use of constraint
Characteristics of a disorganised offender - classifying crime
Characteristics:
> Lives alone, near crime scene
> Sexually and socially inadequate
> Unskilled occupation or unemployed
> Frightened and confused at time of attack
> No interest in coverage
Background:
> Physically / sexually abused in childhood & low birth order
Post-offence behaviour and interview techniques of organised and disorganised offenders
Post offence behaviour:
- Organised - returns to scene, volunteers information
- Disorganised - returns to scene to relive event, keep diaries and news cuttings of events
Interview techniques:
- Organised - Use direct strategies
- Disorganised - emphasise with offender, introduce evidence indirectly etc
How is a profile constructed with a top-down approach?
How a profile is constructed with this approach -
1) Review the evidence gathered from the crime scene and other material evidence
2) The crime scene is classified as organised or disorganised
3) The crime is reconstructed based on the evidence gathered, and a hypothesis is made about what has occurred in terms of order of events, behaviour of the offender and of the victim
4) Profile created
The FBI’s 7 stages of profiling - top-down approach
Ressler et al - validity of this approach by stating 7 aspects for consideration to help profilers in the decision making process:
1) Type of murder - what kind of murder was it; spree, one-off, serial etc.
2) Location factors (geographical profiling) - how does the area of the crime affect it (spatial relationships between crimes to tell you where to look for criminals)
3) Time Factors - when was the crime committed etc.
4) Victim Risk - the likelihood of a person to be a victim / how much risk a person poses if they are a victim
5) Escalation - tendency to move from a less serious to a more serious crime
6) Primary Intent - if the killing was premeditated or random
7) Offender Risk - the risk a person poses and their likelihood of repeating a behaviour; how much risk have they put themselves in
Issues with classification of crimes into organised and disorganised - top down approach
- Having two categories is very simplistic
- Based on evidence from a self report sample of 36 sex offenders - could affect validity, low generalisability in terms of crime and sample size
- Research shows most evidence for organised suggesting most criminals are all of one type - low internal validity
- Canter (2004) reviewed 100 US serial killers, analysing 39 aspects of their offence. It was found disorganised features were rate and didn’t form a distinct “type” this suggests that there is isn’t a divide between two sets of criminals.
Strengths of the top-down approach
1) Developed the definitions of organised and disorganised offender through extensive interviews with real serial offenders like Ted Bundy. As 24 could be classified and 12 disorganised this suggest there are distinct “types” of offender that may predict behaviour and aid apprehension.
The bottom-up approach to offender profiling
- Based on spatial crimes related to this one, and drawn from ideas of schema - focuses on statistics / investigative psychology and geographical profiling and highly aggressive crimes
The bottom-up approach - investigative psychology
Canter:
1) Interpersonal coherence - how they act in the crime is how they act normally
2) Time and place (spatial consistency) - have they got the timeframe and location; SC = they operate in areas they know well
3) Criminal characteristics - what are they like in their crimes
4) Criminal career - have they escalated their behaviour
5) Forensic awareness - are they aware of the forensic investigations around them and what evidence could convict them
Canter and Larkin proposed two different categories of spatial consistency offenders -
- Marauders - commit crimes close to where they live and feel secure
- Commuters - commit crimes far from where they live over a large area
