FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY - Offender profiling : The top-down approach

Question 1

What is offender profiling?

Answer 1

A behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown offenders.

Question 2

Define the top-down/ American approach?

Answer 2

Profilers start with a pre-established typology = if offender fits certain characteristics, they would assume that other characteristics are likely

• USA FBI used data gathered from interviews from 36 sexually motivated murderers
• concluded that data could be categorised into organised/disorganised crimes

Question 3

what is an organised offender?

Answer 3

• shows evidence of planning
• victim is targeted
• socially and sexually competent
• high intelligence
• married and may have children
• professional job

Question 4

what is a disorganised offender?

Answer 4

• shows little evidence of planning
• leaves clues
• socially and sexually incompetent
• low skilled job/unemployed
• random victims

Question 5

what are the 4 main stages in the construction of FBI profile?

Answer 5

1. Data Assimilation = the profiler reviews the evidence
2. Crime scene classification - disorganised or organised
3. Crime reconstruction - hypotheses in terms of sequence of events eg behaviour of victim
4. Profile generation - hypothesis is created about the possible offender.

Question 6

Give strengths of the Top down Approach?

Answer 6

+ RESEARCH SUPPORT
eg Canter et al (2004) - tested organised and disorganised typology by conducting small space analysis on 100 US murderers committed by a different serial killers. Found that there was a subset of features of many serial killings which matched the FBI’s typology for organised offenders.

+ WIDER APPLICATION
Top down profiling can be adapted to other crimes such as burglary (Meketa 2017) = 85% rise in solved cases where the detection method retains organised – disorganised distinction adding two new categories: interpersonal and opportunistic. Top down profiling has wider application.

Question 7

Give limitations of the Top down approach.

Answer 7

COUNTERPOINT TO CANTER ET AL = organised and disorganised types are not mutually exclusive. Variety of combinations can occur at any murder scene = Godwin argues that a killer may have multiple contrast characteristics.

FLAWED EVIDENCE = FBI profiling was developed using 36 murders were 25 were serial killers and 11 were murderers. 24 of them were organised and 12 of them were disorganised. Canta at our argued the sample was poor= top down profiling doesn’t have a scientific basis.