forensic psychology - top down profiling Flashcards
what is offender profiling
a behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals.
The main aim is to narrow the field of enquiry and produce the list of key suspect
where did the top down approach originate from ?
FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit which used data from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated killers.
what is the top down approach ?
based on idea that serious offenders have signature ways of working and therefore particular social and psychological characteristics
- these can be classified into organised + disorganised
what is an organised offender like
shows evidence of planning, targets the victim and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher than average intelligence.
what is a disorganised offender like
shows little evidence of planning, leaves clues and tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower than average intelligence.
how is an fbi profile constructed
Stage 1 Data assimilation- the profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs, pathology reports etc.).
Stage 2 Crime scene classification- organised or disorganised.
Stage 3 Crime reconstruction- hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim etc.
Stage 4 Profile generation- hypotheses related to the likely offender, e.g. demographic background, physical characteristics
what is limitation of TD profiling (sample used)
The sample used to create top down profiling is too small and unrepresentative.
developed using interviews with 36 killers in the US – 24 were serial killers, the other 11 were single or double murderers
not sensible to rely on self-report data with convicted killers when constructing a classification system -> information inaccurate
leading to invalid classification system.
what is another limitation of TD profiling ( only some crimes)
Top down profiling only applies to particular crimes.
I best suited to crime scenes that reveal important details about the suspect such as rape, arson and cult killings.
does not help when the crimes are more common such as burglary and destruction of property -> crime scenes reveal little information about the offender.
reduced ability to find criminal
Top-down profiling is too simplistic.
The behaviours that describe organised and disorganised types of offenders are not mutually exclusive.
eg a crime scene can have a combination of organised and disorganised characteristics.
This suggests that top down profiling may not be a valid way to categorise offenders.
It has led to more detailed typological models
what did canter do and find
analysed data from 100 USA murders using smallest space analysis where details of each case were examined with reference to 39 characteristics thought to be typical of organised and disorganised killers.
found distinct organised type but no evidence for distinct disorganised offender
