forensics AO1 Flashcards
what is offender profiling ?
a behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown offenders
what is the top-down approach?
profilers start with a pre established typology and work down to lower levels in order to lower levels in order to assign offenders one of two categories based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene.
what is an organised offender?
an offender who shows evidence of planning, targeting specific victims and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher then average intelligence
what is a disorganised offender?
an offender who shows little evidence of planning, leaves clues and tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower than average intelligence levels
what are the four stages of constructing a FBI profile?
- data assimilation - the profiler reviews the evidence
- crime scene classification- as either organised of disorganised
- crime reconstruction- terms of sequence of event , behaviour of the victim
- profile generation- hypothesis to likely offender
the american approach- the top down approach-
1970 american FBI behavioural science unit drew upon data of 36 sexually motivated murders including ted bundy and charles mason - realised data can be separated into organised and disorganised crime. mean can predict type of person that did it.
what are the characteristics of a organised criminal?
evidence of planned crime chosen specific 'target' high degree of control during the crime little evidence or clues left behind above average intelligence skilled professional socially and sexually competent may have family and children
characteristics of disorganised criminal?
little evidence of planning spontaneous spur of the moment acts body usually still at the scene lower then average IQ sexual dysfunction
what is the bottom up approach?
profilers work up from evidence collected from the crimes scene to develop hypothesis about the likely characteristics, motivations and social background of the offender.
what is investigative psychology?
a form of bottom up profiling that matches details from the crime scene with statistical of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory. analysis
what is geographical profiling?
a form of bottom up profiling based on the principle of spatial consistency that an offenders operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the geographical locations of their previous crimes
what is a criminals centre of gravity?
their home - the offenders base.
what is the jeopardy surface ?
the area through geographical mapping that suggest the offenders next target.
what is canters circle theory ?
canter and larkin 1993 understood that there would be a circle made around the offenders ‘centre of gravity’ the circle is made up from the locations of their attacks, the more attacks the easier it is to do this.
canter said there are two types of serial offenders ;
the marauder - who operates in close proximity to their home
the commuter- who is likely to have travelled a distanced away from their usual residence
what is the atavistic form?
biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks or a primitive subspecies ill- suited to conforming to the rules of modern society - distinguish able by certain cranial and facial characteristics.
