Forensics- Offender Profiling: Top-down Approach

Question 1

Offender profiling -

Answer 1

Also known as ‘criminal profiling’, a behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals.

Question 2

The top-down approach -

Answer 2

Profilers start with a pre-established typology and work down in order to assign offenders to one of two categories based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene.

Question 3

Organised offender -

Answer 3

An offender who shows evidence of planning, targets the victim and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher than average intelligence.

Question 4

Disorganised offender -

Answer 4

An offender who shows little evidence of planning, leaves clues and tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower than average intelligence.

Question 5

What is offender profiling?

Answer 5

An investigative tool used by police to narrow down suspects by analyzing crime scenes and evidence to hypothesize the offender’s characteristics, such as age, background, and occupation.

Question 6

What is the aim of offender profiling?

Answer 6

To narrow the field of enquiry and the list of likely suspects.

Question 7

How did the top-down approach to offender profiling originate?

Answer 7

It was developed in the United States by the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 1970s, using data from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers.

Question 8

What is another name for the top-down approach?

Answer 8

The typology approach.

Question 9

How does the typology approach classify offenders?

Answer 9

By matching details of the crime to a pre-existing template developed by the FBI, categorizing offenders as either organised or disorganised.

Question 10

What are the characteristics of organised offenders?

Answer 10

• Plan crimes in advance
• Target specific victims
• Exercise control during the offence
• Leave little evidence
• Are intelligent, socially and sexually competent, and may have stable jobs and families

Question 11

What are the characteristics of disorganised offenders?

Answer 11

• Commit crimes spontaneously
• Leave evidence at the scene
• Act impulsively
• Have lower intelligence, unstable social lives, and are often unemployed

Question 12

What are the four main stages in constructing an FBI profile?

Answer 12

1. Data assimilation - Reviewing evidence such as crime scene photos.
   
   2. Crime scene classification - Determining organised or disorganised.
   3. Crime reconstruction - Hypothesizing the sequence of events.
   4. Profile generation - Developing hypotheses about the offender.

Question 13

What types of crimes is top-down profiling best suited for?

Answer 13

Crimes that reveal significant details about the offender, such as rape, arson, cult killings, sadistic torture, and dissection.

Question 14

What is a limitation of top-down profiling regarding crime types?

Answer 14

It is not suitable for common crimes like burglary, as these crimes reveal little about the offender.

Question 15

What is a critique of the personality models used in the typology approach?

Answer 15

Critics like Alison et al. (2002) argue that it relies on outdated models assuming offenders have consistent behavior patterns across contexts, ignoring external influences.

Question 16

What did David Canter et al. (2004) find in their analysis of 100 US murders?

Answer 16

Evidence supported the existence of organised offenders but not disorganised offenders, undermining the classification system

Question 17

Why is the organised/disorganised distinction considered too simplistic?

Answer 17

Behaviors from both categories can overlap in a single offender, and some murders don’t fit neatly into one classification

Question 18

What are alternative models to the organised/disorganised distinction?

Answer 18

•Ronald Holmes (1989): Four types of serial killers – visionary, mission, hedonistic, and power/control.
•Keppel and Walter (1999): Focus on motivations rather than specific types.

Question 19

Why is the original sample used by the FBI criticized?

Answer 19

It was based on interviews with 36 US killers, which is a small, unrepresentative sample.

Question 20

Why is self-report data from convicted killers problematic?

Answer 20

It may be unreliable, as it depends on the honesty and accuracy of the offenders’ accounts.