FP - Offender profiling: The top-down approach Flashcards
What are the two different methods of offender profiling?
The top-down approach and the bottom-up approach.
Disorganised type of offender
The crime scene is left with many clues such as fingerprints, there is little evidence of engagement with the victim, and the offender has lower intelligence and competence.
Offender profiling
A method of working out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of the crime and crime scene.
Organised type of offender
This type of offender commits a planned crime and may engage in violent fantasies with the victim and is high in intelligence and socially competent.
Top-down approach
(Also called crime scene analysis).
An analysis of previous crimes creates a profile of a likely offender. A profiler uses this knowledge to narrow the field of possible suspects. Unlike the bottom-up approach, the top-down approach relies on the intuition and beliefs of the profiler.
Where does the top-down approach originate?
With the FBI in the US.
Why was the top-down approach developed?
As a way of trying to solve some of the most bizarre and extreme murder cases and designed to produce a profile of the most likely offender.
What is the top-down approach regarded as?
As a more intuitive application of a profiler’s prior knowledge - the profiler has a ‘feel’ for the kind of person who committed the crime (i.e. a less explicit line of reasoning).
What is the bottom-up approach regarded as?
More scientific and logical.
Who came up with the 6 main stages in the top-down process?
Douglas et al., 2006
How many main stages are there in the top-down approach?
6
What are the 6 stages of the top-down approach?
- Profiling inputs
- Decision process models
- Crime assessment
- Criminal profile
- Crime assessment
- Apprehension
What is the first stage of the top-down approach?
Profiling inputs
What is the second stage of the top-down approach?
Decision process models.
What is the third stage of the top-down approach?
Crime assessment