Hazelwood and Douglas 1980 -The American approach - criminal profiling

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

to test the reliability of organised and disorganised typologies

Question 2

method

Answer 2

a content analysis using the psychodynamic method of multidimensional scaling

Question 3

sample

Answer 3

100 cases from the USA (3rd crime was analysed in the case of serial killers)

Question 4

procedure

Answer 4

100 cases were assessed to find out if the features hypothesised to belong to each typology would be consistently different.

the crime classification manual (douglas et al 1992) was used to classify crimes as organised or disorganised as far as possible based on replies to interviews

Question 5

results

Answer 5

2x as many disorganised crimes committed than organised crimes suggesting disorganised criminals are more common/easier to identify.

only 2 crime scene behaviours significantly co-occurred in the organised typology:

• the body was concealed in 70% cases
• sexual activity occurred in 75% cases

further statistical analysis failed to separate the variables for organised and disorganised crimes clearly

Question 6

Conclusions

Answer 6

there is no distinction between two types of serial murderers - all such crimes will have an organised element to them.

suggests a better way is to look at the individual personality differences between offenders