L2 - Bottom-up Approach To Offender Profiling

Question 1

The bottom-up approach

Answer 1

• The bottom-up approach was developed in the UK
• The aim of this approach is to generate a picture of the offender, including their likely characteristics, routine behaviour, and social background.
• This is achieved through systematic analysis of evidence left at the crime scene.
• It does not begin with fixed typologies (as the top-down approach does), instead the profile is data-driven and emerges as the profiler engages in rigorous scrutiny of the details of the offence.
• Bottom-up profiling is far more grounded in psychological theory than the top-down approach.

Question 2

Aim of investigative psychology

Answer 2

• aim of investigative psychology is to establish a statistical database of behaviours which occur at crime scene and the characteristics of offenders who carry out these behaviours.
• Specific details of an offence can then be matched against this database in order to reveal statistically probable details about the offender (their personal history, family background etc.)
• This can also help determine whether multiple offences are linked and likely to have been committed by the same individual.

Question 3

What is central to investigate psychology?

Answer 3

• the concept of interpersonal coherence.
• According to interpersonal coherence the way the offender behaves at the crime scene is similar to how they behave in their everyday life.
  E.g. whilst some rapists want to control and humiliate their victim, others can be apologetic. This might tell the police how the offender relates to women more generally.

Question 4

What is the significance of time and place of a crime?

Answer 4

Details of the time the crime occurred, and the place it occurred in, may indicate where the offender is based (e.g. where they live and work) or their mode of travel (e.g. train or car).

Question 5

What is forensic awareness?

Answer 5

describes individuals who have made an attempt to ‘cover their tracks’ (i.e. hide the body/murder weapon or clean the crime scene). Their behaviour may indicate that they have been the subject of police interrogation in the past, or even that the police already have their DNA or fingerprints on file.

Question 6

Geographical profiling

Answer 6

• study of spatial behaviour in relation to crime and offenders. It focuses on the location of the crime as a clue to where the offender lives, works and socialises.
• Relevant data includes the crime scene, local crime statistics, local transport, and geographical spread of similar crimes.
• The assumption is that a serious offender will restrict their criminal activities to an area that they are familiar with, and the offender’s base will therefore be in the middle of the spatial pattern of their crime scenes.
• Earlier crimes are likely to be closer to the offender’s base than later crimes, as an offender becomes more confidence they will often travel further from their comfort zone.

Question 7

2 models of offender behaviour

Answer 7

Carter & Larkin (1993) proposed 2 models of offender behaviour:
- the marauder (who operates close to their home)
- the commuter (who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their home).
- Crucially, though, the spatial pattern of their crime scenes will still form a circle around their home, this becomes more apparent the more offences that are committed
- The spatial pattern of a crime can also tell the police whether the crime was planned or opportunistic, as well as other important facts about the offender such as their mode of transport, employment status, approximate age, etc.

Question 8

Evaluation of bottom-up approach

Answer 8

strengths
- more scientific
- range of offences
weaknesses
- significant failures
- police force survey
- detectives aren’t as good

Question 9

More scientific

Answer 9

Canter argues that bottom-up profiling is more scientific than top-down profiling because it is more grounded in evidence and psychological theory and less driven by speculation and hunches than top-down profiling.

Question 10

Range of offences

Answer 10

Bottom-up profiling, unlike top-down profiling, can be applied to a wide variety of offences, such as burglary and theft, as well as murder and rape.

Question 11

Significant failures

Answer 11

There have been some significant failures when using bottom-up profiling. In 1992, 21 year old Rachel Nickell was stabbed 47 times and sexually assaulted in a frenzied attack on Wimbledon Common. In 2008, following examination of forensic evidence, Robert Napper was convicted of the murder. He had been ruled out early on in the initial investigation because he was several inches taller than the profile had claimed the offender would be.

Question 12

Police force survey

Answer 12

Copson (1995) surveyed 48 police forces and found that the advice provided by a profiler was judged to be useful in 83% of cases, but in only 3% of cases did it lead to the accurate identification of the offender.

Question 13

Detectives aren’t as good

Answer 13

• Kocsis et al. (2002) found that chemistry students produced a more accurate offender profile than experienced senior detectives. This implies that the bottom-up approach is little more than common sense and guess work.