Lecture 5 - Offender Profiling Flashcards
What is profiling?
Scott 2010- uses information that is available at a crime scene to generate a profile of the unknown perpetrator.
Eliminating suspects to a particular type.
Explain the modern history of offender profiling.
Dr Thomas Bond - UK police Jack the Ripper case.
Walter Langer - The Mind of Adolf Hitler - psychological profile to help form interrogation technique, suggested he would commit suicide - accurate.
Name two failings of offender profiling in the US & UK.
US - Boston Strangler, “gay school teachers living apart” actually heterosexual construction worker living with family.
UK - Rachel Nickle “suspect of colin stag blinded investigators, case collapsed”.
Name the 3 types of profiling according to Homant & Kennedy 1998.
- Crime scene - info from scene of crime
- Psychological - fit personality template
- Crime Linkage - linking crimes through crime scene behaviour
Outline the differences in profilable crimes.
Canter 2000 suggests that profilable crimes are those that are more serious with evidence of psychopathology.
Art = drawing on expereience Science = drawing on research.
Name the 3 approaches to offender profiling.
Criminal Investigative Approach - FBI, profiling as an art.
Clinical Practitioner Approach - mental health cases to develop experience
Statistical Approach - investigative psychology based on statistical analysis of behaviour and info on crime scene.
What are the 4 assumptions of offender profiling?
- Homology Assumption - crime scene reflects the offenders personality.
- Modus Operandi - method of operandi, consistent but changed to fool investigators.
- Signature - stays the same, core of killer e.g. taking keys.
- Behavioural Consistency Hypothesis - personality will not change, drive/need for crime will stay the same throughout.
Briefly describe the US approach to profiling.
Crime Scene Analysis
FBI aims to reduce potential number of suspects & provide alternative avenues for investigation.
Use a Top Down Approach through using their own experience and intuition to interpret evidence and develop profile.
Name the 6 stages of US crime scene analysis
- Profiling Inputs - all info together but no suspects in mind here to avoid bias.
- Decision Process Models - crime type, intent, risk, repeated? etc.
- Crime Assessment - Organised & Disorganised offender.
- Profile - hypothesis about characteristics, behaviours etc.
- Investigation - conduct with profile
- Apprehension - Arrest suspect.
Explain the differences between an Organised & Disorganised Offender.
Organised:
- Personality: competent, live with family, charm.
- Post-offence: move body, police follower.
- Interview Technique: Direct strategy, accurate about details.
Disorganised:
- Personality: low IQ, unskilled, poor hygiene, lives alone.
- Post-Offence: turn religious, change jon
- Interview: Show empathy, interview at night.
Briefly explain the UK approach to profiling.
Investigative Psychology
Bottom-up approach using psychological theory, research and statistical techniques.
E.g. Canter 1985 Railway Killer.
Explain the Criminal Consistency Hypothesis.
Explain the Smallest Space Analysis technique.
CCH- criminals performing actions that are direct reflections of the sort of transactions they have with other people.
SSA- spatial representation using stats of the co-occurence of the same crimes.
Name the 4 principles in Geographical profiling.
- Locatedness - unique location, how encountered victim.
- Systematic Crime Choice - not random
- Centrality - travel or near home
- Comparative Case Analysis - comparing cases, improves accuracy.
Name the 4 spatial typologies according to Rossmo 2000.
- Hunters - set out to find victims in known areas.
- Poachers - transient, move to other areas.
- Trollers - come across victims
- Trappers - create situation to draw victims to them.
What are some of the problems with offender profiling.
- reductive rather than productive
- BCH assumes human behaviour is consistent across time but can change with alcohol and drugs etc.
- Based on outdated theory of personality.
- No agreed framework or overarching theory.
- Some argue it is common sense.
