Lesson 1: Top-Down Approach To Offender Profiling

Question 1

Offender profiling

Answer 1

Offender profiling is a tool employed by the police to narrow down the list of likely suspects for a crime or crimes.

Offender profiling is based on the idea that the characteristics of the offender can be deduced from details of the offence and crime scene.

Profiling methods vary, but usually involve careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of evidence, including witness reports, in order to generate a hypothesis about the probable characteristics of the offender (their age, background, occupation etc.).

Question 2

The Top-Down Approachn

Answer 2

Templates of organised offender and disorganised offender are pre-existing in the mind of the profiler. Evidence from the crime scene and other details of the crime/victim/context are then used to fit the offender into either of the two pre-existing categories.

Question 3

Organised offenders

Answer 3

These offenders show evidence of having planned the crime in advance; the victim is deliberately targeted as the killer or rapist has a preference for a certain type of victim. The offender maintains a high level of control during the crime. There is little evidence left behind at the scene of the crime. These offenders tend to be of above average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation and are socially and sexually competent. They are often married with children.

Question 4

Serial killer

Answer 4

Three of more victims with a distinct ‘cooling off’ period in between

Question 5

Mass murderer

Answer 5

Three or more victims killed at the same time in the same place

Question 6

Spree killer

Answer 6

Three of more victims killed in a short period of time in two or more locations

Question 7

Disorganised offenders

Answer 7

These offenders show little evidence of planning, suggesting the offence may have been spontaneous. The crime scene tends to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack, the body is usually left at the scene and there appears to have been very little control on the part of the offender. The offender tends to be of lower than average intelligence, be in unskilled work or unemployed, and often have a history of sexual dysfunction or failed relationships. They tend to live alone and often relatively close to where the offence took place.

Question 8

Typical serial killer

Answer 8

Male (92%)
White (52%)
Late 20s (27%)
Kills within own race
Method of murder is hands on
Victims selected because they share specific characteristics
History of bed wetting, fire starting or cruelty to animals in childhood
Kills for enjoyment

Question 9

Disadvantages of Top-Down Approach to Offender Profiling

Answer 9

• Top-down profiling only applies to certain crimes (e.g. rape, arson, cult killings, and murders that involve macabre practices such as sadistic torture, dissection etc.). Common offences, such as burglary do not lend themselves to top-down profiling because the crime scene reveals very little about the offender.
• The organised or disorganised distinction was developed based on interviews with 36 serial killers in the USA. Critics have pointed out that this is too small and unrepresentative a sample upon which to base a typology system.
• Top-down profiling was developed based on interviews with 36 sexually motivates serial killers, including Ted Bundy and Charles Manson. Canter (2004) has argued that it is not valid to rely on self-report data from convicted serial killers when constructing a classification system.
• The organised or disorganised distinction is overly simplistic. Holmes (1989) suggests there are four types of serial killer; visionary serial killer (kill because God or the Devil is directing them to), mission serial killer (kill to eradicate a group of people they consider to be undesirable), hedonistic serial killer (kill for the thrill) and power serial killer (kill to have complete control over the victims).
• Canter et al. (2004) analysed data from 100 murders in the USA with reference to the characteristics thought to be typical of organised and disorganised killers. The findings did suggest evidence of a distinct organised type, however this was not the case for disorganised type which undermines the entire classification system.