Lesson 1: Top-Down approach to offender profiling

Question 1

What is offender profiling?

Answer 1

This is a tool used by law enforcement in order to narrow down the list of likely suspects of a crime or crimes. Based on the idea that characteristics of the offender can be deduced from details of the offence and crime scene.

Question 2

Types of offender

Answer 2

Organised
Disorganised

Question 3

Organised offenders

Answer 3

• Usually show signs of having planned out a crime in advance.
• The victim was deliberately targeted, as the offender may have a preference of a certain type of victim.
• Little evidence is left behind as there is a high level of control during the crime
• Tend to be in a skilled, professional occupation and are usually socially and sexually competent.
• Often married with children.

Question 4

Disorganised offenders

Answer 4

• Show little evidence of planning the crime beforehand
• The offence may have been spontaneous
• The crime tends to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack
• Little control over the crime and then as a result, more evidence left behind
• The offender tends to be of lower or average intelligence
• In unskilled work or unemployed with a history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
• Tends to live relatively close to where the offence took place

Question 5

Weaknesses of the top down approach

Answer 5

• The top down profile can only apply to certain crimes, like rape, arson and murder and murders that involve macabre practices like torture and dissection. Common offences such as burglary do not lend themselves to the top down approach because the crime scene does not reveal very much about the offender
• The distinction between organised and disorganised criminals was developed based on 36 serial killers in the US. This could be criticised as this is a very small sample size of criminals and is unrepresentative of a larger population of criminals in which to create a nomothetic typology system.
• The 36 serial killers were interviewed, meaning they gave self reports. Some of these serial killers included Ted Bundy and Charles Manson. It may be argued that neither were in any position to give valid self reports, and this therefore undermined the validity of the classification system
• Canter et al (2004) found that from data of 100 murders in the US with reference to the characteristics of organised and disorganised killers, there was evidence to suggest a distinct organised type, but not a disorganised type.

Question 6

Strengths of the top down approach

Answer 6

NO STRENGTHS!!!