Lesson 1 - Top Down Approach to Offender Profiling

Question 1

What is Offender Profiling?

Answer 1

Offender Profiling is a tool employed by the police to narrow down the list of potential suspects for a crime. Offender profiling is based on the idea that a hypothesis can be generated about the probable characteristics of the offender based on details of the crime scene.

Question 2

What is the Top-Down Approach?

Answer 2

Templates of an organised offender and a disorganised offender already pre-exist in the mind of the profiler. The profiler than uses the crime scene to fit the offender into either of the pre-existing categories (organised or disorganised) which then reveals probable characteristics of the offender.

Question 3

What is an organised offender?

Answer 3

These offenders plan their crime where the victim is deliberately targeted which reveals the offenders preference for types of victims. These offenders have high control during thee crime with an almost detached surgical precision. There is little evidence left behind at the crime scene.

Question 4

What is a disorganised offender?

Answer 4

These offenders show little evidence of planning their crime suggesting that the crime was spontaneous. These offenders have little control during the crime where the body is usually left behind at the crime scene.

Question 5

What does being an organised offender reveal about the characteristics of the offender? (4)

Answer 5

Above average intelligence
In a skilled occupation
Socially and sexually competent
Married and have children

Question 6

What does being a disorganised offender reveal about the characteristics of the offender? (4)

Answer 6

Below average intelligence
In an unskilled occupation or unemployed
History of sexual dysfunction or failed relationships
Live alone and usually close to the area off the crime

Question 7

What are 5 weaknesses of Top-Down profiling?

Answer 7

• Top-down profiling can only be applied to certain crimes for example, murder, rape and arson, because the crime scenes reveal a lot about the offender. However, top-down profiling cannot be applied to common offences, for example, burglary, because thee crime scene does not reveal a lot about the offender.
• The organised band disorganised distinction been based on interviews with 36 serial killers in the USA. However, psychologists have suggested that this sample is both too small, and too unrepresentative to base a classification system off of.
• Top-down profiling was developed based off of interviews with 36 serial killers in the USA. Canter (2004) suggested that it is not valid to rely on self-report data when constructing a classification system.
• The organised and disorganised distinction is overly simplistic. Holmes (1989) suggested that there are not 2, but 4 types of serial killers: visionary serial killer (kill because God or the Devil have told 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 gain complete control over victims).
• Canter et al. (2004) analysed 100 murders in the USA with reference to the characteristics thought to be of organised and disorganised killers. His findings did suggest evidence of organised offenders. However, the findings did not suggest evidence of disorganised killers which therefore undermines the entire classification system making it useless and invalid.