Lesson 2: Bottom-Up Approach to Offender Profiling

Question 1

What is the bottom up approach?

Answer 1

A method of offender profiling which aims to generate a picture of the offender e.g. characteristics,routine behaviour and social background through SYSTEMATIC analysis of evidence at the crime scene.

Question 2

What does the bottom up approach NOT begin with?

Answer 2

It does NOT begin with fixed typologies.

-Instead, the profile is data-driven and emerges as the profiler engages in RIGOROUS scrutiny of the details of the offence

Question 3

What is the aim of investigative psychology?

Answer 3

The aim of investigative psychology is to establish behaviours that are likely to
occur at certain crime scenes

Question 4

Why is investigative psychology done?

Answer 4

It is done in order to create a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison.

Question 5

How is this statistical data base used in order to determine details of the offender?

Answer 5

Specific details of an offence can then be matched against this database in order to reveal statistically probable details about the offender

Question 6

What is interpersonal coherence?

Answer 6

Refers to how an offender behaves at the crime scene (including how they
interact with the victim) may reflect their behaviour in everyday situations

Question 7

What are two other factors that reveal detail about the offender?

Answer 7

1) The significance of time and place- key variable that may indicate where the offender lives

2) Forensic awareness- the ability that the offender has to “cover up their tracks” 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 8

What is Geographical profiling?

Answer 8

The 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.

Question 9

What is the main assumption when it comes to geographical profiling?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Why are earlies crimes the offender commits more likely to be closer to their base than later crimes?

Answer 10

As once the offender becomes more confidence they will often travel further from their comfort zone

Question 11

What were the TWO models Canter and Larkin proposed about offender behaviour?
(Geographical profiling)

Answer 11

1) The Marauder

2) The Commuter

Question 12

What is ‘The Marauder?’

Answer 12

A type of offender who commits their crimes close to home

Question 13

What is ‘The Commuter?’

Answer 13

A type of offender who travels a distance away from their home to commit crime

Question 14

What additional information can the SPATIAL PATTERN of a crime tell the police?

Answer 14

1) Whether the crime was PLANNED or OPPORTUNISTIC

2) Facts about the offender such as their mode of transport, employment status, approximate age, etc.

Question 15

State a POSITIVE evaluation of the bottom up approach to offender profiling
(hint: bottom up> top down approach, science)

Answer 15

+ 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 16

State a POSITIVE evaluation of the bottom up approach to offender profiling
(hint: crime application)

Answer 16

+ 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 17

State a NEGATIVE evaluation of the bottom up approach to offender profiling
( Hint: Robert Napper+ initial investigation= poor outcome)

Answer 17

• 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 18

State a NEGATIVE evaluation of the bottom up approach to offender profiling
(Hint: Police reports)

Answer 18

• 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 19

State a NEGATIVE evaluation of the bottom up approach to offender profiling
(Hint: Chemistry students)

Answer 19

• 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.