offender profiling

Question 1

what are the characteristics of the crime and offender in an organised offender?

Answer 1

Crime;
- planned in advance
- victim is targeted
- shows self-control at the crime scene
- few clues left behind
- body hidden

Offender:
- above average IQ
- skilled professional occupation
- socially and sexually competent
- married with children
- follows crimes in news media

Question 2

what are the characteristics of the crime and offender in a disorganised offender?

Answer 2

Crime:
- spontaneous
- little self-control
- leaves clues and body

Characteristics of offender:
- below average IQ
- unskilled job or unemployed
- history of relationship and sexual dysfunction
- lives alone

Question 3

what is the top-down approach?

Answer 3

• FBI investigated 36 sexually motivated murderers
• concluded that they could be categorised into organised and disorganised offenders
• serious offenders have certain signature ways of working (modus operandi)
• these generally correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics that relate to the individual

Question 4

how is an FBI profile constructed?

Answer 4

1. Data assimilation - profiler reviews crime scene evidence
2. Crime scene classification - organised or disorganised
3. crime reconstruction - Hypotheses in terms of sequence of events
4. Profile generation - Hypotheses related to likely offender (demographics, behaviours, etc.)

Question 5

Evaluation of the top-down approach

Answer 5

• • mixed evidence of effectiveness but skewed towards effective
• • has wider application than originally thought
• • evidence on which it is based is scientifically flawed
• • organised and disorganised types are rarely mutually exclusive

Question 6

what is the bottom-up approach?

Answer 6

• the aim is to generate a picture of the offender through systematic and statistical analysis of evidence at the crime scene
• the two main features are investigative psychology and geographical profiling

Question 7

what are the 4 parts of investigative psychology?

Answer 7

• statistical database
• linking crimes
• interpersonal coherence
• forensic awareness

Question 8

what is geographical profiling?

Answer 8

• uses information about the location of linked crimes to make inferences about the likely home of an offender
• plotting connected crime locations into a specialised map program can create a heat map of the most likely location of the offenders home base
• all of this information gives police important insights into characteristics of an offender: location, mode of transport and employment status

Question 9

what are the two types of offenders (geographical profiling)

Answer 9

• Marauders - criminals commit crimes around the home
• Commuters - travel away from home to commit crimes

Question 10

evaluation of Bottom-up approach

Answer 10

• • supporting evidence of geographical profiling
• • geographical profiling is not always accurate so lacks RWA
• • investigative psychology is scientific
• • database only has solved crimes