Offender profiling. Flashcards
What is offender profiling?
a behavioural and analytical tool that helps investigators accurately predict and profile the possible characteristics for unknown offenders.
What does offender profiling aim to do?
to narrow down the list of likely suspects.
What does offender profiling involve?
careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of other evidence to generate hypotheses about the offender.
What is the top down approach?
using pre-existing typology to work down into lower levels and categorised unknown offenders into one of two categories.
Where does the top down approach originate from?
It is the FBI American approach and originated in the 1970s.
From interviews with 36 sexually motivated murderers, they concluded that offenders should be put into organised or disorganised categories.
What are the categories based on?
The categories are based on the idea that offenders have certain ways of working and these correlate with a set of social and psychological characteristics.
What tells us the offender is organised?
Show evidence of having planned the crime in advance.
-The victim is deliberately targeted, suggesting the offender has a type.
-Maintains a high degree of control throughout the crime and leaves little evidence behind.
How do organised offenders behave in everyday life?
-They tend to be of above average intelligence, skilled professions and are socially/sexually competent.
What tells us the offender is disorganised?
-Show little evidence of planning and offences may be spontaneous acts. The crime scene will reflect the impulsive nature of the crime.
-The body may still be present, and appears to have been under very little control.
-The offender may be messy and make no effort to cover up evidence.
How do disorganised offenders behave in real life?
-Tend to have low IQ, be in unskilled work and have a history of failed/dysfunctional relationships. They may live alone.
How do construct an FBI profile?
- Data assimilation- the profiler reviews evidence from the crime scene.
- Crime scene classification.
- Crime reconstruction- hypothesis of sequence of events and behaviour of the victim.
- Profile generation- hypothesis of likely characteristics of the offender.
Strengths of top down: research support?
Canter et al (2004) conducted an analysis of 100 US murderers, in terms of 39 characteristics linked to organised and disorganised offenders (whether there was restraint, torture, cause of death). They found evidence of a distinct organised offender but not a distinct disorganised offender. The top down approach has some validity.
Strengths of top down: application to other crimes?
Meketa (2017) stated that the top down approach was successfully applied to burglary, which led to an 85% increase in solved cases in 3 US states. The detection method added two categories: interpersonal and opportunistic, suggesting using the top down approach and building on it has wider use.
Weaknesses of top down: not mutually exclusive?
Godwin (2002) argues it is difficult to classify killers as one type or another as they may have multiple contrasting characteristics, for example, high intelligence but minimal control. Suggests the categories are on a continuum.
Weaknesses of top down: flawed evidence?
the approach was built upon interviewing 36 murders. Canter et al argue that this is a poor sample because they were all similar types of offenders and there was no set of standardised questions. Therefore the interviews are not comparable and the approach has no sound scientific basis.
What is the bottom up approach?
Profilers work up from evidence collected from the crime scene to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics, motivations and background.
Where did the bottom up approach originate?
The British Approach, associated with David Canter.
How does the bottom up approach work?
Generated by making inferences from systematic analysis of evidence and use of psychological theories and statistical analysis.
A data driven profile as the investigator engages with deeper scrutiny of the crime scene.
What is investigative psychology?
Matches details from the crime scene with a statistical analytical database of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory.
–Establishes patterns of behaviour likely to occur or coexist across crimes. Also determines whether a series of crimes may have been committed by the same person.
What are the three elements of investigative psychology?
- Interpersonal coherence- the way an offender behaves and interacts at a crime scene may reflect their interactions in everyday life.
- Significance of time and place- indicates where they may live.
- Forensic awareness- focuses on individuals who may have been the subject of police interrogation before, or works in the criminal justice system, as they are more mindful of covering their tracks.
What is geographical profiling?
Uses information about the location of linked crime scenes to make inference about where the offender may live. This is known as crime mapping.
What is spatial consistency?
an offender’s operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the location of previous crimes.
The assumption is that serial offenders will restrict their work to areas they are familiar with, which provides police with a centre of gravity which likely includes the offender’s base.
What is Canter’s circular theory?
proposes people operate within a spatially limited mind which creates imaginary boundaries.
What are the two categories in circle theory?
Marauder= operates in close proximity to their home, or Commuters- offender has to travel a distance from their home.
