offender profiling Flashcards
what is the top down approach
profilers used already existing categories.
organised and disorganised they the evidence they find at the crime scene to fit offenders into one of these categories, typically based on intuition and personal experience
what is the bottom up approach
this is where profilers gather large amount of info on a specific crime scene which is then compared using statistical analysis to find similar crimes e.g geographical profiling
what is the typology of the top down approach?
stage 1-info gathered from the crime scene e.g autopsy and photographs
stage 2-analysis of the crime scene puts offender in whichever cat they fit in
stage 3 -finding out the sequence in behaviour of both victim and offender during the crime scene and after, which is a hypothesis
stage4- profile created and offender is narrowed down
support for the top down approach- ressler
ressler- interviewed serial killers such as ted bundy and found that evidence for distinct types of offender such as organised and disorganised 24 organised and 12 disorganised-
however thus could be criticised as it used a small small size which does not represent all offenders
also self support
canter- challenge to the top down
he reviewed 100 serial killer and found evidence for the existence of the organised offender type however he did not find evidence for the disorganised offender showing that there is a false category
what is the five factor model used in investigative psychology
interpersonal coherence- aggressive to victim= aggressive in their personal life
time and place- gives a mental model of the offender, which is likely a place they know well
criminal characteristics- how the crime is committed gives insight into the offender characteristics
criminal career-criminal changes their approach due to them becoming more experienced
forensic awareness- does the criminal show knowledge of the criminal justice system which may aid him in not being caught
what is geographical profiling
focused on the location of the criminal, as it assumes that areas where they have committed the crime is not random and allows the profiler to narrow down where the criminal is based.
what is the least effort principle,distance decay and circle hypothesis
least effort principle= if the criminal has a choice between two locations he will commit a crime in the one closest to his home base
distance decay-the further you get from the offenders home base the fewer crimes there will be committed by this offender
circle hypothesis= if you drew a circle from the two furthest points of the crimes then the middle would be the home base of the criminal
what are marauders and what are commuters
marauders- refers to those who stay within their home area
commuters typically commit crimes close to their area
what is criminal geographic targeting
creates a heat map of the area including features of the environment of where the offenders base may be most likley
what is evidence for the bottom up approach- canter
canter 87% of a 45 British serial sexual assaulters were marauders, who choose to commit the crime near their area
evidence for the bottom up
uses a more scientific approach as it relies on carefully collected statistical data rather than the top down which uses intuition and experience.
general evaluations of this offender profiling
-difficult to asses its effectiveness as it is never used in isolation
-snook Canadian officers agreed profiling helped solved 94% of cases
- profiling methods typically fail when trying to catch an offender which is statistically abnormal
