Offender Profiling

Question 1

Offender profiling

Answer 1

a behavioural and analytic tool
that is intended to help
investigators accurately predict
and profile the characteristics
of unknown criminals

Question 2

Copson found that police need 4 pieces of info from a profiler to help in a case

Answer 2

1. Type of person
2. Future threat
3. Possible link to other cases
4. Interview strategies to be used on offender

Question 3

Top down approach (FBI)

Answer 3

• qualitative approach due to looking at overall picture and using typologies
• based on police experience
• suitable for extreme crimes eg murder, rape, ritualistic crimes
• Interviewed 36 serial killers including Ted Bundy & Charles Manson.
• From this they were able to invent a classification system and combined it with officers’ experience

Question 4

4 step FBI profiling process
Step 1

Answer 4

Data assimilation
- data compiled from police reports, post mortems, crime scene photos etc

Question 5

4 step FBI profiling process
Step 2

Answer 5

Crime classification
- profilers decide if crime scene is organised or disorganised

Question 6

4 step FBI profiling process
Step 3

Answer 6

Crime reconstruction
- hypotheses about crime sequence, offender + victim behaviour etc

Question 7

4 step FBI profiling process
Step 4

Answer 7

Profile generation
- offenders physical, demographic and behavioural characteristics