Offender profiling #2

Question 1

Consistency

Answer 1

~ behavioural consistency across offences

e.g. Green (1976) - 14/15 burglary cases assigned to 3 bunglers

Question 2

Homology

Answer 2

~ meaningful link between actions + characteristics

e.g. Davies (1998) 4x more likely to remove sperm if have criminal record

Question 3

Personality paradox

Answer 3

failure to acknowledge cross-situational inconsistencies in behaviours, despite evidence

Question 4

Contemporary model: Person x Situation

Answer 4

~ contemporary trait = probabilistic clusters of behaviour
~(If) resistance encountered, (then) violence will occur
~ abstract issue

Question 5

Abstract issue

Answer 5

poor production of behaviours for abstract traits

Question 6

Investigative implications

Answer 6

~ broad generalisation
~ claims about motivations
~ perceived utility may prevent police officers looking into other lines of enquiry

Question 7

Legal implications

Answer 7

not able to use linkage analysis in court as is inconsistent

Question 8

Snooke et al. (2007)

Answer 8

~ meta-analysis of 4 studies

~ accurate predictions: profilers (62%) + non-profilers (38%)

Question 9

Bennell et al. (2013)

Answer 9

not aware of any research were trained linkers can make accurate linking decisions

Question 10

Fox + Farrington (2018)

Answer 10

~ trained police in use of SPOT to detect burglary patterns
~ trained precincts: 11.3% to 30.1% arrest rate
~ untrained: reduction in AR

Question 11

SPOT

Answer 11

Statistical patterns of offending typology

Question 12

Communter hypothesis

Answer 12

travel outside home base to offend

Question 13

Marauder hypothesis

Answer 13

offender stays within safety of home range

Question 14

Circle hypothesis

Answer 14

residence of offender will be within a circle drawn with its diameter as 2 offences further apart
(87% of offender homes w/in circle + 13% had a base w/in the circle)

Question 15

Range hypothesis

Answer 15

distance between offences correlates w/ distance away from home

Question 16

Safe zone

Answer 16

0.6 miles from home, supported by range theory

Question 17

Humans vs statistics

Answer 17

~ participants were trained in delay or circle heuristics

~ 75% improved after training = no different to statistics

Question 18

Decay group

Answer 18

offenders commit offences close to home

Question 19

Circle group

Answer 19

given circle hypothesis