Offender Profiling Flashcards
History
Bond (1888)
Attempted profile of Jack the Ripper
“The character of the mutilations indicate that the man may be in a condition that may be called Satyriasis”
History
Brussel (1956)
Profile of the Mad Bomber
General misperception of his accuracy
Profile didn’t really lead to Metesky’s arrest
Definitions
Ainsworth (2000)
Underlying most definitions is a belief that offender characteristics can be deduced from a detailed knowledge of offence characteristics.
No universally accepted definition
Profiling in America
Holmes & Holmes 2009
Emphasis on old style profiling
- there is nothing mysterious or magical about the art of psychological profiling. It is based on paying attention to details and looking for non-physical evidence.
Be able to blend a knowlegde of sociology, psychology, psychiatry, criminology, etc.
- a profiler makes calculated guesses - there are more than wild guesses, but they are guesses nonetheless
Profiling in America
Suggested Crimes for Profile
Sexual Assault Sexual Homicide Motiveless Fire Settings Lust / Mutilation Murders Rape Occult / Ritualistic crimes Bank robberies Anonymous obscene communications
The FBI Approach
FBI Behavioural Science Unit
36 in-depth interviews-typologies developed
Attempt to identify characteristics of serious offenders
- looks an objective methodology but maybe subjective interpretation
Based on initial interviews created by typologies e,g, type of murderer.
Organised Criminal
- Planned offence
- Targeted stranger
- Personalises victim
- Controlled crime scene
- Restraints used
- Body moved
- Weapon Taken
- Little Evidence
- High intelligence
- Socially adequate
- Lives with partner
- High birth order
- Harsh childhood discipline
- Controlled mood
- Charming
- Follows media / police groupie
Disorganised Criminal
- Spontaneous Event
- Victim unknown
- Depersonalises victim
- Chaotic crime scene
- No restraints
- Body not moved
- Weapon left
- Physical Evidence
- Below-average intelligence
- socially inadequate
- lives alone
- low birth-order status
- inconsistent childhood discipline
- anxious mood during crime
- diary / news clippings
- lives / works near crime scene
Typologies
Key questions:
- how useful are they in catching a criminal?
- how well researched are they?
- should they be applied to one-off crimes?
FBI Profiling
Criticisms
e.g. Canter, 1994 - too sample a sample
Lacks scientific rigour
Jackson & Bekerian (1997) - FBI have had a wide influence on proving units in other countries,
Investigative Psychology
Canter & Youngs (2009)
- A move away from old style profiling
“the intuitively informal activity of experienced police officers speculating about the characteristics of criminals” - A new discipline of Investigative Psychology
“The central challenge for IP is to keep its feet firmly within the realms of systematic, scientific psychology…”
“It is scientific endeavour of establishing what implications can be validly drawn from what happened a crime”.
Profiling in the UK
Alison et al 2010
Traditional approaches to OP
- criminal investigative approach
- clinical practitioner approach
- statistical approach
The death of offender profilers…
Rise of BIA and BIAS.
Behavioural Investigative Advice / Advisors
- A more integrated approach - based on IP
- BIAs can contribute to an investigation in the following areas:
1) offender profiling
2) crime scene assessment
3) offence linkage
4) search advice
5) investigative suggestions
Behavioural Investigative Advice / Advisors
Other potential contributions:
1) Casting a critical eye over the investigation
- perhaps bringing a new perspective
2) Bringing new skills
- scientific considerations such as falsification & correlation vs. causation
3) Confirming thoughts
4) Providing probabilistic rationale and justification for investigation decisions
e. g. prioritisation of resources, etc.
Obstacles to Overcome
Taking all types of profiling into consideration
1) Homology Assumption
2) The accuracy / effectiveness issue
3) Profile Content
4) The police
