Offender Profiling Ao1

Question 1

Offender profiling is…

Answer 1

Is a analytical technique
It aims to predict the probable characteristics/description of the unknown criminals using evidence from the crime scene - help narrow down list of suspects

Question 2

2 types of offender profiling

Answer 2

Top down
Bottom up

Question 3

Top down approach is from where AND WHO and when

Answer 3

America FBI 1970s

Question 4

How did top down approach come about

Answer 4

fbi based in quantico virginia
from data gathered by in depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers

Question 5

how does top down approach work

Answer 5

they start with a template before they analyse the crime, they have pre existing category through which they see the crime scene
either organised or disorganised types

Question 6

Organised types of offender characteristics

Answer 6

Shows evidence of having planned crime in advance
Maintain a degree of control during crime
Married w children
Above average IQ, skilled profession
body hidden
socially and sexually competent

Question 7

Disorganised types of offender characteristics

Answer 7

Little evidence of planning
Spontaneous spur of the moment act
Crime scene reflects impulsive nature of the attack
Have a low IQ in unskilled work or unemployed
socially and sexually incompetent
Tend to live on their own and near where the offence took place

Question 8

List 4 stages of top down

Answer 8

1)Data assimilation
2) crime scene classification
3) crime scene reconstruction
4) profile generation

Question 10

Describe crime scene classification

Answer 10

A decision is made regarding whether the criminal appears to be organised or disorganised

Question 11

Describe crime scene reconstruction

Answer 11

Hypotheses are generated about what probably happened during the crime scene eg victim behaviour and the sequence of events

Question 12

Describe profile generation

Answer 12

A rough sketch of the criminal is developed including social groups, appearance is likely behavioural traits

Question 13

Who theorised bottom up profiling

Answer 13

David canter

Question 14

Describe bottom up profiling

Answer 14

doesnt assume fixed typology
Profile is generated by making inferences from details of the crime and works up to build understanding of the offendner from there

Question 15

Two types of bottom up profiling

Answer 15

Investigative psychology
Geographical profiling

Question 16

Is bottom up USA or British

Answer 16

British

Question 17

How is bottom up different to top down

Answer 17

Profilers work up from evidence created from crime scene developing a hypothesis about likely characteristics motivations and social background of offender
Profile is data driven
Doesn’t have fixed typologies (disorganised or organised) like the USA
Investigator goes into more rigorous and scrutiny about the details of the offence

Question 18

what is investigative psychology

Answer 18

uses psychological theory and stats to analyse crime scene evidence and generate a database of criminal beh patters - data driven approach

Question 19

2 things investigative psychology assumes

Answer 19

data driven approach
interpersonal coherence

Question 20

describe investigative psychology - data driven approach

Answer 20

a statistical database that records details about crimes - identify patterns that occur across crime scene
allows relationships between crimes to be established

Question 21

Describe interpersonal coherence

Answer 21

the way the offender behaved at the crime scene will be consistent with how they behave in everyday life eg if an offender was highly controlling of the victim during the crime they would expect them to be controlling with other people

Question 22

John Duffy

Answer 22

Police therorsed correctional things about him
Eg he had marriage problems, had an interest in martial arts, small and unattractive - he had acne
Needed to dominate women - violently attacked wife

Question 23

geographical profiling theorised by

Answer 23

Rossno 1997

Question 24

Describe geographical profiling

Answer 24

Based on principle of spatial consistency - that an offenders operational base and future offences are linked
Crime mapping - used to link local crime stats, local transport and geographical spread to make inferences of home and social hangouts of offender
The assumption is that serial killer swill restrict their work to areas they are familiar

Question 25

What is circle theory

Answer 25

Ppl operate within a limited spatial mind set that creates imagined boundaries in which crimes are likely to be committed

Question 26

4 zones in circle theory

Answer 26

1 - offenders home
2- buffer zone - no hunting as its too close to home
3- the hunting comfort zone - offender feels comfortable committing crimes
4-distance decay - too far from home risk and cost too high to travel here

Question 27

2 types of offender

Answer 27

The marauder
The commuters

Question 28

What is marauder

Answer 28

Offender operates in close proximity to their Homebase

Question 29

What is commuter

Answer 29

Offender likely to have travelled distance away from their usual residence