Offender Profiling: The Bottom-up Approach

Question 1

What is the aim of the bottom-up approach?

Answer 1

To generate a picture of the offender - their likely characteristics, routine behaviour and social background - through systematic analysis of evidence at the crime scene.

Question 2

What doesn’t the bottom-up approach start with?

Answer 2

Fixed typologies instead a profile is ‘data driven’ and emerges as the investigator engages in deeper more rigorous scrutiny of the details of the offence.

Question 3

What is the bottom-up approach more grounded in?

Answer 3

Psychological theory.

Question 4

What investigative psychology an attempt at?

Answer 4

Applying statistical procedures, alongside psychological theory, to the analysis of crime scene evidence.

Question 5

What is the aim of the bottom-up approach in relation to offender profiling?

Answer 5

To establish patterns of behaviour likely to occur or coexist across crime scenes to develop a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison.

Question 6

What is matched against the developed database and what does this do?

Answer 6

Specific details of an offence, or related offences which reveal important details about the offender, their personal history, family, background etc.

Question 7

What might matching details across databases also determine?

Answer 7

Whether a series of offences are linked in that they are likely to have been committed by the same person.

Question 8

What is central to the bottom-up approach?

Answer 8

Interpersonal coherence

Question 9

What is interpersonal coherence?

Answer 9

The way an offender behaves at the scene including how they interact with the victim. This may reflect their behaviour in more everyday situations.

Question 10

What is another key variable in investigative psychology?

Answer 10

Time and place as it may indicate where the offender lives.

Question 11

What does forensic awareness describe?

Answer 11

Individuals who have been the subject of police interrogation before, their behaviour may denote how mindful they are of ‘covering their tracks.’

Question 12

What does geographical profiling use? And what is this known as?

Answer 12

Information about the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home or operational base of an offender - crime mapping

Question 13

What is crime mapping based on?

Answer 13

The principle of spatial consistency

Question 14

What is spatial consistency?

Answer 14

People commit crimes within a limited geographical space.

Question 15

What can spatial consistency be used in?

Answer 15

Conjunction with psychological theory to create hypotheses about how the offender is thinking as well as their modus operandi

Question 16

What is assumed about serial killers?

Answer 16

They will restrict their ‘work’ to geographical areas they are familiar with and so understanding the spatial patterns of behaviour provides investigators with a ‘centre of gravity’ which is likely to include the offenders base.

Question 17

How is the assumption that serial killers restrict themselves to a geographical area the basis of Canter’s circle theory?

Answer 17

The pattern of offending forms a circle around the offenders home base

Question 18

What are the two ways in which an offender can be described in geographical profiling?

Answer 18

• The marauder = operates in close proximity to their home base.
• The commuter = likely to have travelled from their residence.

Question 19

What can spatial-decision making offer?

Answer 19

Insight into the nature of the offence such as whether it was planned or opportunistic as well as revealing other important factors such as an offenders ‘mental maps’

Question 20

Evaluation:
Evidence supports the use of investigative psychology.

Answer 20

Canter and Heritage analysed 66 sexual assault cases using the smallest space analysis and found that several behaviours were identified as common in different samples of behaviour e.g. the use of impersonal language.
Each person showed a characteristic pattern that would help establish whether two or more offences were committed by the same person.
Supports investigative psychology that people are consistent in their behaviour.

Question 21

Counterpoint to evidence supporting investigative psychology

Answer 21

Case linkage depends on the database and this is only consists of historical crimes that have been solved.
The fact that these cases may have been solved may be because it was straightforward to link crimes together in the first place.
This suggests investigative psychology may tell us about crimes that have fewer links between them and therefore remain unsolved.

Question 22

Evaluation:
There is also evidence to support geographical profiling.

Answer 22

Lundrigan and Canter collected information from 120 murders involving serial idlers in US and using smallest space analysis they revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of killers.
The location of each body disposal site had a ‘centre of gravity’ presumably because when offenders start from their home base they may go in a different direction each time they dispose a body but all these sites will create a circular effect around home base.

Question 23

Evaluation:
Geographical profiling may not be sufficient on its own

Answer 23

The success of geographical profiling might rely on the quality of data the police roadies.
However recording crimes isn’t always accurate and can vary between police forces and around 75% of crimes aren’t reported to the police.
Therefore geographical information alone may not always lead to the successful capture of an offender.