Offender Profiling: The Bottom-Up Approach

Question 1

Scientific basis of the bottom-up approach:

Answer 1

an advantage is that it is more scientific because of the use of statistical techniques and computer analysis.

one issue is that the data to drive such systems is only related to offenders who have been caught and thus tells us little about behaviour related to unsolved crimes

regarding computer programming someone has to develop the formula and they may be incorrect. This approach has the potential to be objective and systematic but in practice they’re biased

Question 2

Is investigative psychology useful?

Copson (1995)

Answer 2

C: provides support - surveyed 48 police forces using investigative profile and over 75% of the police officers found the profilers’ advice useful

however only 3% said the advice had helped identify the actual offender

therefore, the method may not be that useful in catching offenders

Question 3

Is geographic profiling generally successful?

Rossmo (1995)

Answer 3

R: supports the geographical approach. he argues that it can be useful prioritising house to house searches or identifying a geographical area where DNA could be collected

One issue is that it can’t distinguish between multiple offenders in the same area and also limited to spatial behaviour. Thus it’s questionable as to how much more it offers than traditional methods

Question 4

Final conclusions:

Answer 4

Success rate for offender profiling suggest that what profiling can’t reliably do is identify an offender

However, it can assist police in narrowing down the field of possibilities. There’s also danger in sticking to closely to any one profile

This can lead to a waste of time trying to convict the wrong offender