Offender Profiling: The Bottom-up Approach Flashcards
unlike the US top-down approach, the British bottom-up model does
not begin with fixed tyeologys
bottom-up is
data driven and emerges as the investigator rigorously scrutinises the details about a particular offence
the aim of the bottom-up approach is to
generate a picture of the offenders characteristics, routines and background through analysis of the evidence
statistical procedures detect patterns of behaviors that are
likely to occur across crime scenes
they look for patterns of behavior because this generates a
statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison
features of an offence can be
matched against this database to suggest potentially important details about the offender
a center concept is interpersonal coherence
the way an offender behaves at the scene may reflect their behavior in everyday situations.
understanding someones interpersonal coherence
might tell the police something about how the offender relates to women
the locations of crime scenes are used to
infer the likely home or operational base of the offender and their modus operandi
what is a modus operandi?
someones habitual way of working
the assumption is that offenders restrict their
crimes to areas that they are familiar with
Canter and Larkin date
1993
what did Canter and Lankin propose?
they proposed two models of offender behavior
what are the two models proposed by Canter and Lankin?
The Marauder
The Commuter
The Marauder
operates close to their home base
The Commuter
Likely to have traveled a distance away from their usual residence when committing a crime
Canter and Larkin suggest that the pattern of offending locations is likely to form
a circle around the offenders usual residence and this becomes more apparent the more the offences there are
the offenders spatial decision making can provide insight into
the nature of the offender
Canter and Heritage date
1990
what did Canter and Heritage do?
they did a contextual analysis of 66 sexual assault cases using smallest space analysis
what did Canter and Heritage identify?
several characteristics that were common in most cases
identifying characteristics can lead to an
understanding of how an offenders behavior may change or establishing whether two or more offences were committed by the same person
Canter and Heritage findings support the usefulness of investigative psychology because
it shows how statistical techniques can be applied
Lundrigan and Canter date
2001
what did Lundrigan and Canter do?
collected information from 120 murder cases involving serial killers in the US
what did Lundrigan and Canter find?
smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in the behavior of killers
Lungdrigan and Canter - the location of each body disposal site was plotted and a
center of gravity was identified
what is a center of gravity?
the offenders base was invariably in the center of the pattern
a center of gravity is common for which type of offender?
marauders
Lundrigan and Canter support Canters claim that
spatial information can be a key factor in determining the base of an offender
Canter argues that the bottom-up approach is more
objective and scientific than the top-down approach
investigators can use geographical, biographical and psychological data to
quickly produce data and assist in the investigation.
investigative psychology has also expanded to include areas like
suspect interviewing and examination of material presented in court
examining the material presented in court supports its use in the
judicial process
the bottom-up approach can be applied to
a range of offences while the top-down approach can’t
techniques can be used in the investigation
smallest space analysis
principle of spatial consistency
despite many successes of the bottom-up approach
there have been many significant failures
Copson date
1995
Copson surveyed
48 police forces
Copson - advice provided by the profiler was judged useful in
83% of cases but led to an accurate identification in just 3% of weddings
