offender profiling: the top - down approach Flashcards
what is offender profiling
also known as “criminal profiling”, a behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately procedure and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals
what are the methods used during offender profiling
methods vary, but the compiling of a profile will usually involve:
- analysis of the evidence ( including witness reports) in order to generate hypotheses about the probable characteristics of the offender (age, background, occupation e.t.c(
what is the American version of the criminal approach
it is called the Top-down approach
what is the top-down approach
with the top-down approach, profilers start with pre-established typology and work in order to assign offenders to one of two categories base on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene
where did the technique originate from
the technique originated in the US as a result of work carried out by the FBI in the 1970s
More specifically, the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers e.g. Ted Bundy and Charles Manson
what is another word for the top-down approach
it is also known as the typology approach
offenders who used this method will match what is known about the crime and the offender to a pre-existing template that the FBI developed
what are the different classifications murderers and rapists can be put in
organised and disorganised types of an offender
what is an organised offender
an offender who whose evidence of planning, targets the victim and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher than average intelligence
what is a disorganised offender
an offender who who shows little evidence of planning leaves clues and tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower than average intelligence
what is the distinction between organised and disorganised offenders based on
organised and disorganised distinction is based on the idea that serious offenders have certain signature “ways of working” and these generally correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics that relate to the individual
this is referred to as their “modus operandi”
what are the characteristics of an organised offender
- the victim is deliberately targeted - will often reflect the fact that the killer or the rapist has a “type”
- high degree of control during the crime and may operate with almost detached surgical precision
- little evidence or clause left behind at the scene
- above- average intelligence
- in skilled/ professional occupation
- socially and sexually competent
- usually married and may even have children
what are the characteristics of a disorganised offender
- little evidence of planning
- offence may have been a spontaneous
- crime scenes tend to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack- evident as the body is still at the scene and there appears to have been very little control on the part of the offender
- lower than average IQ
- in unskilled work/ unemployed
- history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
- tend to live alone - often relatively close to where the offence took place
what are the four main stages in the construction of an FBI profile
- data assimilation - the profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs, pathology reports e.t.c)
- crime scene classification - as either organised or disorganised
- crime reconstruction - hypotheses in terms of sequencing of events, the behaviour of the victim. et.c.
- profile generator - hypotheses related to the likely offender e.g. of demographic background, physical characteristic, behaviour, e.t.c
