Offender Profiling: The Top-down Approach Flashcards
the top down appraoch aims to
narrow the field of enquiry and the list of likely suspects
professional profilers are employed to
work alongside the police espeshally in high-profile murder cases
the scene and evidence are analysed to generate
hypothesises about the proable characteristics of the offender
what characteristics do they look for?
age
background
occupations
who developed the top-down approach?
the FBI
murderers or rapists are classified in
one or two categories
what are the two categories
organised or disorganised
the organised and disorganied distinction is based on
the idea that serious offenders have a certian signature - a way of working
these ways of working generally correlate with a particular set of
social and psychological characteristics that relate to the individual
organised offenders are charcterised by
Evidence of planning the crime.
High degree of control during the crime with little evidence left.
Above average IQ.
Usually married and may have children
Evidence of planning the crime
the victim is deliberately targeted - the rapist/killer may have a type of victim
Above average IQ
in a skilled/professional job
Disorganised offenders are characterised by
Little evidece of planning.
The crime scene reflects the impulsive nature of the act.
Below average IQ.
A history of failed relationships.
Little evidece of planning.
suggesting the offence may be spontaneous
The crime scene reflects the impulsive nature of the act.
body still at the scene and the crime shows little control on the part of the offender
Below average IQ.
may be in unskilled work or unemployed
A history of failed relationships.
may be living alone, possible hisotry of sexual dysfunction
there are four main stages in the construction of an FBI profile
Data assimilation
Crime scene classification
Crime reconstruction
Profile generation
Data assimilation
review of evidence
Crime scene classification
organised or disorganised
Crime reconstruction
generation of hypothesises about the behavior and events
Profile generation
generation of hypotheses about the offender
top down profiling is best suited to crime scenes that
reveal important details about the suspect - rape, arson, murder and sadistic torture
common offences, such as burglary and destruction of property
do not lead themselves to profiling because the crime reveals little about the offender
the approach is overall
limited because it can’t profile from all crimes
the typeology classification system is based on the assumption that offenders patterns of behavior and motivations are
consistant across situations and contexts
Alison et al date
2002
Alison et al argue this is based on
outdated personality models that see behavior as driven by dispositional traits rather thn by constantly changing external factors
the top down approach has
poor validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects and/or predicting their next move
Canter et al date
2004
Canter et al used smallest space analysis of 100 murders in the US
each case was examined against 39 characteistics typical of organised and disorganised killers
what did Canter et al find?
evidence of a distinct organised type which undermines the whole classification system
despite Canter et al findings
the approach is still used by professional profilers in the US and has widespread support
behaviors describing organised/disorganised offenders are
not mutually exclusive
