Offender profiling: The top-down approach

Question 1

Offender profiling: The top-down approach

parts

Answer 1

Offender profiling 
Top down approach 
Organised offender	
Disorganised offender 
Constructing an FBI profile 
Data assimilation, Crime scene classification, Crime reconstruction, Profile generation

Question 2

Offender profiling

Answer 2

└a behavioural and analytical tool
└helps police solve crimes
└narrows field of suspects
└helps investigators accurately predict and profile characteristics of unknown criminals
└compiling a profile involves
└analysis of evidence e.g. witness reports
└to generate a hypothesis about probable characteristics of offender

Question 3

Top down approach

Answer 3

└profilers start with pre-established typology
└work down to assign offenders to one of 2 categories
└based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene
└originated: United States (US), FBI, 1970s
└from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers e.g. Ted Bundy

Question 4

Types of offender

list

Answer 4

Organised offender

Disorganised offender

Question 5

Organised offender

Answer 5

-an offender:
└who shows evidence of planning
└targets the victim 
└tends to be socially and sexually competent 
└higher than average intelligence 
└professional occupation
└married/children

Question 6

Disorganised offender

Answer 6

-an offender:
 who shows little evidence of planning
└leaves clues  
└tends to be socially and sexually incompetent 
└lower than average intelligence
└unemployed
└failed relationships

Question 7

Constructing an FBI profile

list

Answer 7

Data assimilation
Crime scene classification
Crime reconstruction
Profile generation

Question 8

Constructing an FBI profile

Data assimilation

Answer 8

└profiler reviews evidence

└e.g. crime scene photos, pathology reports

Question 9

Constructing an FBI profile

Crime scene classification

Answer 9

└organised or disorganised

Question 10

Constructing an FBI profile

Crime reconstruction

Answer 10

└hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of victim

Question 11

Constructing an FBI profile

Profile generation

Answer 11

└hypothesis related to likely offender

└e.g. background, physical characteristics, behaviour

Question 12

Offender profiling: The top-down approach
limitations
summary

Answer 12

Only applies to particular crimes
Based on out dated models of personality - Alison et al (2002)
Evidence doesn’t support the disorganised offender- Canter et al (2004)
Simplistic classification -Godwin (2002), Holmes (1989), Kepple and Walter (1999)
Original sample

Question 13

Offender profiling: The top-down approach
limitations
Only applies to particular crimes

Answer 13

└suited to rape, arson, torture
└as important details can be revealed about the suspect
└not suited to more common offences such as burglary
└as crime scene reveals little about the offender
└=limited approach to identifying a criminal

Question 14

Offender profiling: The top-down approach
limitations
Based on out dated models of personality

Answer 14

└the classification system is based on the assumption that an offenders motivations and pattern of behaviour is consistent across situations and contexts
└Alison et al (2002)
└this is naïve
└behaviour is driven by changing external factors > static dispositional traits
└=poor validity of model

Question 15

Offender profiling: The top-down approach
limitations
Evidence doesn’t support the disorganised offender

Answer 15

└Canter et al (2004)
└used technique called smallest space analysis
└analysed 100 murders in USA with reference to 39 characteristics of organised and disorganised killers
└findings suggested distinct organised type, but not disorganised
└=undermines whole classification system

Question 16

Offender profiling: The top-down approach
limitations
Simplistic classification

Answer 16

└behaviours of organised and disorganised types are not mutually exclusive- could be a combination of both
└Godwin (2002)
└asks how police officers would classify a killer with high intelligence and sexual competence who commits spontaneous murder and leaves the body at the crime scene
└Holmes (1989)
└suggests 4 types of serial killer
└visionary, mission, hedonistic, power/control
└Kepple and Walter (1999)
└focus on motivations of killers rather than trying to determining specific types

Question 17

Offender profiling: The top-down approach
limitations
Original sample

Answer 17

└typology approach developed using interviews of 36 killers in US
└small unrepresentative sample
└relied on self-report data