offender profiling top down Flashcards
what is offender profiling?
-tool by police to solve crimes and narrow the list of likely suspects
-careful scrutiny of the crime scene
-analysis of evidence and witness report to generate hypothesis ab probable characteristics of the offender (age,job)
what is the american approach
-used 36 in depth interviews sexually motivated murders including ted bundy
-concluded data can be categorised into organised or disorganised
-had certain characteristics that could match a crime scene, can predict other likely charvatetics to find a possible offender
how does the american approach operate
-collect data about the murder (crime scene, characteristics )
-and then decide category that best fits
what is the certain signature ways of working
either organised or disorganised generally correlating with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics that relate to the individual
what are organised offender characteristics
-planned crime in evidence
-victim is targeted
-detached surgical precision
-little evidence left behind
-above average intelligence
-skilled professional
-socially and sexually competent
-married w kids usually
disorganised offender characteristics
-little evidence of planning
-spontaneous
-little control
-lower than average IQ
-unskilled
-history of failed RS
-live alone and close to the crime scene
constructing an fbi profile - what’s the 4 stages
data assimilation, crime scene classification, crime reconstruction, profile generation
what’s data assimilation
-profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photos, witness reports )
what’s the crime scene classification
-as either organised or disorganised
what’s crime reconstruction
-hypothesis in terms of sequence of events behaviour of victim
what’s the profile generation
hypothesis related to the likely offender e.g demographic background , physical characteristics
what is the strengths of top down
(research support)
-support for distinct organised offenders
-canter et al = tested typology of organised -disorganised offenders
conducted analysis of 100 US murders committed by difff serial killers using small space analysis
statistical technique to identify correlations
analysis assessed co occurrence of 30 aspects of serial killings such as there was an attempt by to conceal the body and the murder weapon used
-subset features matching typology
-validity
(wider application )
-top down adapted to other crimes e.g buglary
critics have said that techniques only apply to limited crimes e.g sexually motivated
MEKTA reports that top down profilers have been applied to bugkary leading to 85% rise in solved cases in 3 US states
-added two new categories e.g interpersonal (offender knows their victim ) and steals smth of significance and opportunistic (young inexperienced offender)
what are the weaknesses of the theory
(flawed evidence)
-of the 36 murders 24 classified as organised and 12 as disorganised
-CANTER ET AL = argued sample was poor , small not random slection
-no standardisation of interview QS
-so interviews not comparable
-no scientific basis
(counterpoint research support)
- studies hv shown disorganised and organised crime arent exclusive
-combos can occur
-GODWIN= cant classify killers as one type
-may hv contrasting characterisitcs e.g high intelliegence and sexual competence but commit spontaneous murder leaving the body at the scene
what is said ab personality for eval?
-serial killers have characterisitc ways of working
-work same way in all crime scenes
-profilers linking diff crimes tg should find it easier to find offenders
BUT situational psychologists (Mischel) say people driven by situation not personality
behavioural patterns seen at crime scenes tell us lil ab individuals behaviour in everyday life
