OFFENDER PROFILING: TOP DOWN APPROACH Flashcards
what is offender profiling?
attempts to produce a probable ‘profile’ of the criminal compiled from information taken from the crime scene. it is an investigative tool used to narrow the field of enquiry to a selected group of subjects. it represents a direct way of applying psychological principles to an area of crime.
where did the top down approach originate from and why?
it originated in America as a result of the work done by the FBI
what data was used for the top down approach?
data from indepth interviews with serial killers (sex-offenders)
what is the top down approach also known as?
typology approach
what is the typology approach?
offender profilers who use this method will match what they know about the crime and the offender to a pre-existing template the FBI developed
how do criminals usually operate?
they usually operate in the same way and this reflects their personality
how do profilers assign their offender to one of two categories (organised or disorganised)?
profilers start with a pre-established typology and work down in order to assign offenders to one of two categories based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene.
what is an organised offender?
there crime has high evidence of planning e.g. may have stalked the victim, cleaned up the crime scene, used their own wepon
what are the characteristics of organised offenders?
extroverted, charming, high IQ, organised in daily life
what is a disorganised offender?
there crime has little evidence of planning e.g. random victim is chosen, left traces of evidence, used a weapon from the crime scene
what are the characteristics of a disorganised offender?
introverted, socially awkward, low IQ, disorganised, impulsive
what are the 4 factors to constructing an FBI profile?
data assimilation, crime scene classification, crime reconstruction, profile generation
what is data assimilation?
the profilers review of the evidence
what is crime scene classification?
if it was organised or disorganised
what is crime scene reconstruction?
a hypothesis of the event, the behaviour of the victim
what is profile generation?
a hypothesis related to the likely offender
AO3: how is ‘lacks objectivity’ a limitation to the top down approach?
there is a lack of theoretical foundation to this approach- it is more of a hunch than reasoning which reduces its credibility and reliability. reliance on personal intuition can be affected by emotions and memories. this makes this approach lack objectivity and therefore makes it unscientific
AO3: how is ‘restricted sample’ a limitation to the top down approach?
it is based on a restricted sample of 36 serial sex offenders so it can’t be generalised. it can only be really used on crimes of murder and rape. this restricts its application unlike the geographical approach, which looks at the pattern of the crime rather than the crime type, making it more versatile.
AO3: how is ‘over simplistic’ a limitation to the top down approach?
we can’t categorise all offenders one or the other, it is likely there’s more than one type. Holmes (1989) suggested there are 4 types of serial killers: visionary, mission, hedonistic, power/control. This suggests that the method lacks validity
AO3: how is ‘disorganised offender’ a limitation to the top down approach?
there is evidence that doesn’t support the ‘disorganised offender’. CANTER ET AL (2004) used a technique called the smallest space analysis. they analysed data from 100 murders in the USA. the details of each case were examined with reference to 39 characteristics thought to be typical of organised and disorganised killers. although the findings did suggest evidence of a distinct organised type, this wasn’t the case for disorganised. this suggests organised is a characteristic typical of most serial killers.
