OFFENDER PROFILING: TOP DOWN APPROACH

Question 1

what is offender profiling?

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

where did the top down approach originate from and why?

Answer 2

it originated in America as a result of the work done by the FBI

Question 3

what data was used for the top down approach?

Answer 3

data from indepth interviews with serial killers (sex-offenders)

Question 4

what is the top down approach also known as?

Answer 4

typology approach

Question 5

what is the typology approach?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

how do criminals usually operate?

Answer 6

they usually operate in the same way and this reflects their personality

Question 7

how do profilers assign their offender to one of two categories (organised or disorganised)?

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

what is an organised offender?

Answer 8

there crime has high evidence of planning e.g. may have stalked the victim, cleaned up the crime scene, used their own wepon

Question 9

what are the characteristics of organised offenders?

Answer 9

extroverted, charming, high IQ, organised in daily life

Question 10

what is a disorganised offender?

Answer 10

there crime has little evidence of planning e.g. random victim is chosen, left traces of evidence, used a weapon from the crime scene

Question 11

what are the characteristics of a disorganised offender?

Answer 11

introverted, socially awkward, low IQ, disorganised, impulsive

Question 12

what are the 4 factors to constructing an FBI profile?

Answer 12

data assimilation, crime scene classification, crime reconstruction, profile generation

Question 13

what is data assimilation?

Answer 13

the profilers review of the evidence

Question 14

what is crime scene classification?

Answer 14

if it was organised or disorganised

Question 15

what is crime scene reconstruction?

Answer 15

a hypothesis of the event, the behaviour of the victim

Question 16

what is profile generation?

Answer 16

a hypothesis related to the likely offender

Question 17

AO3: how is ‘lacks objectivity’ a limitation to the top down approach?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

AO3: how is ‘restricted sample’ a limitation to the top down approach?

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

AO3: how is ‘over simplistic’ a limitation to the top down approach?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

AO3: how is ‘disorganised offender’ a limitation to the top down approach?

Answer 20

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.